2026 Frugal Living Challenge

annieb64

I used to make sorbet with mango pulp or a fruit fool.

Frugaldom

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82042462#Comment_82042462

Thank you. All I'm short for that at the minute is a good processor and marscapone, but I will freeze it into lollipops, I think, as the weather has been so hot. 😊

Frugaldom

Good morning, Frugalers 😊

The extreme heat if the past couple of days has gone after a brief thunderstorm with torrential ninja showers this morning. Now, the sun is trying to break through the cloud.

Car had to get taxed (£170) this month, next month is insurance> The renewal quote has shot up by about 20% so I ran a TCB comparison and found several companies offering as much as £80 less. With or without cashback, those are great deals.

Next supermarket order being put together and we managed to get some Olio this week - apples, bananas and bakery goods. After reading the comments on here regarding electricity costs, I checked the figures on that for our household so it is averaging around £15 per week. Once again, average heating and eating are staying roughly neck and neck. In fact, eating is ahead during summer months. Frugaldom has no electricity other than small solar panels on leisure batteries in each of the huts. (We are still looking for fellow frugalers to take on a holiday hut and share the outdoor space.)

My honey berry bushes have started fruiting but I'm eating the berries as I pick them. Elder is now in full flower but I've decided against making any fizz or cordial as the price of sugar doesn't warrant it for me. Likewise with the rhubarb and berries.

Hope everyone is doing ok. As always, anyone who can get here is welcome to arrange a meet-up. 😊

wishus

Hey frugallers. I'm coming back after a big slump in my mood. A month ago I was wondering how I was going to cope as self-employed, and the temptation to self-sabotage my own frugal journey was overwhelming. Some unnecessary outings, a lack of preparedness that led to having to spend, and I've got to clear more credit card debt than I wanted come July.

Luckily things have turned a corner, and I'm looking around thinking, how can I boost my frugaldom to shield myself against this sort of thing? With a variable income I can't be sure what's possible for certain each month, but I will switch up my methods I think and make sure I pay myself first and work toward not spending up to my budget.

Frugal things today - going to try to save my bread so it doesn't go off.

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82048384#Comment_82048384

Good thinking there, @wishus . While I’ve never been self-employed, I did prepare hundreds of self-employed accounts and tax returns, back when I was a trainee accountant. It was a very good learning environment for money management.

Firstly, regardless of how much or how little you earn, for every payment received, set aside 25% for the taxman. Keep this money quarantined. You may not need it all to pay your tax bill, but chances are you’ll end up having to make “payments on account”, which can be really painful in the first year. What that means is a) come the first January after you cross the POA threshold, you will have to pay last year’s tax bill plus 50% extra, with a second 50% in July. In subsequent years, you only have to pay the difference between the POA and your tax bill, plus the following year’s POA.

For example, you have a tax bill of £4,000 for the 2025-26 tax year. In January 2027, you’ll have to pay £6,000 - that £4,000 plus an extra £2,000, and in July you will pay another £2,000. In the 2026-27 tax year, you earn enough that your tax bill goes up to £5,000. Having made two payments on account, you’ll only need to pay the difference of £1,000 to HMRC, plus two more payments on account of £2.5k in January and July.

As for everything else, the important thing is to know the absolute minimum that you need to spend to live (housing, utilities, insurance, groceries, transport, any fixed bills, plus a small, fixed Sanity Fund for personal expenditure). That is what has to be covered each month. May I suggest that once your tax money is set aside, anything you earn over that bare minimum is split either 50:50 or 25:70 between “Treats” and your “Rainy Day Fund” (the latter being what you’ll raid if you don’t earn enough to cover the bills in a given month)?

Does that make sense?

HTH

• Pip

Frugaldom

Welcome back @wishus and keep battling, it's worth it once you are well and truly into the swing of frugaldom. I've been self employed for decades and have seldom ever crossed the threshold for tax. If I'd to earn national minimum wage, if feel flush. 🤣 I also read somewhere that there's a campaign to get the minimum for income tax increased to over £13k (if you're UK based). Over the years, I've kept my National Insurance payments paid even when I fall below that threshold so let's hope the State Pension remains in place for long enough to teach that. If you can keep up with the essential bills then budgeting whatever is left over between chasing debt freedom and building some emergency funds become easier goals to achieve. Panic not, the door to frugal living is always open. 😊

Today, I've achieved 2 major goals… 3, if I include filling car up with petrol at £1.599 per litre! Last time I filled up was just before fuel prices hit £1.96 per litre! I spent £170 on annual road tax this month so next due is the insurance. I cancelled my auto renewal as the premium had gone up by £50 for no good reason. A price comparison via TCB gocompare found over 100 quotes, most of them less than my renewal. New policy came in at about £80 less so that's now scheduled for next month. Paid with cashback CC and the gocompare search tracked on TCB so I might eventually get £45 cashback for purchasing via that comparison website. Fingers crossed!

What was the other thing? Oh yes! I had done a supermarket home delivery order after asking H to do a grocery inventory. Decided to double check and clean out the freezer while doing that and guess what? I ended up cancelling the supermarket order! There were do many bits and pieces lurking at the bottom of the freezer that I here's probably enough to last a fortnight. Honestly, how can anyone miss full bags of veg, mince, bacon and an entire chicken crown! If you want a job done... And all that. I evicted a few polar bears while I was in there. 🤣 The money saved on insurance, petrol and cancelling groceries has been transferred directly to premium bonds for safe keeping.

I'm going to complete my annual tax return tonight. I need that out the way so I know it's done.

PipneyJane

Was it lovely and cold in the freezer, @Frugaldom ? 😀

Re the personal allowance, I hate to break it to you but if the Conservative Government hadn’t frozen it in 2021 and it’d had been allowed to rise with inflation, it’d be £16,014 today.

How is everyone coping with the heat? I’m living in shorts and a t-shirt, at the moment. Looking forward to it cooling off overnight/tomorrow. (It was 31c here earlier today.). Both of us have vacuum-flask type water bottles on the go and are drinking copious amounts of dilute squash.

Dinner tonight is yet another salad, but this time it’s built around some buckwheat from the pantry - a L1dl “Polish Week special” - and a large tin of salmon purchased God-knows-when. We had a couple of carrots, some sweet peppers and a handful of mushrooms left in the fridge, plus some spring onion and rocket, so I’ve added a tin of sweetcorn, too.

• Pip

Frugaldom

@PipneyJane Wow! I'd be rich if I had that amount coming in the door, but then probably wouldn't know what to do with it. Life is surprisingly inexpensive in frugal living debt freedom when there's no mortgage or rent to pay. It may not be the most exciting lifestyle for most and there are definitely few luxuries but it can be done and still allow for some savings & investments. Itl be interesting to see what the next increase in personal allowance is.

Coping with heat here by starting earlier so all the animals are sorted before high noon then staying in the shade thereafter. It's overcast today and we've had some spurs and spots of rain. I hope that stays away long enough for the farmers to get the hay in! Half expecting to hear from neighbour re help with sheep shearing.

MrsCD

I would appreciate the threshold moving up a bit too. I have 90p less than the full state pension per week, and a very small pension from part time work and when I first started working, bc (before children!) My work pensions take me over the threshold, so I pay tax on around £150 per month! 😞 It also means I'm not eligible for any benefits...

joedenise

There won't be an increase in the personal tax allowance anytime soon! The government have frozen it until 2031 at the moment - wouldn't be surprised if it gets frozen again either!