50 top tips for living your life without spending a penny. Check them all out here and save yourself a packet. We Moneymagpies believe in getting as much as you can for free so we’re always on the look out for new freebies – which we list in our regularly updated freebies and giveaways. But here we’ve got the best ways to get the stuff you want without ever parting with a penny. So leave the wallet at home for once and start enjoying the free life!

• Have fun without paying a penny
• Free health and beauty
• Nab yourself a free holiday
• Get your hands on some free money!
• Find out where to get online freebies

Be inspired by Kath Kelly, a teacher from Bristol, who took on the mighty challenge of living for an entire year on just £1 a day. It’s a great read full of money-saving tips and funny stories and she really did manage to live for just £365 and still managed to have loads of fun and even a holiday!

You can buy her book How I Lived a Year on Just a Pound a Day from Amazon.

FREE FUN

1. Free music online

Go to Musicovery to listen to music for free online. You get to choose what you listen to by mood (such as energetic, calm), or by year or genre and the site forms a playlist for you. Last fm is another site that allows you to listen to music for free by creating you a personalised streaming playlist. Jango is also worth a look – and it’s ultra simple to use. Simply type in the name of the band or artist you want to listen to and it will start playing you  a song!

Spotify is a streaming service website which allows you to listen to millions of music tracks online completely free (and completely legally!) – all you have to put up with is the occasionaly 30 second advert every half hour or so – a pretty small price to pay for free tunes!

2. Free cinema

Sign up to See Film First and you could get the chance to see films before they’re released for free. Once you’ve signed up you will receive emails with a screening code which you can enter into the website to receive the free tickets.

Others such as Freecinematickets and Momentum Pictures offer similar preview screenings so it’s worth signing up to all three to get as many freebies as you can.

3. Free internet hotspots

If you need to find your nearest free Wi-Fi connection use FreeHotspot which pinpoints free wireless internet hotspots all over the UK – search by street, town or country.

4. Free gigs

Music lovers can make the most of all the free gigs all over the UK with AllGigs.co.uk where you can search for gigs by artist, town or type (there’s also an under £10 and under £5 section). Also, sites such as ClashMusic and NME’s dedicated music news section provide updates on free gigs from bigger artists so it’s worthwhile keeping an eye out for your fave bands and singers on those too.

5. Free Music Recitals

Head to the Royal Albert Hall where every Friday lunchtime from 12 noon – 1.30pm you can enjoy Ignite – and hear recitals from talented young musicians at the Hall’s Café Consort. Expect anything and everything, from gypsy jazz to Parisian folk apparently! All you need to do is turn up and listen to some fantastic music without spending a penny.

6. Swap for free books

Head to ReaditSwapIt where you can get free books by swapping the ones you’ve already read. This is such a great idea and a brilliant way for people to share costs. There are plenty of new books available so take a look and search for by author, title, or description.

Once you’ve finished reading a book register it with ReadItSwapIt then find a book that you want to read. All you have to do is click ‘Swap with this member’ and the owner will be sent an email letting them know you’re interested in swapping. They then search through your library of books and if they find one they want to read they can confirm the swap. You’ll receive an email along with the address to post the book to. Find out more about the way the process works here.

7. Download books for free

Don’t spend your money on expensive hardbacks, save money and space by downloading books from sites such as Gutenberg and Feedbooks instead.

8.Sign up for free shows

Go to the BBC website to apply for free tickets to your favourite TV show, tour and live events and promotional events for new music.

Also try Lost In TV where you can apply for tickets to other TV network shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and The Paul O’Grady Show. Add yourself to their mailing list to receive updates on any new dates of upcoming shows.

ApplauseStore – Get tickets to big shows like Britain’s Got Talent, Big Brother, The X Factor and The Sunday Night Project.

Deal or No Deal – See Noel and the Dream Factory in Bristol. For your chance to boo the banker and cheer the winners.

SRO Audiences – For The Alan Titchmarsh Show, Orange Unsigned Act, Golden Balls, Countdown and Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway – to mention just a few.

TVRecordings – For the award winning Harry Hill’s TV Burp.

Add yourself to mailing lists to receive updates on any upcoming shows. You can also email the relevant contacts for information on shows not covered by these studios – check on the ITV website here for some email addresses to studios in the North of England.

9. Free festivals

Work for Oxfam at next year’s festivals and you can see all your favourite bands for free. You will need to hand over a deposit but you get that back as soon as you turn up. You work in shifts (which vary depending on the festival) and in return you get a free ticket to the event. Once you’ve finished your shift the rest of your time can be spent enjoying the festival. Find out much more about free festivals in our full article.

