Reasons to be cheerful: 62 things to make you smile in 2021

Marc Crosby 9th Jan 2015 55 Comments

Reading Time: 16 minutes

Feeling the lockdown blues…even when it’s not supposed to be lockdown?

It still feels like there is a lot to be gloomy about – the government and SAGE certainly seem to want to keep us that way! But we truly don’t have to accept that. We can rebel and demand the goodness, happiness and light that is our right!

To help cheer you up we have found a few things to make you smile including some great bargains and events and also some good things we have all the time that we often forget about.

Honestly, there’s lots to smile about!

• Freebies!
• Top 15 bargains handpicked by the team!
• Websites that can MAKE you money
• Websites that can SAVE you money
• Good things happening in 2021
• Good things that make our lives better
• Good financial products up for grabs

 

Freebies!

1. Freebies online

Get free coffees at Starbucks, free clothes at Debenhams and New Look, free stuff from Amazon, and loads more in return for taking surveys and rating products and services through Toluna. It’s a great site to while away a bit of spare time. Click here to join up now.

 

2. See TV and radio shows for free

Apply for free tickets to your favourite TV show or tour, as well as live and promotional events for new music:

• Applausestore – Get tickets to big shows like Britain’s Got Talent, QI and more.
• BBC Tickets – See Strictly Come Dancing, be in Question Time and see all sorts of radio shows being made including I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue.
• Lost In TV – Where you can apply for tickets to shows like The Cube, the Paul O’Grady Show and The Apprentice: You’re Fired!
• SRO Audiences – For The Alan Titchmarsh Show, Pointless, Dancing On Ice and The Graham Norton  Show- to name just a few.

3. Phone calls for free 

Chat to your friends and family for free with  Skype.com – all you need is broadband then you can download it for free.

Once you’ve registered you find the username of the person you want to call and then click the green phone.

If your computer doesn’t have a microphone built in you’ll need to buy earphones and a microphone – visit Amazon which has lots of reasonably-priced headphone and microphone sets.

 

4. Grab free stuff for your home

Craigslist: Click on the ‘Great Britain’ 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 them up.

Freecycle: Join a Freecycle network near you. 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.

Snaffleup: This is the newest free item site of the four. It works in exactly the same way as the others. It’s a good idea to register your postcode so the search prioritises items that are in your area.

Britishfreebies.co.uk – where you can find listings of various items that are offered for free online.

 

5. Have a free holiday

Don’t bother with expensive hotels – kip on someone’s couch instead!

Couchsurfing is great for meeting new people and having an authentic holiday experience – you choose who to stay with and they give you a bed to sleep in. Then you can repay the favour and sign up as a host yourself.

Here are some sites to get started:

• Couchsurfing.com
• Globalfreeloaders
• Hospitality Club

Doing a house swap is another way to get a free holiday. Sign up to a house swapping agency – then explain where you want to go, when you can go and browse through the listings. Check out our article on the subject for more information on house-swapping.

Join up to Homeexchange.com to start swapping.

6. Get someone to do your chores for free!

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.

7. Free cinema tickets

Sign up to ShowFilmFirst for some free movie tickets. They email you when free screenings are available and give you a screening code which you enter on the home page.

Tickets are available on a first come, first served basis so you’ll have to be quick!

 

 

8. Free beauty treatments

There are beauty salons and colleges all over the country in need of some guinea pigs to practice on and if you register your details with Salon Guinea Pig they can get in touch with you directly if they need models.

You can nab yourself a free spray tan, a free haircut or even a free wax!

9. Free caravan – to keep!

ParkHolidays are currently offering a free caravan deal. The caravan itself will be completely free of charge and you won’t even have to pay for furniture, carpets or key kitchen appliances.

It’s yours to keep or rent as you wish, and you’ll also have full use of any facilities the resort has to offer, such as swimming pools, spas and kids clubs.

So what’s the catch? Well the thinking behind the scheme is to try and encourage people to ‘trade up’ in the future (i.e. invest in a bigger and better caravan). But you’re under no obligation to do that. You’ll also have to pay the standard annual pitch fee which is usually around £4000 – £5000 plus a connection charge of around £400.

10. Free dental work

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

Don’t panic – although they’re not fully qualified, there are always trained supervisors on hand to help out. It will take longer than usual, so do bear this in mind.

11. Free money!

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

There’s at least £15 billion in unclaimed financial assets lying around in Britain, according to the  Unclaimed Assets Register, an organisation run by credit agency Experian (ooh, and get a free credit check from Experian now).

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!

12. 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 Vision2Learn 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.

For tips on how to get free training and boost your job prospects, check out our article dedicated to the topic here.

13. Get free food by mystery shopping

Mystery shopping is a great way to bag yourself some freebies, like meals out, products and even cash. We know one Moneymagpie who makes up to £400 a month as a mystery shopper.

You will have to sign up to a decent agency but they’re usually free to join and you certainly shouldn’t part with any cash to be on their books. Check out JKS Mystery Shopping, TNS Global, Gfk UK and Storecheckers, who are all well known, reputable mystery shopping agencies.

For a more information read our article on how to become a mystery shopper.

14. Swap clothes – for free

Big Wardrobe allows users to swap dresses, shoes, bags and other accessories. Plus, membership is free.

Or are you happy to part with a little cash? Then check out our article on how to revamp your wardrobe for under a tenner.

15. Free cosmetics

If you’re over the age of 18 you could try your hand at doing some cosmetic research online with Clicks Research.

It’s really easy, you just try, review and keep new hand creams, moisturisers, children’s products and all sorts of other goodies.

