I'm 40 from the UK and after a few years of hard work I'm fairly frugal and doing well

I can't remember seeing many stories about life from the UK so here I go. I'm a 40 year old father of 2 boys, 14 and 17 who both play a sport a lot and are both pretty big.<br><br>I have a good job in construction, don't want to say how much I earn but I'm doing ok with it.<br><br>In the last few years I have made the decision to live more frugally:<br><br>I work out at home, £0 a month, I bought a few cheap weights and do a lot of body weight exercises and running.<br><br>I cook most of my food, £50 a week for myself and the 2 boys. We can eat quite a bit and I try to make sure there is always plenty on their plates. I often make big portions of a meal and freeze a few for them to take for lunch when they are out and about. When I first started to cook myself I spent a lot of time reading up on the cheapest and most filling foods and I have put a list at the bottom.<br><br>I have cancelled Netflix and get the free trial for 30 days with Amazon prime every month. £0 a month.<br><br>I don't buy new clothes, I got a few bits of furniture cheap from friends but the majority of my clothes are from 2nd hand shops, or given to me by friends or family. When I was 18 - 25 I didn't really care about money and spent quite a bit on clothes but looking back now after having to go without money for a number of years I realise how unnecessary it was.<br><br>I don't drink any alcohol, I used to drink a fair amount but would always get very drunk and feel terrible the next day, I didn't drink at all for maybe 6 months last year and when I started again I could feel all the bad side effects that I had forgotten.<br><br>I don't go to a barber to get my hair cut, £0 every 6 weeks. I used to pay £9 every 6 weeks but I just bought the clippers for £30 and did it myself.<br><br>I have stopped putting money into my pension and I have taken out the money that I already put in. I didn't have much but I have used some of it to do some training that I needed to progress in my career. The rest I have saved to replace my car in about 3 years. A lot of the comments suggest this is a bad idea, I just feel that I'm not at an age where I need to begin to save for when I stop working, I'm open to learning about it more.<br><br>I drive an old car that is on its last legs, it's a £500 car that I bought maybe 9 or 10 years ago. I've replaced a few parts, over the years I've had it resprayed and changed the wheels and arches. I reckon I've spent another £1000 on top of the £500 but at the time I wasn't saving money, it was just something to do and I enjoyed it. I keep the car well maintained but for the price of the car I'm not going to spend big on it. I'm planning to keep driving this car for maybe 2 or 3 more years and then replace it with a newer car. I'm not great financially and I don't want to spend money I don't have on a newer car and the insurance and tax for a newer car will be costly.<br><br>In total each month I managed to save £2000. I have some debt left from when I was younger, a bank loan and credit card which I'm now working on paying off. The bank loan from the bank is at 0% interest so I will just have to pay back what I have borrowed whereas my credit card is £3000 at 4% so I'm trying to pay that off quicker and I'm managing £200 a month and they add £12 interest each month.<br><br>I'm hoping to clear my debts in the next 2 years and then I can work on saving money. I'm hoping to have a good amount of money to spend on my sons as I missed out on a lot when they were younger. I'm quite excited for the future and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do and having a bit of money to spend.<br><br>Some of my go to meals and from £1 a meal<br><br>Pot noodles 40p per noodle<br>Rice and spam £1 can of spam (makes 2 portions) and a big bag of rice (£1.50)<br><br>Tuna and rice 2 cans of tuna for £2, big bag of rice £1.50 and 20 vegetables for £1<br>Eggs on toast, 30 eggs for £1.50 and a loaf of bread for 50p<br>Omelette 30 eggs for £1.50 and 6 sausages for £1<br>Baked beans on toast, beans for 40p and a loaf of bread for 50p<br>Sausage and potato, 6 sausages for £1, 20 potatoes for £1 and 20 vegetables for £1<br> Fried rice, big bag of rice for £1.50, 2 cans of tuna for £2 and 20 vegetables for £1<br><br>Thanks for reading.