Frugal Living

Me & OH have been chatting about living frugally for a year & how we'd be able to pay a large amount off our mortgage. OH said I could save a lot by not going on the holidays we do . I said we could save money with food shopping, everyday shopping etc, for example yesterday I bought toothbrush refills for my electric toothbrush which were £13, I could have bought shops own toothbrushes for much cheaper, thus saving at least £12.

Anyhow the conversation went on & I was keen to leave frugal for a year but OH realised I was serious & sort of said not really.

My question is if you could live frugally for 1 year what would you use the savings on.

I know a lot of people on here live on a budget but I don't mean a budget I mean frugal.

You could give a really good donation to charity. Living frugally in the UK would probably be a luxury lifestyle to a sizeable percentage of the world's population!

It certainly would we've been to India and seen the poverty there, one day we went to a restaurant for lunch and I'd been ill so just had rice, which cost pennies, as we were eating a beggar came by and we ignored him, I couldn't eat all my rice and felt so guilty knowing I could leave the rice whilst the beggar went hungry.

I wouldn't want to do it. I like spending my money on treats etc now. I want to enjoy it while I have it, if tomorrow never comes and all that good stuff.

I spent way too many years being frugal out of sheer necessity - now that I can afford nicer things, no way would I choose to go backwards!

Jenna88 said:

I wouldn't want to do it. I like spending my money on treats etc now. I want to enjoy it while I have it, if tomorrow never comes and all that good stuff.

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swansong1a said:

I spent way too many years being frugal out of sheer necessity - now that I can afford nicer things, no way would I choose to go backwards!

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Interesting, we've spent years of living on a budget & I was brought up with having no money, my mum was a single parent & in those days there weren't the benefits you get now. Since the children left home we've had more spare income and I've found I spend money on nicer things, eg I bought myself a new waterproof jacket recently & would have gone for something cheaper but bought the Berghaus one 'cause I liked it & could afford it. I suppose the penny pincher in me is now questioning what I'm spending my money on.

I do think me & OH should go on the holidays we do whilst we are young enough to enjoy them.

Thanks for your views, I find it interesting

I live with my parents, and I don't earn much, so pretty much any disposable income is spent on whatever I want. However, I have just got a new job that has seen a big increase in earnings. I have bought a car and paid off all my credit card debt, and now I'm going to save up for a deposit for a house. So this means that although my income has increased I'll see a lot less of buying whatever I want for the next few years! I think living frugally isn't too bad when you can see an end in sight, or there's an end goal that you know is achievable.

I think living without holidays for a year or two isn't too big a sacrifice, and you could do less expensive alternatives like days out etc.

xxx