How’s your Tenner Week challenge going so far? Today is Day Five and we are going to be looking for free education and learning opportunities, large and small.

It could be something academic, or work related, or practical or creative – completely up to you, according to your priorities and personal tastes. Education and learning are for everyone, we should never stop learning and growing.

If you’re low on funds, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you’re locked out of education. Sometimes you can find what you need for the price of a bought book or two, or as a subsidised short course from your local authorities, or via a grant or bursary or award of some sort.

And, of course, there is quite a lot of education out there that’s both good quality and free. We DO need experts, so let’s find a few extra ways to learn from them…

A few ideas for finding free education / learning / training

• Borrow books, audio or DVDs from your local library
• Watch a highly-rated TED Talk or two, or try informal but fun Ted-Ed
• Free university lectures from individual colleges, the Open University, Open Culture or via iTunes U at the iTunes Store
• All kinds of courses at KhanAcademy or Coursera
• Free local courses to improve your money management, health, maths and english skills, etc (check with your local council, charities and community centres)
• For free online courses that give you certifications on completion, visit Alison and FutureLearn
• Practical skills via Instructables, YouTube ‘how to’ tutorials, Videojug
• Get someone you know to teach you a skill, maybe in return for cooking them a meal or as part of a skills swap

All you need to do today is spend at least 20 minutes finding a course to join, reading a book that will increase your knowledge on any subject you like, or listening to / watching an interesting presentation.

What’s happening here

I managed another no-spend day yesterday, but it was freezing cold outside so there was absolutely no temptation to head out to the shops or traipse out at break time for a coffee. Anyway, that means I’ve still only spent £2.20, so things are looking good at the moment.

The optional TV Diet is going well too, and I didn’t watch any telly yesterday. That still leaves me about an hour and a half of screen time for Friday and Saturday, as long as I don’t watch anything tonight.

Yesterday I had leftover pudding for breakfast with a helping of frozen fruit (defrosted), used up some eggs for lunch that are approaching their use-by date, and had leftover pasta bake reheated for dinner with a side salad of tomatoes and capers. All very tasty, and kind of handy to have leftovers for dinner so I didn’t have to cook.

Wednesday’s activity was to have some free or thrifty pampering, so I had a long soak in the bath and deep conditioned my hair, then lounged around in my PJs reading a book. It was the perfect antidote to the cold and dark outside, and I might just have to make every Wednesday night pampering night from now on.

I think I might have a look through some business books today, including one I picked up last week. Improving your work skills is always useful.

What might you want to learn today? Are you surprised at the amount of free education available? Let us know how your Tenner Week budgeting’s going too.