Jump Start Jan 2016: Tenner Week Day 6
It’s Day 6 of our current Tenner Week budgeting challenge, and today is Really Relax Day. I know it would be lovely to have a day at a fancy spa or to lie on a tropical beach somewhere, but it’s good to unhook the idea of relaxing from the spending of huge amounts of money. You definitely don’t have to pay to relax.
Today is all about relaxing for free, which is great because by Day 6 most of us will be coming to the end of our budgets.
We might think that drinking a few beers is about relaxing, and I’m as guilty as the next person of saying ‘relaxing in front of the telly’, but we’re talking about actively relaxing rather than passively relaxing.
What could you try today? Try to do at least 10 minutes of any of the following:
- Sitting quietly alone and focusing on your breathing
- Listening to a free relaxation recording
- Using a meditation, mindfulness or deep relaxation app (Calm and Headspace have good free versions)
- Listening to nature sounds (playlists on streaming sites, free apps)
- Doing some yoga, tai chi or qi gong
- Lighting some candles and putting your feet up in the bath
Whatever you do, make sure it’s free!
What’s happening here
Yesterday was a day of really good hot food. I made porridge with bananas and honey for breakfast, had half a carton of (free) New Covent Carden Soup sweetcorn chowder for lunch, and salmon and hot salad for dinner.
I was busy with work most of the day, so didn’t get up to a lot else apart from inventing a new meal. That made it easy to have a no-spend day though, so I can’t complain.
Today I’m doing bangers and mash for dinner, and after that will be having a bit of a pamper night. That means a soak in the bath, relaxing music and making a point of completely switching off.
Total TV watched: 2 hours and 35 minutes
Total spent so far: £6.95
How is your budget looking so far this week? Can you find at least 10 minutes today to take time out and fully relax?
