2026 Frugal Living Challenge

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81882216#Comment_81882216

@Nelliegrace, how long you do you keep the pea shoots growing on your windowsill? We don’t eat salad that frequently, so I’m wondering about lifecycle.

Recently, I’ve been thinking philosophically about frugality. There’s nobody I can talk about it in my social circle, so I thought I’d share it here.

Everyone has to do certain things: eat, sleep, keep the roof over their head, travel to see family and friends (and for work or study). The majority have to continue to earn a living and most need to travel to get to their place of work at least a few days per week. Why is it that some people can live a great life on their income, while their peers struggle?

This was something that Amy Dacyczyn wrote about in The Tightwad Gazette. In her case, her husband was serving in the American ?Navy and they were living in base housing, surrounded by families with similar incomes and expenses. Some people thrived; others struggled. Her conclusion (and mine) is:

It ain’t what you do; it’s the way that you do it. That’s what gets results.

I think the keys to frugality are planning, budgeting, quarantine, and shopping carefully.

Planning: thinking ahead more than a few hours (or even a few days). Christmas comes annually, so why are so many people caught out by it? Ditto holidays, birthdays, football season ticket renewals, etc.

Consider, also, meal planning. How many people get to the end of their working day and have no idea what they’re going to eat for dinner? I try to meal plan at least a few days ahead. It starts with considering what’s in the fridge and freezer; asking myself what we haven’t eaten recently (nothing more boring than “it’s Tuesday, therefore we have to have chilli”, when there are other recipes which can be cooked with minced beef); considering what preparation needs to be done in advance (do I need to soak and cook chickpeas or are there enough in the freezer?); and considering my evening commitments (will there be enough time to cook and eat what is planned? If not, better make something else).

Budgeting: starting the month knowing how much money you actually have for “free spending”, after everything else has been accounted for is very important. I know that once I worked out my “Money To Live Off”, life became so much easier and I stopped finding myself at the bottom of my overdraft.

How granular you make your budget is up to you but, personally, I think the more granular the better. For example, 20–odd years ago, I realised that I was spending a large portion of my monthly “Money to Live Off” on petrol for my commute to work, so quarantined that money into a separate account. If/when a balance builds up, it goes to the “Car Servicing & Replacement Account”.

Also, separate your day-to-day spending account from your bills account, so that you don’t accidentally spend the latter.

Quarantine: if the money is allocated to something in the budget, then it can’t be spent on anything else. It’s amazing how quickly pots build up, even if the contributions are small. For example, I have to get my hair cut every 6 weeks, so I have a “hair & makeup account” to which I contribute £30/month, which is the price of one haircut including tip. The balance that builds up in that account is spent on makeup purchases, when required.

Shopping carefully: this isn’t only about getting the cheapest item; it’s about getting the right one. I once spent an entire morning in central Adelaide, visiting all the menswear shops with a friend who was determined to find the perfect pair of black trousers. (IIRC there were 10 shops.). His point was that if they weren’t perfect, then they’d never get worn, so the money spent would be wasted.

My mother is another example. When I was born, she owned a small sewing machine, built into it’s own table-top; sturdy, but it’d bounce around if you went too fast. She longed to own a Pfaff sewing machine, but could never quite afford one. She wanted a machine that would do decent embroidery and set her heart on the Pfaff. Instead, of saving for the Pfaff, twice she bought sewing machines that “would do”, but neither ever did and she’d end up using the old machine again, instead of the new one. The money she wasted on those two machines would probably have purchased the top-of-the-range Pfaff for which she longed.

The lesson I learned from mum is “Don’t buy something because “It will do”; it never does. Save up and buy what you really want.

Anyway, enough of me waxing philosophical. What do you think?

• Pip

maryb

I still reread the Tightwad Gazette from time to time. Though I occasionally felt sorry for her children. She seemed to think a tennis ball sized potato was a big enough portion for an adolescent boy. No wonder she said they tended to be skinny! I think the eldest girl was shortchanged from what I read later. Frugality shouldn't mean your children NEVER have what they really want when they really want it almost as a matter of principle because a parent decides it's less important than their rigid financial goals - which is what seemed to happen

But I learned a lot and became ultra frugal at a time when I hated my job so much I genuinely thought I would die young from the stress. In less time than I thought possible I had saved enough to retire early albeit with much trepidation

PipneyJane

@maryb, I hadn’t heard about the oldest girl being shortchanged. What happened?

(I agree with you, BTW. If your child has a dream, help them to work towards it. Don’t break their heart by rejecting it outright.)

I bought Tightwad in 2000 and read it repeatedly. That and the Pennypincher’s Guide, which I bought after hearing the authors interviewed on LBC. (They mentioned Tightwad, but I couldn’t get a copy until Big River started selling into the UK.) Both were big influences on me, together with the Living Below Your Means board on the American Motley Fool. Learned a lot from the Fool. (All that knowledge and history is gone now, though, they wiped the Boards.)

• Pip

Nelliegrace

@PipneyJane Mum used to add chopped parsley to cooked vegetables, a WW2 rationing habit to get plenty of Vitamin C.

Pea shoots seem to be the modern version, added as a tasty garnish on hot dinners, or in salads. They are like mustard and cress, a single crop. I cut them when they were big enough to eat, and plant more when I remember. The roots go in the compost bin.