Register your details here and be the first to know about next year’s applications.

10. Free fun with the kids

Get free Disney pictures from the Disney Print Station and free CBeebies characters from the BBC website for the kids to colour in.

Get your kids to send in letters, pictures, poems to Blue Peter to earn themselves a badge. If they can get their hands on a Blue Peter badge they can gain free access to hundreds of venues in the UK. Blue Peter badges are only awarded to children aged six to 15 years old. There are six altogether – blue, silver, green, orange, gold and the team player’s purple badge. Click on your region here to see where you can use a badge.

Encourage them to enter the competitions because the orange competition badges are awarded to winners and runners up of Blue Peter competitions. You can send your child’s creations to Blue Peter, BBC Television Centre, London, W12 7RJ or email them at bluepeter@bbc.co.uk.

Click here for more ways to entertain the kids for less.

11. Learn to freeload

There are loads of parties, launches and other free events that ‘those in the know’ attend. Free food and drink and entertainment are all there for those with enough front to blag their way in. Go on, you know you want to.

12. Free TV

Don’t panic if you’ve missed your favourite show. You can catch up with programmes online with the BBC iPlayer and Channel 4 oD (on demand).

With the BBC iPlayer you can play programmes on the website simply by pressing the ‘Click to Play’ button. You can also download them and store them on your computer for 30 days.

With 4oD you can catch up on the last 30 days TV online and watch thousands of classic episodes.

ITV has a similar system called ITV Player for catching up with programmes you’ve missed for up to 30 days after and Channel Five runs Demand Five where you can watch all their catch-up for free.

13. Free UK events

Make the most of all the UK freebies with Free-events.co.uk which lists all the free festivals, parades, carnivals etc that are going on in the UK. Londoners can also go to What’s On for info on the many free events in the capital.

14. Free theatre

Under-26 year olds can get free theatre tickets to top UK productions with a new Arts Council scheme called “A Night Less Ordinary”. To get the tickets you have to go to Anightlessordinary.org.uk and see what’s on offer.

Search by postcode to see which productions in your area have tickets available. The site will then tell you exactly how to order – whether you can do it online or if you have to phone the box office.

On the night you have to prove you’re under 26 and they’ll hand over the tickets. There are all sorts of productions for kids and young adults. If you want to take your kids to a production you’ll have to buy a ticket, but you can order free tickets in their name.

FREE HEALTH & BEAUTY

15. Free pampering

Get free acupuncture treatment through a training college or university. Check that they have been accredited properly by searching for the college on the British Acupuncture Council website. Once you’ve found one near you, give them a ring and ask if they need someone to practise on in any of the classes.

16. Free Dental Work

Get some free treatment by going to dental students at a UK dental school. Visit the British Dental Health Foundation for contact details of participating universities and read more in our guide to free dentistry here.

Don’t panic – they aren’t fully qualified but there are always trained supervisors on hand to help out throughout. It will take longer than usual however so do bear that in mind.

17. Free beauty parties

Grab your friends and family and host a product party for lots of free beauty goodies to try out. For The Body Shop at Home go to the ‘Party With The Body Shop At Home’ link at the top of the UK website, follow the links to hosting a party then fill out your details.

A Body Shop consultant will be sent round to your house and give you a bunch of products to test out as well as show you the best way to use them.  You’ll be given expert tips on skincare, the best ways to wear make-up or the best fragrances for you.

Virgin Vie also offers product parties – they sell cosmetics, homeware and jewellery and you can choose whether to sell products from all three sections or just focus on one. Simply visit their website here and type in your postcode to get the contact details of a consultant in your area who will help you.

Get all the details and find out how you could take this a step further by becoming a consultant here.

18. Free cosmetics

Do some cosmetic research online. Try, review and keep new hand-creams, moisturisers, cleaning products, children’s products and all sorts of other goodies.

19. Free haircuts

Get your hair cut by a student at a hairdressing college. It’s not so scary, most students have had hours of class time and there is a teacher with them at all times. Go with trusted hair salons like Vidal Sassoon and Toni & Guy – which offer free hair cuts (and mega cheap highlights).

You need to book early and you must be comfortable with a student cutting your hair. Both salons only offer the services on specific dates and times so you need to book in advance. It is well worth the effort as most salons easily charge £100 for cuts and highlights.

20. Free health check for dogs

Animal charity PDSA tours around the UK to provide free health checks for dogs every year. Pet owners can come along to ask a veterinary nurse any questions about their dog’s health and have their pet’s diet, fitness, dental care and coat condition given a look over. Check the website for a list of locations and dates.

