2026 Frugal Living Challenge

nannygladys

I  don't post very much but I do try to be frugal and lead a simple life, but 2026 is going to be a year of saving as I need new flooring in my front room as well as a getting rid of one of the settees to make way for a reading/knitting/sewing chair which I already have the money for and I think I may be needing a new boiler later on in the year, so some cutting back will be happening. I obviously can't change my annual/monthly bills but I can try to cut down even more. I'm another one who is going to do a very low spend food wise as I have to full freezers and a stocked pantry, I think my biggest bug bear on the food front will be repetition of meals but I will try. All this on a state pension as well, but I don't have any debt and own my house.
I'll try and work some figures out but I may just cut back as much as I can as I'm not brilliant at following a strict budget.

Frugaldom

Everyone is welcome to join in posting or just reading along. I'm making a real effort to post more regularly in 2026 to include my off-grid experiences.

@mumtoomany maybe your move north will bring you closer to Frugaldom for a meet-up. We've had several here and I love meeting fellow frugalers from here. Your budget looks good.

@cuddlymarm the water meter could be an ideal way to make a few savings and we've plenty of hints and tips about how to save water by recycling grey water and cutting down the volume in each flush.

@Nelliegrace I like that you mention the hens - we have given up hatching, rearing and rehoming because we have a massive egg farm opposite the house where we can buy a tray of 30 free range eggs for £4 at the farm gate. The last of our hens died from old age but we still have 3 older drakes (no ducks left) that need looking after.

@lilian1977 your personal challenges look very doable, that's a fabulous savings goal and one I'd be playing the round up game, aiming at rounding it up to the nearest £1, £5, £10, £50, £100 by swapping alcohol spends for savings pot top-ups. 

Welcome to all newcomers - stick with it, you will son find frugal living and all that goes with it becoming second nature if you think of fun ways of doing things, no matter how mundane the may ordinarily be. I often lose my mojo on my money saving ways but this thread and the people on it (posting or just reading) always inspire me.

mumtoomany

Hi, @Frugaldom. We will indeed be much nearer to you when we move, and may venture that far one day.

I've been reading the old posts, and new ones, on the frugaldom blog. I am disappointed to find out that your name is not, infact, Nicky Media. I have always thought of you as that, although Media does seem to be an unusual name. Also that HS, (house share), is not actually called House. I always envisioned him as looking rather like Hugh Laurie. Next you'll be telling me that the slightly "home counties" voice I hear when reading your posts is not true either. I believe you are really Scottish. 

Hugs from (a disillutioned), Mumtoomany.xxx

Christianne1957

Will follow and try to join in with posts as 2026 is definitely going to be a year of frugality for myself & DH as we are both retired and on State Pensions but need to save an emergency fund and also make the home improvements to give us a cosy home that we promised ourselves that we would once we'd finished work

MadamMim2013

@Frugaldom, thank you for all the amazing effort you have (and continue to) put in to help us all strive to be more frugal, I was relieved to find you all those years ago and appreciate that your advice and blog assisted me to overcome some huge financial challenges!
Have had a real change in circumstances again this year (in a good way) and am feeling more financially stable and confident than ever, that said, our household will be having a “budget night” and shall be discussing all aspects of the household expenses etc, so we can all know what’s best for us all going forward!
Will definitely be in for 2026, even if I don’t post as much as I should 🫣

Gem-gem

@Frugaldom, thank you For running this thread again for 2026. 

I am just working out my budget for next year. This year, my savings decreased by just under 12k. It would be good if 2026 I can shave a little off that. 

Projects / big expenditure for next year:
Buy a new to me car - I have a budget for this, already sitting in a bank account waiting for me to make up my mind about which style of car I want: petrol, hybrid, full electric. My budget will not include this. 

Decorate the house - hope to do some myself - will come out of the household budget. 

I have allocated £1k in my personal budget for a new phone hopefully I won't need to use it or anywhere near that amount. I. Never buy the latest model.
Gym - £1k - allocated in my personal budget. I use the gym at least four times a week. If I did yoga privately one session a week would cost £720 a year. Non-negotiable as I do a lot of my socialising with friends at the gym rather than going out for meals. We also go out for long walks. Essential for my health. 
£1k for a holiday, though this could increase depending on the number / type of holidays that we have. My husband had a health scare a few years ago and we want to enjoy ourselves whilst we can. He is 13 years older than me. This is why I retired early. I will be frugal in other areas to help fund this. 

Budget: £15k plus holidays.
Household - covers all food / bills / car/ Christmas/ weekends away  etc £8700 (We do manage to save on this amount which gives us a buffer zone for repairs, replacement of white goods).
My personal budget including: Gym, Health and beauty, clothes, fun time, birthdays (of which we have three big birthdays this year), phone, technology, hobbies and donations £6,300 (but will be pleased if I can come in under this).

