To ask what you do for fun when you're skint?

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I'm living month to month atm but hoping this will change eventually.
There are only so many free museums, galleries and parks you can do, especially in this weather and they're not open during the evenings.
In terms of eating out as well, I'm not looking to go to fancy restaurants every time and id be happy with a Wetherspoons tbh or just going for a hot chocolate. I don't drink alcohol either.
It gets tedious having to constantly clean dishes, I do a mixture of fresh cooking, frozen ready meals and very basic meals.

Honestly it's hard sometimes. Looking for any suggestions or advice.

And as I say sometimes it's just nice to not have to prepare the food yourself and to have a change of scenery.

Adult time or with kids in the mix?

Sorry these are random...
Church every Sunday, some have cakes after
Wetherspoons hot chocolate with free refills
Visit the library
Walking in the countryside
Walking through the town
Birdwatching
Tree spotting
Stargazing

You can get the too good to go app

You should look on MSE for tips to save money on everything from gas, to mortgages, to supermarkets

Download the Costa app - you get a free drink after buying 10 and also treat drops which can be 25pc off your visit

Train companies often do travel for £1 for children and check MSE for cheap days out zoos etc as he tells you where to find the vouchers

are you talking about this with kids or not?

Because you know there’s always a baby boom following a recession…

Volunteering. You get to do free stuff for a good cause and meet people.

Not really anything in the way of free museums or galleries here!

I’m presuming you have dc if you’re going to the park? Are you after half term ideas?
if so I highly recommend the humble ‘friend coming round to play’ activity. They come round and with any luck they entertain themselves. All for the cost of making an extra sandwich and providing some fruit and biscuits for lunch.
depending on the ages, get them to make the lunch for everyone!

Thanks everyone! Sorry should've said no kids.

Sex is the obvious answer to me

Wetherspoons breakfasts are always such a steal, I wonder how they actually make money off of them - so if your budget doesn't stretch to a dinner out maybe try breakfast?

If you've got a Vue near you and would be happy with a solo date, you can see if any friends have Monzo/Sky codes to give you for free cinema trips (I have 1 code left for this month if you want it I'd be happy to DM it to you)

Sign up for as many apps/coffee shop newsletters as you can - there are often some good 'new joiner' offers which will give you a free coffee/sweet treat for signing up.

You have my sympathies. Being skint in winter is so dreary!

Fossil hunting if you have a beach nearby? No equipment needed

Ditto goecaching.

In that case, I’m going to recommend NOT luring a kid back to yours for a play date 😂 could backfire horribly!
Are you working? When are the specific times you have to fill?

We have a Vue cinema nearby. A meerkat code gets you two seats for less than £9 and they don't mind if you bring your own drinks and snacks. Not free but a very reasonable price for something that feels like a real treat to me. If you don't have meerkat codes you can ask for one in the chat forum and someone will share.

Cinema and you can take a snack with you? I think you can use Tesco vouchers against tickets, not sure though.
Shopping centre if you have near some by, they are open late and you can go around relaxingly and make mental notes for future sales.

Food wise, look for places that have evening deals - more likely to find some on a mon-weds

Community centres and places like Buddhist centres often have social meals that are donation only or pay what you can afford - note these are ones that are open to all and about a social space rather than ones intended for people who genuinely can't afford to eat.

A little cheeky but quite a few gyms, hobbies or classes will have 'free trial class' offers...

Follow all the local fb pages like museum, art gallery, libraries. Look for their free events. My most local art gallery does an event once a year with drinks, nibbles and artists.

look at the supermarket notice boards. Me and dh once did a free philosophy course at our local university we saw advertised at the local morrisons.

Thank you! This is giving me motivation.

I second this! I used a website called Do It, you can Google it I think it changed its name to 'do it life' now!

Ooh yes I like the sound of the hot choc refills 😊

Rough age group OP?

Community cafes. They are often cheap and some offer free food too (think one in the community centre near me currently does soup on a Thursday)

Community larders for different food items.

Look at freebie sites. Sometimes there are free cinema showings.

Silver screen at the cinema..apparently you don't have to be old to attend these (these showings are often cheaper and get a hot drink and biscuit)

I’d probably use Too Good To Go a bit and have some bits that I haven’t cooked that way but look for deals. If using a supermarket with points the I’d look into using those for food in or out.

I would look for mid week menu deals too or lunch if I am able to get out then.

Knitting patches for a blanket whilst listening to books, libraries do a free app now called borrow box where you can get audiobooks. I try to do whole series in one go so that I get a bigger sense of achievement eg “oooh the winter of 2020, that was my jack reacher winter” etc
reading
choose a cookbook and challenge yourself to cook every recipe. I did this with a Paul Hollywood bread book a few years ago, took me 6 months doing one a week but I really enjoyed it and learnt a new skill
learn a new language
couch to 5k app

i like lighting a candle when the evenings r grim, feels nicer to embrace the winter sometimes

If with kids

kids session at odeon- £2.50 each then morrisons cafe- kids eat free if you spend £5-cheaper than wetherspoons.

if you get Uc there are some places in london where you can get tickets for £1-3 each. Cheap coach down and it’s a whole day out. We went to tower of london a few months ago. Total £30 including the tube from Victoria coach station.

I'm making my very first solo trip to the cinema this week. During the afternoon. To see the Bridget Jones film. I'm quite excited as it means I'll have jumped a hurdle going alone and also seeing the actual film. Plus treats! Then I plan to go more often.