Anyone else being super frugal to try to make the most of income to be able to afford holiday etc ( rather than little treats , any spare money disappearing) .

[Getoverits]

I dont mean to offend anyone who is struggling every single day and has no wiggle room at all .

We are on a moderate income and the cost of living , as has for many, has hit .

We live in an affluent area and people have multiple holidays , eat out several times a week , have felt no effect.

It has made me realise that in order to have holidays we now need to save very very hard . That if we want hols we simply cannot do things like regular coffees out. ( never done meals out unless special occasion) no higher end ish make up for me !

we have devised a plan - with literal pots of money for
food
petrol
toiletries
etc
we are on £60 pw for food ( for 2 of us) - sick of dhal I must say - but it allows for a bottle of wine in buget!
We did really well i think this month.
Ive got a day planned to meet a good friend soon and it will be odd to meet her as we normally treat ourself to lunch n wine - i dont want to be mean . ! I will need to join in on this occasion .
anyone else do this long term and keeping the eye on the goal. ?
out adult dc go out for lunch or coffee as a normal thing. We now take a flask - well this month. !
the other day i got a very strong urge to by something ( probably anything!)
am wondering if it can become second nature … anyone else practice frugality in order to use any spare ( not really big amounts) cash in order to use money as well as possible ?

There are several No Spend/Low Spend/Mindful Spend threads where people discuss these topics.

People there have been able to put away money from underspends etc. to pay off credit cards, to put money aside for holidays.

It's eye-opening to realise that a daily £5 Starbucks/whatever habit is almost £2,000 a year.

Somewhere, there's an estimate that people can average about £27.40 a day on minor spends - a treat, a magazine, a book stuff for the children. That's just over £10,000 a year.

It's so easy for small amounts to add up. Conversely, reversing those spends frees up money if we allocate it to something else that we want.

Im a bit sick of soup tbh

I booked our hol as i very sadly lost a much loved close relative
But after 2 very tough years and no overseas hol since 2019 - i bkd it

' borrowed ' money from some inheritance i got.

Will be ' replacing ' / paying back that money over 4 / 5 months tho

I sell old clothes 4 Less via vinted which is helping towards food inflation a bit - i joke that it pays 4 blue beries and raspberries lol

Ok - will look for these topics hadnt noticed them .

no inheritance to dip into/ borrow from .. so need to wait it out .

i will see if have any stuff to sell on vinted .

just read how much coffees can cost pa ! Wow !

Dya use top cashback / quidco ?

I made 700 gbp last year from u switch current acc switches too...

' free ' 175 if you swap 2 first direct
& excellent service .. use the u switch service and its very safe / secure

Attapoll is good for making a few quid

Prolific too

When your going 4 a meal or to a ' place' - join the email list first - - often get a discount through then

worldwidetravel2017 do you have to transfer yr current account - all the d debits etc?

We've ditched holidays for the duration.

We go to a couple of festivals each year, one is free for kids so just pay adult tickets and eat mainly picnic food whilst there.

We can visit GPs for a staycation in the holidays and that'll have to do!

I'm like this, I don't really treat myself to coffee or magazines, or little treats, because they don't really give me any kind of gratification. I would rather put the money towards an experience like a day out or holiday.

I get the urge to spend like anyone else, but I'm making sure I get the best price by comparing price history and have a list of things I need to buy instead of impulse spends, and alerts set up so we can stretch the money further and making it work harder for us.

I've focused my spending in January on Christmas and birthday spends because the sales are 50%+, comparing prices to lowest prices from last year for the things I always buy like aftershave, or skincare or the kids interests. Last year I left it until November and although in budget, could have been less spend or a few extra things people wanted. I can't buy everything now as the tv hasn't told them what they want yet, but I've spent less on the regular purchases, stocking fillers and things like cards and wrapping paper. I have a fair few to buy for, leaving it late was stressful.

I save into help2save (we qualified during lockdown) and the end goal is the final balance will pay for a holiday.

Other things I do that help are surveys which can be quite lucrative, and lead on to panels or focus groups that pay anywhere from £10-£150 although not common, they do help. Daily free spins on betting sites - I cashed out £29 last week from 5 spins won on the daily free game. I do shopandscan which is scanning your shopping, which gives me approx £120 a year in Amazon. Receipt scanning apps extra £5 amazon a month. Mystery shopping can be good, I've had free jewellery from a well know shop to the value of £75 for a visit, free meals, free petrol, free bowling etc - I haven't done this in a while due to young kids but it is a fun way of earning a little extra and doing dtuff.

The kids have boxes upon boxes in their room of toys and things they haven't even looked at in years, I expect we will sort through them and use or sell them to put money towards something they want to do over summer holidays.

There are certain terms
You have to pay 1000 gbp in within so long

Always good to read the ts and cs

I downloaded the snoop app to track our finances and was horrified at how much I spent on takeaways...

I'm being more considerate about the small spends, but they're definitely still happening. I just really try to make them a conscious choice rather than an unthinking "I fancy a coffee". I go out with DS1 once a week and share a milkshake, for instance, and that feels like a very good way to spend my money. If I'm going out for a walk with my friend I'll take a thermos mug of coffee.

