It’s Day 1 of our latest Tenner Week challenge, and the theme is Spring Cleaning. We’ll be living on a budget of £10 per person for extra spending (full list of what’s included or exempt here) and getting our houses in order at the same time.

It’s that time of year when I start itching for the Spring to start properly, and I want to sort out my home as the days become longer and brighter. As well as living on a budget this week, there will be a mini clean to try each day to keep you moving along and making progress. It’ll take your mind off being skint too…

For anyone who’s feeling brave, there are some suggestions for expanding the mini cleans. Don’t overdo it though, especially if you’re tired after work and going up and down stepladders.

Tenner Week Spring Clean Schedule

There’s something new to try every day, and we’re starting at the top and working down. Why try to fight gravity?

• Monday – Things are looking up (see below)
• Tuesday – A pane in the glass
• Wednesday – We get the picture
• Thursday – Get a handle on it
• Friday – Skirting and scuffs
• Saturday – Corners and carpets
• Sunday – Shut the front door

Today’s activity

This mini clean is called Things are looking up. All you have to do is look around the ceiling of one or more rooms, and do a quick clean. If you’re tired or busy, stick to one room – it will only take a few minutes.

1. With a dry duster or clean long-handled brush, sweep around the top of the room where the ceiling meets the walls. Pay particular attention to the corners where spiders most like to spin their webs.
2. Flick a dry duster around any lampshades or upper light fittings.
3. If you have a picture rail in your room, wipe that clean with a very slightly dampened cloth.
4. Dust the tops of any curtain rails or blinds.
5. Wipe the tops of doors and frames of pictures on the wall with a slightly dampened, but not wet, cloth.

If you’re feeling brave, do this around a floor of your house, or your whole flat.

If you’re feeling extra brave, clean the tops of the cupboards and the top of the cooker hob extractor fan (if you have one) in your kitchen.

I’ve just done this up a ladder using a microfibre cloth and slightly diluted multipurpose cleaner – it’s made a huge difference to how the kitchen feels and it didn’t take too long because they were fairly clean in the first place. Phew. Your mileage may vary on this one, depending on how long it’s been since the last clean.

There you go, this should be a simple, easy way to get started on a good Spring Clean.

Sticking to today’s budget

All the cleaning products and equipment were already here in the house, so it didn’t cost anything to clean up.

As it’s Monday it should be a fairly quiet day here, so I’ll try to have a no-spend day too. There are plenty of ingredients to use up and I’m also doing an Empty the Storecupboard Challenge, so we’ll hopefully be eating well.

Today’s lunch will be soup and a sandwich, and there’s a punnet of mushrooms to use up as soon as possible so it’s probably going to be mushroom quiche for dinner.

I’m also going to try catching up on my reading, as I’m behind on that. This time around I’m not going to do a strict TV Diet, in case I feel like having a rainy evening in watching a box set. We’ve been talking about re-watching Twin Peaks, which might be fun before the new series begins…

Looking ahead, my diary is quite busy for the next few days. However, I think everything we’ll be getting up to is pre-paid including some meals, and there are some free tickets too. The trick is not to get so rushed that I end up grabbing too many pricey snacks or coffees as a pick-me-up.

Are you planning ahead for Tenner Week? Will you be joining in with the Spring Cleaning schedule too?