There are no unnecessary forms to fill in; all you need to do is provide your email address, a long-term home address (so they can send you products to review) and a phone number. It’s a really great way to get hold of some new products in exchange for a review.

 

Top 15 bargains handpicked by the team!

16. Free MoneyMagpie eBook

At Christmas we gave away our ’52 Ways to Make and Save Money in 2015′ eBook for free. It was so popular that, for a limited time, you can still download the eBook for free.

Download your free eBook here.

17. Cheap restaurant deals

Restaurant deals can be found all over the place and you can make some mega savings with sites such as Opentable.co.uk where last minute bookings are free and instantly confirmed.

Tablepouncer.com is also great for last minute restaurant bookings and often offers discounts of up to 70%.

 

 

18. Up to 70% off exclusive luxury holidays with Voyage Prive

There’s no reason why you should still be paying full price for your favourite perfume, no reason at all!

Not when there are sites out there like HalfPricePerfumes and Allbeauty which offer discounts of well over 60% on many of the most gorgeous scents around.

47. Have fun on the cheap

Have you ever wanted to drive round a race track or jump out of a plane or have a luxurious spa day in a fabulous hotel?

All these and more are on offer at cut-price rates at Red Letter Days. Buy their vouchers for yourself or for a friend – there’s lots to choose from!

 

48. holiday accommodation for less

If want to find somewhere good to stay while you’re away, but you don’t want to pay the commercial prices, check out Housetrip.com and Airbnb.com.

Both of these sites are full of rooms, flat, houses and villas that are rented out, by the night, by private individuals. You can often find a beautiful place that is rented out at a fraction of the cost of commercial villas.

 

49. Cheaper phone calls

We’re often asked “what is the cost of 0844 numbers?” and our answer’s always the same – never pay premium call rates.

Use the website SayNoTo0870 which lists alternative (and sometimes free) phone numbers for companies who only offer expensive 0870/1 and 0845 numbers on their websites.

 

50. Cheap holidays

If you’re planning a hotel break at some point this year check out Expedia, eBookers, Hotels.com and Laterooms for incredible offers that could save you hundreds of pounds.

Do not book a hotel room without checking out these websites first – you’ve been warned!

 

51. Save 15% on bestsellers at Look Fantastic 

LookFantastic is a website that sells pretty much everything beauty related you can imagine and all at great prices. Expect to save at least 15% on RRPs.

If you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, it also features the top 10 bestsellers in each section – perfect if you need a little inspiration.

 

Good things happening in 2021

52. The economy is improving.

Actually, it’s a recovering slower than expected but there’s a general lifting of confidence levels which is important because after a while that creates its own reality.

The more confident people and businesses feel, the more they will spend and the more that improves business and, therefore, the economy.

So things are generally on the up, even if it’s only a very gradual improvement…and a bumpy one.

 

 

53. Savings rates are likely to go up.

It’s not a definite but hopefully rates will start by the end of 2015. Actually it might not happen until early 2016 but the intention is there and that’s what all the banks have in their sights.

We might (note: might) see a little bit of competition coming into the savings market. Take a look at the new savings rates on offer here.

 

54. The housing market will continue to grow.

Ok, predictions for growth in 2015 are about 4%, so not as good as last year, but it’s still growth. Good news for sellers and buyers, not such good news for people trying to save for their first home.

However, if you’re looking to buy this year 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.

 

55. Continuing improvements to ISA.

In 2015-2016 tax year the ISA limit will increase to £15,240.

Now widows and widowers will be able to inherit ISAs tax free as well – previously the ISAs lost their tax free status when the spouse died.

Find out more about ISAs here.

 

56. Great savings for over 65.

This month ‘pensioner bonds’ will become available for over 65s. You can get up to 4% interest on your savings which is considerably better than other saving bonds.

Find out more here.

 

Good things we mustn’t take for granted

These are just a few of the MANY things we have for free every day. Do your own list to add to this. It really helps to remind ourselves just how much we have right now.

57. Free education, free healthcare, free libraries, free museums.

Seriously, we get SO much for free when you compare us to most of the rest of the world. Let’s use the libraries. Let’s visit the museums. Let’s not complain so much about education and healthcare. We are given all of this every day and we are blessed

58. Beautiful countryside, grass, trees, flowers, birds, animals…

…you can add your own to this list. There’s so much in the natural world in this country and abroad that we are effectively given for free. It’s all around us – even if you live in a city – and we would miss it if it went. Every day we can appreciate all this good that we have for free.

59. Rule of law, free press, consumer groups and watchdogs. 

Sure, none of these institutions is perfect but they’re there, they do a lot of good and protect us much of the time. Many countries in the world have none of these organisations so thank goodness we do!

60. Family, friends, the kindness of strangers

Every good friend and every loved person is another gift…wow, we’ve got so much…

 

Good financial products up for grabs

61. Pay off your debt with 0% interest for over two years

Barclaycard’s Platinum credit card is now offering a whopping 35 months with o% interest on balance transfers . The offer includes a 2.79% handling charge but there’s six months’ 0% interest on purchases which is handy.

If you’re sitting on a chunk of debt that’s taking time to shift, this could be the card for you. Find out more about the Barclaycard Platinum credit card now.

62. Turned down for credit? There’s still a card for you.

If you’ve been turned down for credit but want all the benefits of a credit card, look no further!

The Capital One Classic Credit Card offers sensible, manageable starting limits of £200–£1,500, helping you keep control of your finances while spreading the cost of your purchases.