Jump Start Aug: Tenner Week: Day 3
Can you live on £10 for a week, and still have a good week? We’re certainly going to try! As today’s Saturday, you might be in the habit of going around the shops for some or most of the day, or spending some time doing price research and online shopping. Today we’re going to go shopping with no money.
This isn’t as difficult as it sounds – you may well have some points or vouchers you can use, which might have come to light last week while you were having a financial tidy-up. If you don’t have any of these, all is not lost: there might be a local organisation or hub for picking up unwanted stuff for free, or some way you can barter.
Have a look around for:
- Paper gift vouchers
- Gift cards
- Online vouchers
- Online store credit
- Supermarket loyalty points
- Nectar points or similar
- High street chemist loyalty schemes
- Freebies from apps
- Freecycle and Freegle
- Free section of Preloved, Gumtree, local community forum etc
- Swapping sites for clothes, books etc
- Skips outside houses (just ask nicely, never had anyone say no)
Money-off vouchers don’t count, unless there’s no minimum spend associated.
Today we’ve decided that we’d really love to get hold of a folding exercise bike. Quite a few people own these, but they often end up gathering dust, so we’re going to ask around to see whether anyone would like to give one away.
I’ve given away lots of things on Freecycle before, so now I feel it’s OK if I take something back out of the community, and I’ll also try the nearby-ish Freegle group too.
I’m also going to see what’s on offer at Preloved, as their free section is supposed to be good, and also there’s a community forum for my local postcode that might turn up a gem – plus it’d be easier to pick up.
Failing that, we have some Amazon vouchers, and vouchers for different supermarkets, so some kind of treat or useful item will be tracked down and purchased today.
Yesterday I spent 10p on root ginger, £1 on sweets and 99p on hair conditioner, so that’s £2.09 gone from the budget in total. I also watched about 40 minutes of TV: a 30 minute comedy show and 10 minutes of news headlines. So far, so good…
We’re going out to a tea party this afternoon, and will be doing home made fish and chips later this evening, with some garden vegetables on the side. No chance of going hungry at all, and really looking forward to everything.
How are you getting on today?
