Since the start of this year I have been trying to be extra frugal when it comes to how much gas and electricity we are using and when I checked our bank account last week I was in for a nice surprise in the form of a refund for being in credit with both accounts, I finally had proof that being frugal really does pay off.

The good news didn’t stop there, as we are always in credit on both accounts our overall monthly payments have been reduced as well, with the cuts we have already made this year to our outgoing expenses this gives us so much more wiggle room to grow our savings and pay down our debt.

Sometimes it’s hard to see an overall result when you are doing very small things frugally every day, I’ve felt like some of the choices we have made this year about where and how to spend our money have been leading us off the path from our goals but I’ve realised that the small changes I make every day mean that we can make some mistakes and be a little frivolous every now and again.

Here are the things we have done so far this year that have made a huge difference

• Only use the central heating when absolutely necessary.
• Hung washing out to dry at every chance even in Winter.
• Been a stickler for switching lights and plugging off when not in use.
• Reduced washing loads by checking if clothes were really dirty.
• Cancelled Sky TV.
• Cancelled Netflix.

I know there is so much more we could do but for now, I’m happy with the changes we have made, I don’t want to live an extremely frugal life I’m just happy to save my family some money so we can enjoy little treats and days out throughout the year and eventually be totally debt free.

What have you done this year so far to save money? let me know if you have any hints or tips on living a more frugal lifestyle I love hearing from you.

Angela xx