2026 Frugal Living Challenge

Prudent

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82037554#Comment_82037554

Yes, I wrote loads of emails about both the pool and the library, but too no avail. There was a big public protest outside the pool, but again to no avail. The sad thing is that much of this area has a high poverty rate. Parents will not be able to afford the travel or the cost of alternative activities further afield. Community groups are trying hard to mitigate the impact, but they are scrambling for funding too. All the community centres are now set up as trusts run by the local community. Meanwhile the local councillors gave themselves a 40% pay increase and the chief executive took an annual pay increase which is higher than most people locally earn in a year. It is frustrating.

WickedLady4

Prudent; all those closures sound dreadful. I live in MK, which gets a lot of bad press at times, but there are about 7 Libraries spread across various local centres, which I find invaluable.

fionaandphil

So sorry to hear that Prudent, really short sighted of your local Council. I live in the north west and we are really lucky as our local councils have managed to keep everything open and also offer a lot of free activities for people of all ages. They also work really closely with local charities to promote their activities, both to increase funding and to make people aware of what is on offer. In the winter the local churches, libraries and community groups also offer warm hubs where people can go and meet others and have a warm drink, really helps with isolation as well as saving some costs. In the long run, people being active and involved with others saves the NHS money and we need joined up thinking like this.

weenancyinAmerica

Maybe they agree with the Orange Idiot that the dumber the public the easier they are to mold the way you want.

Frugaldom

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82026054#Comment_82026054

Thank you for letting me know. 😊 It's great that someone mentioned us as we are such a tiny place (only got space for 3) with no services on site.

Frugaldom

Good morning to all and please accept my apologies for being MIA - I just don't know where the time goes! We've been busy trying to keep up with repairs & maintenance around Frugaldom while looking after the animals and seeing to workaday things.

Budget is still under strict control, although the food shopping, as everyone agrees, has escalated. For many years, I based my grocery budget on £1 per person per day for all meals but that's now impossible for me, mainly because of the lack of time to go looking for bargains, gardening or batch cooking. Olio has helped enormously! We are now creeping closer to £100 a month for 2 of us but that does include some petfood and non-essentials.

Spending so much time away from home means less spent on electricity as everything at the project is on solar panels connected to leisure batteries. It's been warm enough for the past month not to need to light the log burner, thankfully! Logs cost a fortune but we also have cylinder gas fires, which are more efficient. It's a sad day when coal & gas work out cheaper than seasoned wood.

I will soon be starting my next challenge... A 5-year plan to reach retirement and my state pension. I have no private pensions so no lump sums due from anywhere, but being on such low income for so long, I cannot even begin to imagine how well off I'll be as a pensioner. 😂 I am unable to comprehend minimum full-time wages in UK. As a full-time self-employed person for decades, I've very much lost touch with 'the norm' when it comes to income, therefore it is no hardship to live on my budget. I can still squirrel away my monthly savings into those magic premium bonds. No further wins but there's always next month.

Prudent

@Frugaldom I am glad you are able to consider the steps to retirement. You have created a wonderful sanctuary, but that comes with a high level of ongoing work. I was thinking about you when I did the post about services. It made me ponder if there will be any advantage in future in living in a more urban environment if those services don't exist. Would being off grid with a community that comes to you be a better option after all?

joedenise

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82039117#Comment_82039117

most motorhomes are fully self sufficient as long as they’ve filled the fresh water and emptied the waste water and cassette. A lot also carry spare cassette so they can last twice as long without services!

Frugaldom

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82039543#Comment_82039543

Yes, we've been having campervans and motorhomes coming to us for about the past 5 years. We have a service contract with the waste company so there's an emptying facility on site for the cassettes and chemical free grey water goes via the soakaways. We make sure anyone visiting is fully self contained but we are never busy. If it covers our actual costs and allows folks to experience the place for themselves then that's what matters. 😊

Frugaldom

@Prudent Retirement plans still involve moving house to somewhere a) closer to Frugaldom and b) with all the services needed and c) access to public transport. Trouble is, we are 5+ miles from the nearest main road so available properties are scarce and those that do become available are well out of the budget. Finding someone to help run the project would be fantastic but that's not easy when it's not commercially viable - no personal income generated.

I've been tentatively looking at retirement properties, watching the prices of part ownership and wondering all sorts. The optional extras available, such as lawn mowing, window cleaning and meals to the door when incapacitated are quite tempting. 😄