FREE TRAVEL

21. Reward card freebies

Get free travel treats with money you’ve already spent when you get free reward cards.

You can exchange Nectar points for Eurostar tickets or even free flights on Ebookers (the distance you can travel depends on the amount of points you have).

You can contact Ebooker’s Nectar team on 0870 814 6113.

There are also reward credit cards which give you miles when you spend but it’s important to remember that these cards are useless unless you pay off your bill every month. You will not earn miles on outstanding balances and the interest rates tend to be higher than other cards.

• British Airways has the BA American Express credit card which gives you one BA mile for every £1 you spend. You also get 1,000 BA miles the first time you use your card. This card has a typical 17.9% APR.
• Another option is the Virgin Atlantic White Card where you get a Flying Club mile for every pound you spend anywhere. Plus, you get two miles for every pound spent directly with Virgin Atlantic or Virgin holidays. There’s also a bonus 3,000 miles given to you on your first spend. The card has a typical APR of 17.9%, and offers 0% on balance transfers for the first six months.
• With the easyJet card you earn one mile for every pound spent in the UK, two miles for every pound spent abroad and three miles for every pound spent with easyJet. Each mile has the value of 1p, so if you collect 10,000 miles, you’ll have enough to put towards a £10 flight. This card comes with a typical APR of 16.9%.

Find out more about frequent flyer miles and other reward credit cards with our full article on free flights.

22. House swap for a free holiday

Get a free holiday by swapping your house with somebody else for a few weeks. It’s great because no money is exchanged at all. Go to a house swapping site and read other people’s post descriptions of their house and facilities and exchange destination. Here are some sites to get you started:

• Intervac
• Home Exchange
• Digsville

23. Live rent free

You could even get a house without having to pay any rent. There are various jobs around that include free accommodation. Find out about hotel jobs, being a nanny or activity instructor and other live-in jobs here.

FREE PHONE CALLS

24. Free calls with VoIP

Skype is probably the most well known VoIP service. If you’ve got broadband you can phone on the internet for free with Skype. It can be downloaded for free here. Once you’ve registered you just find the username of the person you want to call and then click the green phone.

You’ll need earphones and a microphone. Some computers have microphones already built in but if yours doesn’t Amazon has a good selection of headphone and microphone sets here with several choices for under a tenner.

To make video calls you’ll need a webcam – again many computers have these already built in but if yours doesn’t you can buy them from Argos for around £10.

You can also chat for free using online instant messengers like MSN messenger or AOL. Find out much more with our article on phone calls for free.

25. Say no to 0870

0870 numbers can be up to ten times the cost of a normal landline call. But you can fight back. The website saynoto0870 has a search engine to find alternative numbers for companies.

All you do is click search to find an alternative number and enter either the number or the company name. The engine will come back with a load of alternatives so check to see if there are any freephone numbers.

26. Free texts

Run out of credit and desperate to send a text? Head to CBFSMS and text online for free! You can send as many as you like to any UK mobile.

Also, on the O2 website you can register for an account and get free text messages regardless of your mobile provider – but there is a limit of ten texts per month.

For international texts go to SendSMSnow which allows texts to various countries including America, Canada and India.

27. Free mobile SIMs

If you’re not bothered about having the latest model there are some impressive PAYG deals around these days – free mins and texts are no longer for contracts alone – all of the networks offer inclusive mins and texts when you top up so why not nab a free SIM and take a look at the deals on offer in our PAYG guide here.

• Free T-Mobile SIM
• Free Vodafone SIM
• Free Virgin SIM
• Free 3 SIM
• Free Orange SIM

FREE MONEY

28. 0% credit cards

When used properly, 0% credit cards can be a good short term solution if you want to borrow money without paying any interest.

You need to be very disciplined to use one of these cards because they only work if you know you’ve got income coming in within the 0% interest period. Our advice is simple – don’t use them if you can’t afford to pay them off within that period.

• Currently the longest 0% deals on balance transfers are with the Virgin card (16 months at 0%), the HSBC credit card (15 Months at 0%) and the Nationwide Gold Card (13 months at 0%).
• For new spending, we recommend the Halifax All in One Card which gives you 10 months 0% interest on purchases and balance transfers (3% handling fee applies).

Get all the details on 0% balance transfers credit cards and 0% purchase credit cards.

29. Unclaimed assets

You could have hundreds or even thousands of pounds lying in dormant accounts and investments.

There is at least £15 billion in unclaimed financial assets lying around in Britain, according to Unclaimed Assets Register, an organisation run by credit agency Experian.

Go to Mylostaccount.org.uk – this is a free online search service that will rummage through bank records for you. You have to enter your details and it will tell you if you’ve got any old accounts you’d forgotten about. You may not have long left to claim the money so get all the info now.

