Have Fun For Free

Sign up to the website See Film First and you get a chance to see films for nothing before they’re released. Once you have signed up, you’ll receive emails with a screening code that you enter into the website for the tickets. Free Cinema Tickets offers similar preview screenings so it’s worth signing up to both to get as many freebies as you can.

Obviously you can get as many free books as you want at the library—but you can also head to Read It Swap It, where you can exchange the ones you’ve already read. This is such a great idea and a brilliant way for people to share costs.

Go to the BBC website for free tickets to their TV and radio shows, and live promotional music events. For shows on other channels, try Lost In TV.

Get free pictures for the children to colour in from the Disney Print Station online and from CBeebies on the BBC website. There are plenty of other games available there too. And don’t forget that if your kids can earn themselves a Blue Peter badge, they gain free access to hundreds of UK venues.

Free-events.co.uk lists the many free festivals, parades, carnivals and other events going on across Britain throughout the year. All In London does the same for free events in the capital.

If you’re over 18, you could do some cosmetic research online with Clicks Research. It’s really easy: you just try and then review new hand creams, moisturisers and other goodies (and you get to keep them). There are no unnecessary forms to fill in. All you need to provide is your email address, a long-term home address (so they can send you products to review) and a phone number.

If you register with online reward scheme KidStart, you get cash back whenever you shop (at most of the famous British retailers) through their website. The money is then put into an account for your kids. You can get other family members to contribute by shopping that way too. It’s free to join, so if you’re going to spend the money anyway, your children might as well benefit.

Local exchange trading schemes (LETS) have been set up all over the country to help communities swap their skills. They work by creating units of “currency” that are collected when you provide a service—and then used to “pay” someone to provide a service for you. For example, if you’re a great cook you can bake someone a cake and then use those credits to get someone to do your gardening. Check out LETSLinkUK for more information and to find your nearest scheme.

There are lots of websites gathering all these freebies in one place. Freebie Site UK is a good place to start: just put “free stuff” into their search engine and see what comes up!

Read more articles by Jasmine Birtles here