Jump Start Aug: Tenner Week: Day 2

It’s Day 2 of Tenner Week – how are you finding it so far? Today we’re concentrating on having a cheap, enjoyable night out, or a really good night in.

Depending on what’s left of your budget, you could:

• Attend a free event: promotion, community arts, house party etc
• Have a main course somewhere cheap, or with a voucher
• Go out for a couple of pints and some chips
• Do a simple 2-course dinner party & ask guests to bring drinks
• Have a movie night at home + home made pizza
• Toasted sandwiches and board/computer games

If you already have tickets booked for something, use them up. It isn’t cheating.

The Beau and I were planning on going out tonight because we have free entry to something (compensation for something else not being available), but it looks like we’ll be staying home and looking after poorly pets this evening instead. Curses, foiled again by the furry contingent.

Rather than sulking, I thought I’d make a special meal instead. There are some prawns in the freezer, along with half a can of frozen coconut milk, so I’m making a Thai-style curry and rice from scratch, using garden vegetables and herbs (holy basil, coriander). There’s also half an aubergine to throw in there – get down to Lidl, they’re 39p at the moment on special offer – and half a lime.

The only things that are missing are ginger and lemongrass, and I might buy a tiny piece of ginger at the corner shop. There are some cold beers in the fridge to wash the curry down with, and home made sorbet for dessert. Not bad for an improvised night in, anyway.

Yesterday I managed to have a no-spend day, so right now I still have £10.00 to spend. Unfortunately I forgot that I was doing the TV diet, and watched the last 20 minutes of Science Club, and 5 minutes of the news headlines, so that’s 25 minutes out of my 4 hours.

Available now: The ‘How to Live on £10’ ebook

To make your Tenner Week go with a bigger bang, try ‘How to Live on £10 a Week: Take the Tenner Week Challenge’. It includes a real life example of a shopping basket and menu, and plenty of free and cheap ways to keep yourself entertained.

It costs less than a cup of fancy coffee, and will save you loads of cash. You don’t need to own a Kindle to read this book – there’s free, safe official software you can download to read it on your phone, tablet or computer.