30. Free money from the government

If you’re on benefits you could get 50p from the government for every pound you save as part of a new saving incentive to be introduced in 2010.

Carer’s allowance has just been added to the list of other benefits that qualify someone for this scheme. Others are income support, jobseeker’s allowance, incapacity benefit, employment support allowance, severe disablement allowance and those on tax credits, with an income below £15,575.

Visit the DirectGov website for more details about the scheme. Then read our guide to claiming for tax credits and other benefits here.

31. Free money for your children

The government set up Child Trust Funds for every child born after 1 September 2002 – parents  get sent a £250 voucher to invest. When they turn seven they are sent another £250, which goes straight into their CTF account. There are some things you need to know about CTFs and how to invest them so read our guide here.

Also, if you register with reward scheme KidStart, you get cashback when you shop in certain stores and which can then be transferred into your child’s CTF  (or someone else’s child if you want to help them).

32. Cashback sites

Use a cashback shopping website that pays you to buy your shopping throught them. Start with the sites that give you instant cash just by signing up such as Rpoints which gives you £5, Cashback Shopper which gives you £5, and Ecashback which gives you £2.50 immediately.

Get all the info on making money with cashback sites here.

33. Are you in line for a windfall?

If you’re no longer in contact with a family member you may be an heir to money or property if they haven’t left a will.

Fraser and Fraser is a company that tracks down family members of deceased individuals. Find out all about it on the Fraser and Fraser website.

FREE FINANCIAL ADVICE

34. Free mortgage advice

London & Country are one of the best independent mortgage brokers in the UK. You can speak to them for free about your mortgage needs. You don’t have to buy then and there, but the sooner you do some research the easier it will be to find out which mortgage deal is right for you.

35. Free financial help

For some free financial guidance you don’t even have to sign up for anything. Just compare all the best financial products on our comparison pages and make sure you switch to the best credit cards, insurance policies, utility bills and bank accounts. There is also lots of advice in both our savings articles and debt articles.

36. Free newsletter

Don’t forget to sign up to our free newsletter. We send a newsletter once a week full of money-making and money-saving tips plus a whole host of bargains and freebies. Anyone that signs up now gets a free copy of our Daily Express Money Making Tips Book ‘50 Money Making Tips’.

ONLINE FREEBIES

37. Collect and go!

We Moneymagpies can’t get enough of these freebie sites. There are nearly always sofas, beds and desks on offer. All you have to do is contact the owner and collect the item.

Snaffleup: This is the newest free item site. It works exactly the same way as the others. List your items on the site and someone will pick them up for you. Or you go and pick up the items once you’ve emailed the person who is offering it. No money is allowed to change hands. You can register your postcode so the search prioritises items that are in your area. We’ve tried out Snaffleup ourselves and got our hands on a huge tv within a couple of hours of emailing the person who was offering it. Brilliant!

Gumtree: Just go to the website and under ‘Stuff for Sale’ click freebies for a list of free things in your area. You will have to collect the items but it’s a small price to pay for a free sofa or washing machine! Just click on the items you want then email the owners to organise a time to collect – but be quick as they tend to go quickly. You can also try posting an ad of your own saying what items you need and someone might get in touch.

Craigslist: This is similar to the other two and lets you get your hands on stuff other people are getting rid of. Click on the city of your choice menu then choose your nearest city. Look on the ‘for sale’ menu for the ‘free’ option and see all the items that are available to you for no money. All you have to do is pick it up. People often use the site when they are moving house so are keen to shift stuff as soon as possible.

Freecycle: This is another way to get free items that people are throwing out. Go the website where you sign up for free and join a Freecycle network near you. You can browse the networks by your region here. Once you become a member of a local group you can view the items being given away and post your own items. Everything posted must be free, legal and appropriate to all ages.

38. Freebie sites

Companies are always trying to market and promote their stock. Whether it’s free samples of shampoo, breakfast bars, washing powders, razors, cameras, books, pens, perfumes, CD’s, cinema tickets, T-shirts, chocolates, sweets, tea, coffee, SIM cards, toys, posters, or magazines.

There are lots of websites gathering all of these freebies in one place so you can go and find what you want. It’s not just samples either, they also group together free trials or coupons and vouchers that you can print off and use to get your discount.

We have all the latest freebie giveaways in our Free Stuff article but you can have a look on other sites too.

There are a lot of sites out there and we’ve gathered together some of the best:

• Freebietown
• Britishfreebies
• Freestuffjunction
• Free-stuff

These ones aren’t as good, but are still worthwhile checking out:

• Freebieholics
• Bobsfreestuffforum

What’s the catch you ask?

