Lessons learned from Tenner Week January 2016

Tenner Week January 2016 has been and gone, and in some ways it was a little easier than previous £10 budgeting challenges but it was much tougher in others.

Living on a tight budget for the week had the obvious advantage of drastically reducing my outgoings, which meant a bit more money in the bank at the end of the month. That’s always useful in January.

This time around though, the money felt trickier than usual. The week before had been Organise and Declutter Week, and I had a shopping list of organising nicknacks to buy by the end of that, including wardrobe organisers such as boxes and hangers, notebooks, replacement clothes and shoes, and a wall chart. I made the mistake of going window shopping for all of this extra stuff during Tenner Week, just to get an idea of the prices, and soon enough I was struggling with the urge to buy a bunch of stuff that was beyond my budget.

eBay was the worst of all. I thought I’d watch a few similar items to get a rough idea for how much they fetched at auction – and of course I ended up finding a dream purchase that I’d been looking for for ages…and had to step back and watch someone else buy it. The No Window Shopping Rule will be back in full force next time I do a Tenner Week, it just isn’t worth the temptation or the hassle.

On a more cheerful note, the week’s menu was healthy, tasty and filling. It was perfect during the grotty weather, and somehow we also managed to get our five fruit and vegetables a day too. The storecupboard and freezer are well stocked at the moment so we didn’t need to buy much.

The only money I ended up spending during the week was on a light lunch for myself and Beau during a rainy day out in town, a grand total of £6.95.

I also undertook the TV Diet during my Tenner Week challenge. It went pretty well, and I managed to watch well under four hours of telly. That was partly because I was out at a few free events during that time, and the other evenings I felt quite sleepy (lousy weather makes me hibernate) so I wasn’t in the mood for goggleboxing. The list of daily activities helped too, and was a good use of the time and my remaining energy.

As always with the TV Diet, things got done!

So all in all, it was a good week. I think I’ll be doing another one again soon.

Did you join in with this Tenner Week? How did you get on, and do you have any tips for newbies?