Been a while since I’ve blogged about anything, just been difficult. When I feel ill I become too lazy, and the thought of switching the laptop on and thinking and writing about something was not very appealing when all I wanted to do was waste hours in the day crawling under the duvet. Then we changed out telephone provider, finally left TalkTalk, ridiculous service might I add, but with that my internet connection. Although I’ve yet to convinced my mother the importance of having internet at home (which she thinks only students need…) I have been accessing it at various free wi-fi hotspots. However when I first purchased my laptop it was not for travelling around with so yeah it’s heavy and yeah that makes me lazy (like I need an excuse but here’s one anyway). Anyway January has been more manic then I planned it to be but I guess that’s what makes it fun. So what made me want to blog today? Well I wanted to write about my challenge I’ve started with one of my friend. (Yeah I know haven’t finished one and starting another, but this one doesn’t require internet usage so makes it easier :-)).
And the challenge is the 7 Day £10 Challenge.
I orginally saw it on Penny Golightly’s blog where she managed to get by a week on just a tenner and thought wouldn’t it be cool to try that one week. She did do a fiver in a week, but maybe that was a little too optimistic at this point. And also seeing as I am broke til payday thought what better time to do it then now!
So I was speaking to a friend about it and we decided to start the challenge on Wednesday. The idea is to not spend more than £10 over 7 days which includes food, social cost, travel (unless it’s a travelcard). However we should not stop socialising and stay at home to save money. We should do as we doing, just be a bit more creative.. It’s now mid-week so thought I’ll give an update on how we’re doing:
Wednesday: Walked it to work, and took soup and bread from home then walked it back home. I spent: £0.00 My friend: £3.00
Thursday: At home with my nephews, then went to the library to send an email and walked it to Mile End Ecology Centre where I was holding a stall for work. They provided refreshments, water, chocolate, biscuits and fruit. Then walked it home. When I got home, found out my mum was planning to go out to do sauna with a friend so thought I might as well join her since my evening meeting had been cancelled that day. Walked it there but had to buy a bottle of water for £1.30 which was annoying since about 20mins before the need to take a bottled water came up, I threw a bottle in the recycling bin. And as is usually the case couldn’t find a single bottle at home so had to purchase one there. Oh and 20p for the locker. I spent: £1.50. My friend: £3.50
Friday: ok we cheated here and decided to skip this day, only because we both really needed a pick-me-up and also because we were doing another challenge (will write about in another blog post *must not diagress*) we set ourselves so we allowed it (yes I know breaking the rules but hey it’s our challenge..)
Saturday: Day begin with cycling training. Yes I confess, I don’t know how to ride a bike. My parents never really encouraged us to ride one, I mean they tried with the 2 extra training wheels, but didn’t push us any further. And me not really like any form of physical activity never saw the need to learn to ride. Anyway it was on my to-do-list for a while but taking the initiative to call someone up to teach me just didn’t happen (yes serial procrastinator here). Anyway I came across a gumtree ad about two days ago, followed by an ad on the TV screens at Bow Idea Store, so decided it was a sign, it’s now or never. Plus my friend wants to go riding in Hyde Park in the summer so thought I’ll try it for her. And it was free 🙂 Well first 4 hours are subsidied by the the council, so got in touch with Bikeworks and strolled down to Victoria Park at 11am. And if you’re curious no I haven’t learnt anything yet. The fact my arms were aching tells me I’m doing it wrong. But I’m hoping by the fourth hour I’ll be doing something that resembles a cyclist… Anyway then went to meet the girls for lunch. Haven’t seen them for a while and it was one of their birthday earlier in the month so thought we’d get together. They went ice-skating first. I passed, ice-skating is not for me. Then I meet them at Jom Makan Restaurant. Turns out they do a lunch time buffet, £6.50 including a drink.. how could I resist 🙂 Might I add the service there is really good, even made extra food for me, as the food was running out. After that I went to house warming party at a friend who I meet last week during bowling in Tottenham Hale. It was the first time I went down that area and I must say if you’re redecorating your house, that’s where you want to be. Aside from that, I thought it was polite to get her something, unfortunately my budget didn’t allow me much. So I pulled out a free packet of basil seeds a colleague gave me and presented it to her. Luckily she didn’t take it the wrong way 🙂 Yes I know I was being cheap, but unfortunately I’m not very creative either 
So what did I do with my last two pounds? Put it on my oyster. Spent 70p so far, so guess I’m doing a lot of walking this week… I spent £7.20 My friend: £0.00
Remaining: £1.30 and 4 days….
Will keep you updated!
~Ruji x
~~*Ruji 