For most of the free samples you just need to provide a mailing address so they can get to you. Sometimes you may have to join a program or sign up to get the offer, so always check the details before signing onto anything. Also, we suggest that you set up a separate email account that you only use for these sites. Loads of them like to spam you with nonsense once you have signed-up so if you set up a separate email they can all go into that and not clog up your real inbox.

Some sites cannot update fast enough and there can be expired links on there but the good sites enable you to let them know about expired links. None of the sites are overall fancy in their style, but who needs to be when you’re getting free stuff!

There are many more sites but we’re only listing the best ones because after you search the first two or three the specials begin to repeat. Anyone can make up a freebie site, they are just taking the work out for you by finding the information first.

39. Free chores and services

Swap your skills with other people to get jobs done for free. Local Exchange Trading Schemes (LETS) have been set up all over the country to help communities swap their skills. They work by creating a unit of ‘currency’ which can be collected when you provide a service – and then used to ‘pay’ for 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. Find out all about it in our full article.

40. Free courses

Learn a new skill and boost your job prospects for free. There are lots of free courses around for example, the BBC offers free online courses on all kinds of subjects, and Vision to Learn has various free courses to hone your computer skills, money management and much more.

OpenLearn is another free online learning site which uses material from Open University courses – this is great if you want to supplement your education or if you just want to get a flavour of what the OU has to offer.

We show you where to look for free training in our article here.

FREE FOOD

41. Dine out for free

Restaurants are desperate for your money – which is great news because during the credit crunch they’ve really made an effort with their special offers. There are so many around that you should never have to pay full price when you dine out. Most of the big chains offer 2for1 deals on a regular basis – we keep track of them in our cheap eats article – but you should also give Toptable and 5pm a go.  With both sites you earn reward points for booking your meal through them. You can then use the points to get free meals, gifts and other goodies. They also have exclusive special offers and are both completely free to join.

42.Grow your own

It’s not as difficult as farmers would lead you to believe and will save you a bundle, while providing you with a healthy alternative to fast food. No space? Set up a herb garden on your window sill. A spare corner on your balcony? Buy a tomato plant to give you yummy fresh ripe tomatoes.

Click here for more help.

43. Be a ‘Freegan’

If you’ve got no qualms about ‘best before’ dates, then this is right up your street. It involves rifling through bins at the back of supermarkets to get a hold of munchies destined for the scrap heap. Most of the stuff thrown away is perfectly all right to eat, just past its sell-by date. Currently supermarkets chuck out about 5% of their food each day because they’re required to by law, not because it’s bad or harmful. The more Freegans cleaning up, the better, they say. Not for everyone, we know, but if you hate to see good food go to waste, dig in.

44. Pick for free

Blackberries, elderflowers, shellfish, seaweed, nettles are all there for the picking and then eating of course. Check out the excellent Little Gem book ‘Food for Free’ to find a range of edible, wild, and free plants. Find out more with our article on foraging.

FREE SHOPPING…

45. Swap clothes for a new wardrobe – for free

What’s Mine is Yours and Big Wardrobe allow users to swap dresses, shoes, bags and other accessories. Also, credit card company Visa has teamed up with clothing charity TRAID (Textile Recycling for Aid and International Development) to hold an annual fashion event in which people can donate clothes in exchange for points. Those points can then be used to buy other people’s clothes at the event. All of the clothes must be in good condition and you can expect some designer pieces too.

Find out much more about swapping in our article here.

46.Take a day off spending

Challenge yourself to a day off spending and encourage your friends and family to do the same. Join everybody on each year’s National Buy Nothing Day, or do your own ‘Buy Nothing Day’ once a month and watch the pennies pile up.

47. Pick up free things by mystery shopping.

You go shopping or grab a bite to eat for free as a mystery shopper. Not only that, but you’ll be making money too! Find out more about mystery shopping here.

48. Free samples

Set up a website that reviews a specific product e.g. games, CDs, gardening books. Then get in touch with the relevant PR for those companies, requesting free samples in exchange for a review. You can even make money from them by setting up a shopping cart and selling products that you review.

49. Win some prizes

Enter a load of free competitions whether it’s online, magazines, writing and you could win anything from a chocolate bar to a free holiday. Read our full article for more details.

50. Free photos

Don’t pay for your digital photos – sign up to one of the many sites offering free prints instead. Sign up with photobox.co.uk and you’ll get your first 40 prints free. Spend over £15 and get free P&P. You can also sign up with snapfish.co.uk and get 30 free prints.