2026 Frugal Living Challenge

kimwp

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81888124#Comment_81888124

Olio is entirely about reducing waste and not about providing for people in need. Charities get first dibs at supermarket collections and then what's left is given to olio food waste heroes to distribute.

Mamma2004

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81888322#Comment_81888322

Such a good idea! 😍

determined_new_ms

Morning :) loving living like a king on a shoestring! I also had a great Olio haul yesterday (BTW definitely about reducing food waste, but amazing that it helps with pinching the pennies). I have taken to only collecting from ppl within walking distance unless I'm passing somewhere. But it seems there's only one FWH around here at the moment. Yesterday she gave me the heads up she's collecting on Sunday :)

I had a debate with my oh whether this thread should be in the "hobbies and leisure" board. I don't think it should because, although I enjoy frugal living it is also work!

Frugal things I have done over the last few days:

• still eating well on our 2 x pm groceries
• checking fridge and use next tupperware when planning food
• I recently started saving the bags you buy frozen food in (i.e the packaging frozen broccoli or hash browns come in) and using them as freezer bags. If it's good enough for the original item it's good enough for things I'm freezing! Modern life makes me nuts! You buy things just to throw them away and then buy more things to do the same thing.
• popped carrot tops and romain lettuce in water to grow again
• working on my plans to increase income - going to start 2 small side hustle/businesses and see if 1. I like them and 2. they grow

Today I will plan out what seeds I am going to grow - I want to minimise work and costs, so planning to be a bit strategic about what I grown this year! Also going to investigate whether purchasing a small wormery is more cost effective than purchasing 3 large tubs and making one.

Auntycaz

@fluffycatling, I[m on a low income and I do not have a food collection hero near to me, but I would rather someone who isn't poor collect the excess food, than see it go to waste and I'm sure lots of other people in my position would say the same. I hate waste and think it is criminal how much food gets wasted in this country.

Mamma2004

I am SO annoyed today, Frugalers!

My very tall 19yo DS has food selective ASD. One of his new favourites is Tesco's BBQ chicken pizza after he tried it at a friend's.

Trying new things and liking them is always a celebration for us IYKYK. (Today, it was a cheese and onion pasty from the bakers 🙌)

Anyway, Tesco's have stopped their 2 for £5 on pizzas and so today, it was £6.50 for 2!! 😭

Luckily, he only eats 1 a week, but still! That is a 30% price hike!

determined_new_ms

that's super annoying @Mamma2004 ! Hope the offer comes around again soon for you!

Today I took madam to the cinema using 2 of the 6 Vue tickets I got for changing banks, which also came with half price popcorn so we got to see a film (we watched Goat, I recommend!) for £4.50! Pretty chuffed with that as a half term activity on a rainy Friday!

Mamma2004

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81892840#Comment_81892840

That is a fab deal! 👏 😍

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81888124#Comment_81888124

@fluffycatling big hugs. Firstly, as others have said, Olio is about preventing food waste and nothing more. Good on you for participating and for doing it thoughtfully. Secondly, I am struggling to put into words how annoyed I am at your partner’s statement, so forgive me if I ruffle feathers. What I am about to say isn’t about you (or them). I’m trying to understand my own reaction.

Everyone’s journey is different but there’s an attitude we all suffer at about the point where we crash-land into frugalling: “I am not poor but…the bills aren’t being paid / I’m buried in my overdraft and can’t escape / I’ve had to ask my parents to bail me out / I can’t afford to pursue the dream activity I want to do….“ (Delete as appropriate.). God knows I spent a large proportion of the 1990’s desperately in denial, while hoping the cheque I just wrote to pay for dinner wouldn’t bounce. There was always too much month and not enough money.

That changed when I decided to take control of my money. I worked out a budget. I set up a separate bills account and got all the direct debits transferred to it, so that the bills‘ money was quarantined out of the way on pay day. (That was an interesting appointment at the bank. When I explained my reasoning, they were most helpful.). I tracked the balance that remained as my “Money to live off”. And eventually I got rid of my biggest expense (my feckless ex, who never contributed a penny and expected me to pay for everything).

I realised that credit card/ overdraft debt was selling my future income to the bank in exchange for what? A week away at Party Conference (which I didn’t enjoy) with the ex and his bar bill, dodging a certain sleazy journalist from whom he’d sponge drinks. How was it that I always ended up paying for the train tickets, the hotel bills, the lunches, the dinners, etc, when he could earn more than me? (When he had a job.)

It took me years to dig myself out. However, I’ll never forget the freedom I felt once I sorted out my budget. IIRC my take-home pay was about £750/month. The mortgage was £300. My monthly train ticket was £70. Council tax was about £120; other bills probably £100. Credit cards £150/month.

Yes, that all adds up to £640, and that’s before I did the monthly grocery shop. (Usually, £80/month.) As you can see, I was left with b*gger-all to live off. When he had a job, I managed to persuade the feckless ex to contribute £150/month, but I knew I couldn’t rely on that money. I persuaded a friend to move into the spare room and become my lodger. (My friend doesn’t know it, but his money kept me afloat.)

My absolute rock bottom was in September 1997 when I started a new job. My sister and her family had recently visited from Australia and I’d been away with them, eliminating every single penny that I had left. I was desparately hoping that the season ticket loan would come through before I ran out of cash, or I wouldn’t be able to get to work. (I think I threw myself on the mercy of HR. I was broke. I was desperate, and I didn’t get paid until mid October.) The last humiliation was my ex going to Conference, taking my mobile phone with him and running up a huge phone bill talking to his “bit of fluff”. Of course, he didn’t pay it and, in the end, the phone got cut off.

That’s when I decided I had to get out of the relationship and out of that house. I got lucky and a bank gave me a credit card with a 0% balance transfer. My ex-in-laws gave me their car, which was effectively another leg up. It took two years, but finally I was free of him and free of non-mortgage debt. (It was complicated, because I owned the house and I had to persuade him to buy it from me. There were sleepless nights when I tried to figure out how to pay two mortgages or rent-and-a-mortgage; anything to get out.)

The long and the short of it is that budgeting and frugality gave me freedom. Freedom to travel. Freedom to go to shows and attend concerts. Freedom to buy fillet steak on Valentine’s Day. Freedom to spend 9 months off work sick and not worry about paying the bills (that was my 2024).

• Pip

maryb

Frugality gave me the freedom from a job that would have had me dying young from the stress and I thank the Good Lord every day for my freedom

Frugaldom

Welcome to the challenge, @determined_new_ms I hope you enjoy being part of it. The I terest Beater Challenge is my micro challenge to raise extra cash to the equivalent of what I would earn in interest over a year if my frugal living budget money was in a decent savings account. For example, if the annual budget was 10,000 and best interest rate around is 4% then that would equate to raising an extra £400. If I stripped back my own budget to £5,000 then my challenge would be to raise £200 of 'new' money to represent the interest. These are guesses as I don't have access to the exact figures but hopefully this explains it.