End of year super frugal budget – Frugal challenge

How did you all do? I had some wins and some fails. There were certainly some weeks where I know I could have done without. And some weeks where I stuffed up completely and couldn't even afford parking at work.

Frugal wins for 2019:

1. Paid off my personal loan ($4000!)
2. Replaced my car for under $7000
3. Stuck to a budget
4. Learnt a lot of frugal recipes and tips
5. Managed to get a home office set up for under $200

These are the food related budget lessons I learnt:

1.  Soup makes a great lunch. On sale its $2 a can and really filling, super easy to stock up and grab
2. Meal plan. I write mine on the fridge in whiteboard marker so each morning I can see what I need to grab from the house and also know what I need to buy from the grocery store.
3.  I gave up my daily coke zero and hot chocolate habit. I rarely buy anything at work now.  

Honestly I have improved so much this year I cant wait to see what next year brings. I will have the relief of not having to pay for childcare, a saving of nearly $300 a fortnight! I hope to get better at not buying things I don't need or impulse buying. I have passed this year by saying,

"you don't need it right now, you can buy it later." 

Then later may not come, which means you didn't need it after all. Another one that has helped is knowing that ads and companies want you to buy their things, so of course they are going to say its the best of the best and you cant live without it. Well, you can!  I will do a whole post closer to the new year about my plans for 2020 because there are too many to fit on here today. 

But tell me, what are your tips or lessons for frugal living?