2026 Frugal Living Challenge

Frugaldom

Jojo77_2 said:

Just popping on to say hello & have caught up with everyone's posts. I'm struggling for time at the moment as works full on but managing to gave plenty of no spend days & still eating through cupboards.  Looks like ill be leaving my job around the end of Feb so will have to survive on my husbands pension for a while , but at least I have some time to catch up & also apply more of the frugal living ideas from this thread, but it is causing me some anxiety about how we will cope. 

Sorry to read about your job situation. I would start living with the new budget immediately and get it all down on a doc or paper so hubby can help plan ahead. Make it fun and look on it as your job to succeed. A penny saved is a penny earned. 😊 Good luck and try not to stress over it all too much. 

fionaandphil

@Jojo77_2 sorry you're having such a hard time. Would your employer allow you to take a sabbatical to try and get on a more even keel? It may give you time to see if you can improve your health and whether financially you can cope while still having a safety net. You may prefer just to leave but it is a big step.

I left my job after having a really bad time with a new boss over a few years. It was a big cut financially but we managed and quickly realised that we could live on one salary. I treated being frugal as a job and looked at every bit of income and expenditure to make sure we were spending wisely.

I am sure you will find the same and find many frugal ways to make the best of what you have. When it comes down to it your health and family are the most important things.

RateTartExtraordinaire

fionaandphil said:

@Jojo77_2 sorry you're having such a hard time. Would your employer allow you to take a sabbatical to try and get on a more even keel? It may give you time to see if you can improve your health and whether financially you can cope while still having a safety net. You may prefer just to leave but it is a big step.

I left my job after having a really bad time with a new boss over a few years. It was a big cut financially but we managed and quickly realised that we could live on one salary. I treated being frugal as a job and looked at every bit of income and expenditure to make sure we were spending wisely.

I am sure you will find the same and find many frugal ways to make the best of what you have. When it comes down to it your health and family are the most important things.

I really related to the 'big step' feel of leaving a job. I remember feeling so sure I wanted to hand in my notice. Actually doing it, is a different matter. I did this about 5 years ago. It was scary but I took a few temporary contracts which lasted a few months each and slowly built up some self-employed earnings on the side. Now I just have self-employed earnings. It's not big bucks but I get by and I'm 100% happier with more time to invest in my health and time to spend with my family.

Health and family are the most important things - 100%

Prudent

Jojo77_2 said:

I've got ME/Chronic fatigue & several autoimmune conditions and I'm finding they are getting worse as I get older & full time work is too much now, ive downsized my role & dropped to 4 days last year which helped but im still struggling so going to have a break & try to work out my baseline. I will have to look for something else at some point but planning 6 months to a year off & then looking for something part time & local. Im very old school as I keep a kitchen table planner - it has all our monthly bills in it & then a weekly budget for food & anything else. I track everything & have done for yesrs, but there are lots of areas we will have to change to "cut our cloth" but it's should be achievable.

Thats why I like this thread as for md it's about budgeting to have freedom & peace of mind as im sure Chronic work stress for last 15 years is what has made me ill. 

I took early retirement aged 50 for the same reasons. I was very anxious about how I would mange. I got a small ill health pension, which was 1/4 of my previous salary. This was ten years ago and it has worked out okay. My OH was retired by that point too. I use the pension for day to day costs and my lump sum and savings to cover bigger costs. I continued to save any bits of money I can by being frugal. This year I have decided to stop saving at all. I feel I have enough of a buffer fund now until state pension age when I can build it up again. You sound like you are already budget wise and you will budget accordingly. If it helps, I have absolutely no regrets. It is one of the best decisions that I have made.

Prudent

@RavenRover I love the craft retreat at home! I have been quilting away the January blues with gifted fabric and fabric from my stash. It makes me feel that the short days are a treat to be embraced as they give me more crafting time.

It is finally dry here today so I have gone a few outside jobs done too. I have washed the kitchen windows, washed the car, pulled some weeds from my tubs, and then come inside to shampoo a carpet. This afternoon will be sewing time again.

Nelliegrace

@Jojo77_2, I made it to 56 struggling on stubbornly with deteriorating health until my employers made me see reason. It was hard to give up a career I loved, and hard financially especially with the long wait for the state pension. It was the best decision. Though the work pension was small I no longer had the costs of going to work, and I had time to make better financial decisions at home, and with less stress my health became more manageable.
The local council leisure centre provided a lot of help with my health, they do subsidised rehabilitation courses and started me on well monitored, very gentle exercises. 
I hope it works for you.

MayDogsandCoffee

So excited yesterday to find frugaldom photos and a short video come up in my Facebook feed.

Mamma2004

May I ask the group's opinion on something? 

(Sorry if it seems a silly question!) 

My son needs a new annual railcard.  Full price it is £35.

I have two choices:

1. Use £17.50 of clubcard vouchers (used a partner reward this doubles up to £35) 
2. Use a 25% off discount code, and pay £26.25

Which would you do? And why? 

Many thanks 😊

maryb

Are you likely to get a £6 off a £30 spend voucher anytime soon?  If so and you combine it with Clubcard offers that could give you the biggest saving ie £30 worth of goods for £6.50.  Add in the railcard and you've paid £32.75 for things that cost £65 full price.

If you use those vouchers towards the railcard, you presumably still have to pay £17.50.  Then you have to pay £24 for your shopping (assuming you get the £6 off voucher in either scenario).  That comes to £41.50

I'd use the discount code because I know Tesco will send me a voucher at some point

fionaandphil

@Mamma2004 I'm assuming he can't get a free one with a student bank account? 

If not I'd probably go for the clubcard option as it's only £17.50 instead of £35.

It may also be worth looking on Trainpal as I'm sure they have offered discounted rail cards in the past and I think you also get money off your first ticket. Once the first ticket is booked you can use your Railcard anywhere if I remember correctly