Could you live on £10 a week? Could you have an enjoyable week and keep yourself entertained as well? It is possible! Put your budgeting skills to the test, and give yourself a confidence boost.

Welcome to PennyGolightly.com, the home of the Tenner Week Challenge. We’ve been challenging ourselves and each other since 2009, and hold a new £10 Week every few weeks.

It’s a simple challenge – you live on a cash budget of £10, stretched out over seven days – a useful thing to try if you’re low on funds the week before payday, getting out of the habit of overspending, or trying to kick start some savings. There’s an optional TV diet too, so you don’t end up slumped in front of the telly in the evenings.

Your £10 personal budget is for:

  • Any food & drink you might buy
  • Going out
  • Entertainment
  • Hobbies
  • Any other shopping
  • etc

The £10 doesn’t cover rent, mortgage, utility bills, prescriptions, travel to and from work, anything you need to buy for work, tickets or subscriptions you’ve already purchased, or money you need to spend on your kids / pets / partner.

You are encouraged to recycle, mend, upcycle, improvise, use up whatever you already have, and avoid waste wherever you can.

The TV diet, if you decide to do it, means sticking to a limit of 4 hours or less in front of the screen at home or at a friend’s house. You’re allowed to watch TV at the gym, or watch a film at the cinema if you have a free or cheap ticket, without adding that to the weekly total.

You get ‘bonus points’ for keeping busy on a budget too, for example:

  • Keeping in touch with friends
  • Rediscovering old hobbies & activities
  • Getting your home into shape
  • Learning something new
  • Eating healthily
  • Keeping up your fitness levels
  • Being creative
  • Finding useful freebies
  • Helping others

Anyone can do a Tenner Week of their own any time they like, but it’s more fun to join in when other people are doing one, so that you can swap tips, recipes and ideas.

For the latest £10 Week Challenge, and to see past weeks, visit the Live on £10 category where all the posts are listed. There’s a Twitter hashtag too: look out for mentions of #tennerweek.

Get the ebook!

We also have an ebook for anyone who wants to take the Tenner Week challenge. It’s packed full of even more thifty ideas and resources to help you eat well and live well on less. Please buy a copy and help support this site.

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