2026 Frugal Living Challenge

Prudent

Sadly I don't think there is any increase in the personal allowance until 2028 , but even then it will probably be kicked into the long grass again.

It has felt quite a spendy month here. We have been on holiday for a week to the beautiful East Neuk of Fife, both my car insurance and car tax were due and I spent more than usual on gifts due to a special occasion. I didn't do as well as @Frugaldom with the insurance, only managing a £30 saving. My car tax is £20 so that is very do-able. I also bought a railcard as it works out slightly cheaper in total when buying a return train ticket to see family who live a couple of hundred miles away in England. However when I strip those things out of the total, I haven't spent much at all.

I had a lovely budget trip to the Royal Highland show last week as I was given free tickets and parking which would have been £110. There were so many free food and drinks available that we didn't need to buy any. I bought a tote bag to support the Clydesdale horse society, but otherwise had a fabulous free day.

We have a huge crop of strawberries this year and I have been enjoying eating them chilled on the hot days. Thankfully we are back to Scottish weather now after a huge thunderstorm yesterday.

I am planning to run down the freezer in July as I like to defrost it and clean it over the summer. There is plenty of food in there so I am hoping for a low July spend.

sheilavw

Shame no increase in the personal tax allowance anytime soon. Unleaded fuel is 147.9p in my area and has been for a few days. Hope it drops again

joedenise

Wow, that's much cheaper than here! Paid £1.51 yesterday and our local Tesco was £1.52.

retiredinfrance

You are all doing fine . Here in France it is 1.60 pounds ( converted from euros). X

PipneyJane

As of this morning, our local MrT has unleaded petrol at 149.9p/L, while the Sainsbugs is 151.9p/L. DH filled up his car on Friday in C0stc0 for 147.9p/L. C0stc0 is always cheaper, but you have to be a member to fill up and not all stores have petrol stations. (DH works near the Reading branch, which does. He’s taking my car on Tuesday, to fill up on his way home from work.)

Talking of C0stc0, we visited our local branch today to pick up some salmon. The place was heaving! Is there a water shortage in London? Because I think we were the only people in the shop who weren’t buying cases of bottled water. What’s wrong with tap water? OK, ours doesn’t always taste that nice, but that’s why we add squash.

• Pip

joedenise

There was someone in our Tesco @PipneyJane and the only thing in the trolley was packs and packs of water! We've got bottled water at the moment but only because we were away in our motorhome last week and our water pump broke so had to buy bottled water for everything and it's just the few bottles left over from that! Still using tap water for most things though now we're home.

PipneyJane

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82050809#Comment_82050809

You are excused, @joedenise. You have a valid excuse.

As for the rest of them… well, I’m gobsmacked! The queue for bottled water was snaking around the store!

• Pip

ETA: did you have a good trip?

MrsCD

Saved on car insurance this week... Renewal from AA was £450, looked around and went with Hastings for £338! 😊

Frugaldom

Good (very late) evening to all.

The petrol prices are interesting. My outing home via petrol station was almost 48 miles and that is the only petrol station available in that direction. Rural living has it's drawbacks. After cancelling my home delivery order, which was about £60, I stopped off at the village store and spent £23 on some fruit, veg, toiletries, cleaning items and absolute non essentials like expensive ice cream lollies and drinks. There's enough to keep the household going for another week and by then I could be a millionaire, if luck would allow. 🤣

joedenise

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82051014#Comment_82051014

We had a good time while we were there but ended up coming home early as it was too much with the heat and the lack of running water! We were supposed to be on holiday until the middle of July! We used to love the heat but definitely not as much as we get older!!!!