Bean sprouts are fun the grow in the kitchen.

maryb

The eldest daughter gave an interview years later and she mentioned that she only EVER had thrift store jeans that were totally out of style and she yearned for a style that was current and never got a pair. I don't think she ever went off the rails in adult life and was quite frugal herself but it just seemed so sad that the mother was so unyielding.

Sallyp2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884933#Comment_81884933

the kids probably feel/felt deprived and once they start earning their own £ will go off the rails / debt

Sallyp2

anyone had a survey from government science & tech?

got a letter plus 2 postal reminders. Three codes/3 people for same tech survey. Got 3 £10 vouchers - choice if many retailers - chose m&s

made £30

fionaandphil

@PipneyJane that's a great way to think of it all and I suspect what most of us do in different ways according to our own needs and time availability.

@determined_new_ms I think it's planning and using what you have. I shop mainly at Aldi and Lidl but do top up now and again at Sainsbury's, Tesco and Morrisons for things like Kenco coffee but never buy at full price. On top of that I buy most meat from the market in bulk and freeze and look out for good prices or yellow stickers in the sm. I also go to B &M or home bargains if I'm in town. We have lots of free fruit from the garden and freeze/store this to provide extra out of season. I grow salad in summer - lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber always and then anything else that will take with varying degrees of success. The bill is generally about 250 per month.

The Christmas veg is still going strong stored in the garage. So last week we had roast chicken on Sunday, was from Sainsbury's 50% off at the end of the year, used half and cheap Christmas veg . While the oven was on I also made crumble with apples from garden and hm crumble mix. The second half of the chicken the next day in a bake, then used the carcass for stock which became risotto. The meat therefore cost less than £1 per meal for 3. For lunches last week we had curried parsnip one day and carrot and parsnip another day so really cheap, warming and filling and some of both in the freezer for another day. You have to be flexible and sometimes you just won't fancy what's on the menu so having some choices and freezer meals helps. I picked up lots of tips here and on reverse meal planning.

Good luck with your new quest, it will get easier.

Mamma2004

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884096#Comment_81884096

I also didn't understand about the interest beater. I found this from an MSE challenge from 2008/2009. It makes sense albeit outdated 😃

I am doing the £2026 in 2026 challenge and it has really motivated to sell things and get cashback. I've made quite alot on TCB from opening savings accounts/ISAs and also current account switching. I guess this counts as 'interest beating' 😁

Interest Beater Challenge 2008/2009

When considering such things as tax free interest and year on year savings, we instantly lose out on a chunk of interest because we are spending our money to cover the cost of living. There are many people who simply cannot afford to set aside £3,600 per year in an ISA, for example. So, we decided it would be more fun NOT to miss out on that money.

This is a mini-challenge about earning a few pounds extra from home. We've called it the 

'Interest Beater

' because that's the target - to beat the amount of interest we could have earned from our cost of living for a year.

To make it simple, we have not counted in mortgage/rent or council tax/water as these are too variable. We have allowed a generous fixed rate of 6.5% tax free (equivalent to approximately 8.13% less basic rate tax) as our base figure for comparison and the object is to earn more than that amount during the 2008/9 tax year. End result - we are still benefitting from the equivalent amount that interest our living expenses could have earned.

TARGETS

Cost of living/Amount to beat

£2,000 - £130

£3,000 - £195

£3,600 - £234 - equivalent to ISA allowance

£4,000 - £260

£5,000 - £325

£6,000 - £390

£10,000 - £650

Mamma2004

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81884659#Comment_81884659

Thanks for sharing, it was a very interesting read 🥰

My income hasn't increased but I am now thriving. I would say a few things have worked:

• Multiple current accounts - I think I had a mental block on how many you could have. I have 3 Chase, 3 Nationwide, 1 Santander, 1 Kroo, 1 Revolut. I use 5 of these daily.
• A food budget. I started with £450 for a few months. It is now £400. Before this, I was quite prone to spending on food as a leisure activity!
• A chest freezer. Ours is medium-sized, bought for £40 secondhand.
• Batch cooking. I recently bought myself a bigger slow cooker after proving I needed it to batch cook bigger quantities. I make bolognese, chilli con carne, chicken soup and veg/lentil curry.
• Kakeibo. Japanese financial journalling system where you set a savings target for the month and record every spend. I've been doing this for a few years and now use a Google spreadsheet that I can edit on my phone. I have separate worksheets - bills, spending, saving, earnings, assets, debts (this is currently £0).
• Standing orders. When my main monthly payment arrives, it automatically pays out to separate accounts for food budget and bills, and SO to pay rent and DS pocket money.
• Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps. I won't detail them all here but Step 1 is to build a £1000 emergency fund in 30 days. I imagined this would be impossible but I did it (bank switching, selling lots and being super frugal for a month). My emergency fund is now in Premium Bonds so I'm not tempted to dip into it but it is available in a short time if I need it. Step 2 is to clear debts - I started last August and have cleared my debts now. Step 3 is to build a 3 to 6 month Emergency Fund. I'm probably at 2 months.
• I'm in the Cashback / Investing Forum and have discovered that I can easily make money from my savings - e.g. TCB £50 payout for opening a Santander ISA and investing £100 for 3 months.
• Selling on Vinted and Ebay. I aim for 3 items a day. I have always been a spender and so I have LOADS of selling stock 😃

I hope this helps someone 🥰