There’s no such thing as a free lunch right? Well that might be true, but you can certainly get a few things without shelling out if you’re smart about it. Here’s some top tips…
Find a free place to stay
Unless you land yourself a job as a hotel reviewer, free stays in fancy hotels might be off the menu. But there are other ways of finding somewhere to kip for nothing, or next to nothing, next time you’re on your travels. Site Coachsurfing lets you find a place to rest your head in the home of a friendly local, a bit like Airbnb you can browse places nearby and see who’s opening up their home. Of course you have top be willing to spend a night in a stranger’s abode, but provided you’re an open minded sort you could end up in good company and see your location through a local’s eyes.
Get a free holiday
If you’re looking for more of a whole package experience, try sites like Workaway for opportunities working in return for lodging and food. Jobs can include looking after animals in a sanctuary, caring for kids, getting down and dirty restoring old ruins, helping run an organic farm or working on community projects. It can take you all over the world from Costa Rica to rural France to Copenhagen. Job posters have to be verified but it’s worth doing your research to check what you’re signing up for.
Keep an eye out for promotional freebies
Pages like the sub-reddit r/Frugal are great places to keep tabs on to find the latest offers from around the web, as well as getting plenty of hints and tips on living cheaply. The web is full of offers, you just have to know where to look, for example you can get free plays on betting sites like Betfair welcome bonuses as a way to play your luck at getting free money.
Review products online
Savvy internet users have clocked on to the fact that you can review products on some sites in return for benefits. Schemes like Amazon Vine will invite especially prolific reviewers who develop an expertise on a certain category of product to become expert reviewers in exchange for free products from vendors. The book review site GoodReads also offers a similar deal. Hunt around for a reviewing programme that matches your particular area of knowledge.
Read for free
Google books offers lots of titles as free online versions, and some as pretty generous previews. If you have a Kindle you can access tonnes of free literature from Voltaire to Kafka, so there’s no excuse not to have read that classic you’ve been meaning to get round to.
