First Saving Steps

I've cracked and had to go to the supermarket and it's only day one of the big save.
All be it for essentials only but i still had to go and I broke the golden rule and went while i was pekish!
Three things on the list, eggs, juice and bread. I won't compromise on free range eggs so I bought myself half a dozen. I will mention here I own two chickens but they are Bantams and produce not only half size eggs but not many of them either, so I do have to top up their offerings with the supermarkets! Juice was next one this list and at half the price I've had a bash at sampling 'value' juice (I may have to re-package it to disguise this from Max) but I reckon it tastes ok and I can't start my day without a glass of juice, it helps to convince me that I'm close to getting my Five a day. The trouble was I buckled at the final moment when it came to bread, my idea was to bake my own but the smells wafting out from the bakery drew me straight into my all time favourite of tiger bread (for those who don't know crusty white bread laced with something addictive so you scoff the whole loaf at once) so i snatched up a loaf, legged it to the till and paid before i had a chance to stop myself.
So £3 spent, lets see how long I have to go before I next dip into my purse.
With chickens like these it may time some time before I'm self sufficient on eggs.

Basics or Branded?

Right, if we need to save 30 quid a day, I am aware we may need to make some economies. While fully committed to our aim, I'm not happy about the idea of 'value' or 'basics' pickle. I'd rather go without than have non branded pickle for my sandwiches. Am I being fussy? I don't mind value bog roll or basics cartons of tomatoes, I'll even drink sub £3 wine but some things I think should be a luxury or not at all. You don't get value squid, do you? This post is mostly for Nancy, but any feedback welcome - what supermarket items would you never compromise on price for?

To begin at the beginning

We are nearing the end of six weeks of summer holidays and the reality of life back at work has firmly kicked in.
Trudging down the work path for another thirty plus years fills my husband and I with, well what can I say, a certain sense of depression and darkness! Our dreams of sustainable living, writing novels and making a living from art are well and truly being pushed into retirement.
Combine that with bottomed out bank accounts (all be it from a lovely three weeks in France) and another year in which we haven't managed to get it together to sort out our delapidated bathroom, damp cellar or tumbling down sheds and some Suffolk astrological alignment seems to have taken place with the time and motivation to act appearing from thin air.
From an afternoon of Googling, with only the Google patience that men have, the solutions to our financial crisis appeared.
Save yourself £30 a day and you will be mortgage free in five years
Seems like an impossible task, but the more we consider it the more we think that just maybe (and its one big maybe) it's do-able. Perhaps not the full £30 each day but we think we could get close and to start the challenge we've decided to see how little we can live off for one month. Thats Four week-ends, 30 days and 720 hours.