Takeaway has been the hardest one, so every "extra" money I make by surveys (I do yougov primarily) or by selling things goes into a takeaway fund.

I purchased an a5 folder thingy with plastic zipper wallets inside and dividers and have set up 5 sections in it

Xmas saves
Birthdays
Car
Household emergencies
Any extras

I put a certain amount into each on a week )£30 into Xmas and birthday ones,£20 into car one and £20 into household emergencies.

Any left over (I get paid cash for some of my work) goes into the household emergencies one.

To be able to load these wallets up I've swapped tobacco for an ecig that I pay £5 a week for cartridges for and I no longer buy iced coffee out,I've started making it saving me around £25 a week so I'm taking that cash out of my account to load the wallets up

In terms of household we are going to Aldi with a list every week and no mid week top ups now.

Our weekly budget is £165 for four of us including mince and veg for the dogs and that seems to be working well

I'm making a few slow cooker meals per week which is saving and much tastier than thrown together quick food.

We've down branded and this week being not so cold here our heating and electric seems to be lasting longer.

I read a thread on here by a poster who sits every year end of the year and looks at how much their outgoings have gone up in that year and make a plan for the next year and how to absorb the increase and that helped me massively in terms of sorting out old debts and getting rid of them and checking out renewals on stuff

I'd say you can still have treats but plan them. I'm not as disciplined as some but for years I've put aside £50 a month for treats - straight out of one account to another on payday. So that way you can still do things with your friends without it getting awkward. Just don't do incidental spending as well!

Oh yeah and for big things like holidays have a separate savings account, again with the money going out on payday. Set up a budget, be realistic about how much you absolutely need a month, everything else gets transferred. Make it instant access so it's there for when things go tits up but after six months you'll be surprised at how much it's grown. Then book your holiday.

As others have said...look for ways of making money not just saving it.

In terms of switching bank accounts they all have different t&c - some have barely any conditions others require a set amount coming in/qt least 2 direct debit etc. I have a second account separate from my main account that I use for switching that only has 2 dds for small things like gym membership/charity dd or whatever. I switch this every month or so to get the bonuses whereas my main account where my pay and most bills come out of stays the same so I barely notice the switch.

If you and dp both have current accounts you can make over £1000 each by the time you go through all the switching bonuses etc. With my current one I also got 6 free cinema tickets = would equal 3 free nights out for you and your dp.

Also in terms of meeting your friend-I understand if you usually go for food and have a drink then not getting the wine will seem like a loss, but if you switched to doing something completely different instead (walk on the beach on a sunny day/food at yours/cinema trip etc) it would be cheaper and feel a bit special.

For little treats look on MSE for the list of everywhere that gives you free birthday goodies and sign up for them all (create a different email just for that if you don't want to get spammed!) - none of them ever actually ask for proof so you can spread the day you put as your birthday throughout the year so get a little free treat every month!

I don’t need to cut back on spending but I don’t like to be wasteful with my money.

I ask for coffee shop vouchers for Christmas presents, when I’ve spent these I only buy drinks from Greggs or McDonald’s.

I have signed up for so many restaurants I only eat out if I get an offer emailed to me.

I enjoy a mooch around town but try and stick to pound land type of shops.

I don’t go crazy at Christmas and then have a rubbish January.

Yes - my DH and I are the same. Couple of years ago we were much better off than we are now. We even saved up for a wedding and honeymoon. Now everything is so expensive, we are feeling the pressure!
We now have to really think about what we spend and what we save. We've swapped our abroad holidays (New York, Bali, Mexico etc) to Europe and UK holidays. No takeaways, minimal coffees out. More slow cooker meals, vegetarian meals. Shopping around for the best price. Waiting until Christmas/Birthdays for new clothes/items we want.

@easylikeasundaymorn we also enjoyed the 6 free re cliner cinema tickets from Lloyds bank

What's the holiday that you're saving up for? I might be projecting as I had some friends who were super tight but took really elaborate exotic holidays.

I have friends who don't have the money to go out as a whole family it just gets £££ so they tend to do hospitality at their place (bring and share) and when we do go out it's not the whole family just one or two.

ZenNudist we want to be able to go to a warm place for a cole weeks next winter in our camper van . Its 1k plus for ferry , then camp cost .

We're a bit like this - we're usually relatively frugal on a day to day basis, but then we're happy to spend on days out and holidays etc.

We each have a monthly set budget for whatever we want to buy - I think this really helps.

And it's often easier to make money than to save it, so I often do overtime at work as well.

We had years of living on a shoestring when we were saving for a deposit and even after we bought it was years before we could relax the purse-string. Holidays were non-negotiable ,nothing fancy but it gave us something to look forward to and a break from the everyday. For treats we used Tesco rewards vouchers to eat out once in a while and Nectar points were great to buy gifts for Birthdays and Christmas.

Generation Z turn to money-saving TikTok challenges amid the cost of living crisis

they tell friends they aren't meeting up for dinner as they are saving money, whether they meet in the park with a flask and homemade sandwich im not sure

Have become a bit careless with the budget, nothing big, just throwing in all sorts of extras into the trolley without much thought over the last year, but i sat today and did my sums, realised that despite working more hours I have less left per month. I really need to reign it in and would rather save for a few nice days out or a cheap holiday than fritter away mindlessly.