We batch cook, grow our own, hunt for yellow stickers. I make as much from fresh as we are trying to eat as much UPF as possible. We have four freezers. One full of homegrown fruit, one full of homegrown veg and sauces made from homegrown veg. Another freezer is full of reduced fish and meat / joints of meat from the butchers when on offer. The last freezer holds leftovers, soups, homemade gravy, milk, homemade bread, cookies and cakes etc. We only eat out when we are away.
We reuse items like foil time and time again. Bread bags and porridge bags are used to freeze veg in. We don't have / use cling film.
Will continue to use the library and read from n own stash. Jigsaws we swap, I still have three from last year presents to do. 

Clothing - will do 'Fashion on a Ration' again. 66 clothing coupons. Use secondhand good quality shop when possible. Or buy clothes at a discount.

Toiletries, I will only buy when I have run out. I am on my third year of doing this and I only have soap, body lotions and face washes left from previous years. Day to day toiletries I have made a considerable downshift in all areas except: shampoo and conditioner (which I only buy on discount) and eye cream. 

We don't have a tv licence or any tv subscriptions. 

We only fully own / run one car.

Frugaldom

mumtoomany said:

Hi, @Frugaldom. We will indeed be much nearer to you when we move, and may venture that far one day.

I've been reading the old posts, and new ones, on the frugaldom blog. I am disappointed to find out that your name is not, infact, Nicky Media. I have always thought of you as that, although Media does seem to be an unusual name. Also that HS, (house share), is not actually called House. I always envisioned him as looking rather like Hugh Laurie. Next you'll be telling me that the slightly "home counties" voice I hear when reading your posts is not true either. I believe you are really Scottish. 

Hugs from (a disillutioned), Mumtoomany.xxx

This made me laugh! HS possibly does sound kind of borderline Home Counties but I am most definitely a born and bred Scot with a definite Scottish accent, borderline Glaswegian, apparently. (I grew up in North Lanarkshire but had to water down my accent in order to be understood by those around me. Most of the neighbours here originate from south of the border. Now for the H and Hugh Laurie part... Does 'LOL' compute on here? He may just qualify as sounding borderline Home Counties but I'm no expert. I actually have one of our fellow Frugalers visiting now but doubt if she will deny it confirm any of the above. Perhaps @mama67 or @DdraigGoch could make comment once they get here. 

I completed my 2026 budget - it's far from pretty but cut to be as neat as possible. It's also been rounded up (hopefully?) to reflect as yet unannounced price hikes.

I'll need to double back now and reread the other posts as the Nicky Media and House Share names threw me. I have, indeed, been addressed as Nick or Nyk in the past but I'll always be simply Susan (never Su, Sue or Suzy) and NYK will always be Now You Know. In saying that, I have been mistaken for the media manager of the New York Knicks in the past and there was a striking similarity between their team colours and that of the Irn Bru branding. 😄

Frugaldom

@Gem-gem you seem to have a good hold on your budget and those 4 freezers sound awesome. 

@MadamMim2013 and @Christianne1957 thank you for being here, it is always good to know people are following along. 😊

Welcome back @nannygladys

carrotstick_2

This sounds brilliant, my aim this year is to save as much as possible, but to be less wasteful and more mindful. 

We are a family with young children but I hope to manage this with a £12,000 budget. I could easily spend this much on our food shop alone at the moment! We have a community fridge near by, from the donations they receive on a regular basis I can probably source all of our bread and veg (majority of our fruit) from here. 

We've had to live on a tight budget in previous years, initially when we saved for our first home on very low incomes! And again around 3 years ago, when we lost the income of my other half for nearly a year. That was awful as I had around £400 a month left after paying the household bills. (It's much more fun being frugal when it's out of choice).

Arrietty

Good morning all

a heartfelt thank you to @Frugaldom for running this challenge and sharing so much information.

I have completed my own end of year spending review and while I was pleased to see a dramatic reduction in some categories, there were increases in others. Some of this is due to stockpiling for the year ahead but some I am yet to discover why...

My situation is that whilst I no longer have any debts and still have 10 years until I reach retirement age, I want to reduce my working days / hours to 4 / 30 in January 2028.

I'm here to save as much money as I can before that date to ensure that I am financially equipped to cope with the reduction in salary.  I'm not currently thinking about how the reduction in pension contributions will affect me because at this stage of life I just need the time more than the money.  

My job can be mentally draining and my hobby can be physically draining - especially this time of year - and the combination has made me feel like weekends pass in a blur of chores and any additional socialising or going anywhere for fun has felt exhausting. I am convinced that gaining a day to myself each week will solve that.

All my bills, household and car expenses are accounted for. I pay a set amount over to another account for all my horsery costs.  I've set up savings plans for annual costs (car, servicing, mot, insurance, etc & also Christmas costs) and have an emergency fund in place.


I'm declaring a budget of £5000 for the year / £400 a month 

Updated to clarify: My 'month' runs from 26th of one to 25th of the next!  


This is for my regular living costs like groceries and household items, fuel for my car, birthday or occasion gifts, trips or eating out and for clothes, shoes etc, My Eldest Daughter is getting married in 2026 and I will need to wear something appropriate but I'm already baulking at the thought of buying something just for this occasion,
The extra £200 left over from my monthly budget is there to cover this!

Wishing everyone a happy and frugal 2026