Tenner Week March 2023: Day 7

It’s Day Seven of our latest Tenner Week budgeting challenge, and it’s our final day so let’s go out with a bang.

Today’s activity is called ‘On the mend‘ and we’re going to fix something ourselves or look into getting it fixed in a free or cost-effective way. Mending is nearly always an excellent way to save money, and it’s also a way to reuse what we own and cut down on waste.

Here are a few ideas to get you started, and I’m sure you can think up a few more:

• Minor bicycle repairs such as fixing a punctured tyre
• Fix the screw on the hinge of your glasses or sunglasses
• Sewing to repair clothes, bags, or other accessories
• Sewing to repair curtains, sheets, bath towels or other household textiles
• Glue ceramics back together, or other household items
• Mend a pair of shoes, or track down somewhere that does the repairs you need
• Fix tiles or sealant in your bathroom or kitchen
• Spend time hunting down replacement parts (you don’t have to buy them today, just add it to your shopping list if it’s cost-effective)
• Find a local repair cafe or mending club (ideally free or low cost) – if you’re in or near London then it’s London Repair Week and there are several events on today.
• Look to see whether there’s an official Repair Cafe near to you.

By the way, if you don’t have anything broken or damaged to mend today, you might like to try doing some minor DIY, home or garden maintenance, or upcycling instead.

What’s happening here

Saturday was fairly low key, and I spent some of it getting our kitchen garden up and running properly for the coming months. That included getting more seedlings started off indoors, and sowing up some different varieties of cut and come again salad leaves.

And for today? I’ve somehow managed to catch a button on my favourite crochet jacket on something and rip a hole in the garment at the same time as pinging the button off. Today’s mending job for me is going to be repairing the crochet (possibly after watching a YouTube tutorial or something because I’ve never done that before) and getting the wayward button fixed back onto it.

The weather’s been very patchy this week but hopefully we’ll be able to get out for a leisurely walk somewhere or meet up with friends later. I’m not planning on having a no-spend day, and there might be a quick pub lunch or coffee and a toasted sandwich on the cards as long as I don’t have to shell out for any groceries.

I’ve been using the £25 budget option this time around and I’m starting to wonder whether it’s been over-generous for people who didn’t have a completely empty fridge at the start of the week. Will have a think about it over the next few days and see how the dust settles. Right now there’s £11.01 left for me to play with.

Total spent yesterday: £0.

Total spent so far: £13.99 (from £25 all-in budget)

What do you have hanging around your home that needs mending, and is there a free or simple way to fix it? What’s your budget looking like on the last day of our money-saving challenge?