Frugal Living

I'm trying my hand at being frugal, it's harder than it looks. For years I've had a good job with a decent wage and I take that too much for granted, I don't shop for a bargain, I'm too quick to go for named brands instead of supermarket's own. I eat too much convenience foods and rarely bake anything from scratch. So, as my part of saving for the economic downturn, I'm trying to live on less money and eeking out bargains wherever they may be.

Things I've done so far:
1. I've swapped my ISA savings to one with a better interest rate. OK, that's not saving money but just gaining a little extra.
2. I've set myself a food budget of £25 a week (previously I'd have quite happily spent double this).
3. I'm cooking from scratch and using up left over food (today I had a pasta salad for lunch made with pasta left over from Saturday and I'm also cooking a potato bake with mince left over from Saturday too).
4. I've had a clear out and found some forgotten gifts which can be given to someone else (I bought them for myself but chucked them in a cupboard and forgot until now).
5. I've read all my meters (gas and electricity) and sent them off to get an actual bill instead of an estimated one - why is it that nPower think I use £40 of gas a month?
6. Compared my usual Body Shop face wash (£6) to Simple from Boots (£3) and used my Boots points to get it free.
7. Written a shopping list and compared prices on www.mysupermarket.com to find the cheapest place to shop.
8. Trawled around Asda (yes, I have downsized my supermarket from Sainsbury's) with a calculator to make sure I didn't go over budget (actually spent £3 under and bought some extras which weren't on my list).
9. I went into town with Pete at the weekend and didn't buy anything!
10. Joined the library so I can still read loads of books but not buy any.

Things I'd like to do:
1. Re-use where possible - everything from old clothes to cardboard boxes. Old clothes which aren't good enough for charity can be cut up into dusters or odd cloths. Cardboard boxes can be cut up and made into a cat scratcher - I bought one (before my frugality) for £5 and it's just some cardboard strips wrapped around each other.
2. Buy supermarket own brand everything where possible - OK so Asda's own margarine might be pushing it but own brand flour, sugar etc is OK.
3. Make my own - chutneys, jams, biscuits, cakes etc. Although I did compare Nigella's Breakfast Bars to Frusli ones and they only work out 7p cheaper each and that's not taking into account the energy used to cook them.
4. Not turn the heating on - OK this is a little too easy over summer, but come winter I'm not going to turn the heating on until I've layered up on clothes and gotten under a blanket - sorry cat.
5. Make presents - I'm knitting now, so expect blankets and other wonderful things made from squares of knitting. I can make my own candles which are pretty decent and I've been busy making some cross stitch things (bookmarks etc) which are useable. I'm also going to bake biscuits and chutneys for Christmas and hope my family appreciate them.

I think it's possible for me to live on about two thirds of what I have been spending on junk. I'll try it for the next few months and maybe some of the habits will sink in and stick with me.