Days out/activities on a budget - tips

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Liked many my income is reduced. I miss things like theatre, cinema and restaurants. I used to do frequent day trips to London. Even the train fare is too much these days. My world feels very small.

Does anyone have ideas, from things to do out of the ordinary or cheap cinema deals etc. With or without DC as I have time to myself too.

I buy a 1 day uk insurance for a couple of £ to get meerkat movies 2 for 1 all year.

Don't know how close to London you are, but could you drive to a suburb and park and tube in for cheaper?

There’s plenty to do in London that doesn’t cost money: all the museums are free and you can walk and look at the sights. Bring a picnic and sit in one of the parks. You don’t say where you live but is there a local museum? One of our local cinemas charges £3.50 on Tuesday afternoons and gives you a cup of tea. If you take out insurance (I do one day travel insurance) with Compare the Market you get 2-4-1 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at the cinema.

What area are you in, are we still looking at London or more locally to you? Do you have a budget that would allow you any subscriptions or memberships to things?

Where are you, roughly?

I'm just outside London, and there's lots to do depending on what you enjoy.

I spent the whole day yesterday on a countryside walk. Stopped in at a little pub and had a soft drink.

When I info go in to London I head for the V&A, or one of the parks. Have a wander round soho or St John's Wood.

So much free stuff!

I do still enjoy a restaurant but instead of ordering three courses I stick to one or two and skip alcohol.

I also look for local venues that show comedy etc. Seems to be much cheaper outside of London

The best way is to get organised and book things in advance.

Are you on groupon or wowcher? They often have cinema, days out, restaurant, spa and some concert deals.

Do your dc have blue Peter badges? Some places do free entry for badge holders per every paying adult. Some places do 2 free badge holders per one paying adult.

Get a railcard. There are a few choices. If you have Tesco clubcard vouchers, you can get one with those.

Keep an eye on moneysavingexpert.com and they often show deals. Currently

You can get lucky with theatre tickets. Just keep an eye on ticket releases. I got tickets for Hamilton for £20. They were restricted view but it was totally fine mostly. Just one scene where I couldn't see the actor who was talking.

It's not the same as being in the theatre but we tried National Theatre At Home recently to watch something we had missed but really wanted to see.

£10 a month I think, if you could stretch to that, and with lights down and phones away watching a really good play even just on our TV was great. Different from the same old TV shows.

Where do you live and have you fully explored what is available closer to home?

If you cut down travel costs, you'll have more budget available for the actual activity/visit.

Is there another city you can visit for less? Eg if you like museums, there's a lot of other free national and also smaller museums that are free or very cheap (always google to see if you can get a discount if it's a paid attraction, it's rare to have to pay full price in my experience). Eg Liverpool has a lot of free museums, Manchester has some, in Yorkshire, you have the National Mining Museum, Royal Armouries, Science and Media Museum and National Railway Museum, all free, Yorkshire Sculpture Park isn't free but not that expensive and a great day out. Also Hull and probably most other large cities.

Look on the local tourist website (usually www.visittown.co.uk or www.visitcounty.co.uk) for ideas.

It's finished now, but worth looking out for again (get the weekly Moneysaving Expert newsletter for regular reminders) is free National Trust passes when you buy a newspaper. Or get membership if you think you'll go often enough. Or look at other passes and rotate round so you only have to buy one at a time.

Cereal packets etc often have 2 for 1 type deals. Likewise if you go on the train, there's a National Rail scheme.