Sand painting…amazing

Sand Painting

21 things to do that are Free!

I saw this on Ecademy and thought it would be good here. Normally, I don’t blatantly copy other blogs,  but the poster on Ecademy had copied it from another blog,  so I reckon it’s OK this time.

So, for me, a free blog, for you, a further 21 free things to do:

Go to the cinema for free
Going to the cinema has become an expensive pastime, costing up to £12 a ticket in central London, and £8 in the rest of the country. However, you can see new releases for free by registering with websites such as seefilmfirst.com and momentumscreenings.co.uk.

You could get tickets for films before they’re even released. Tickets are usually allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

Garden and parks
With spring around the corner, it’s a great time to visit some of Britain’s gardens and parks when they are at their most beautiful. Most are free, and you can take a scenic stroll, fly a kite or observe the rich wildlife. Visit Sefton Park in Liverpool, for example, and see the beautiful Grade II-listed Palm House.

For more information about the UK’s parks and gardens, and associated events, visit nationaltrust.org.uk, royalparks.org.uk, english-heritage.org.uk or greatbritishgardens.co.uk.

Go on TV
Television networks and production companies often release a limited number of free seats for television and radio shows, on a first-come, first-served basis. Popular shows such as Top Gear often have long waiting lists – but it’s worth signing up in case of cancellations. New game shows and early-stage regional competitions for shows such as Britain’s Got Talent are often the easiest to get tickets for.

Visit applausestore.com, tvrecordings.com, sroaudiences.com, lostintv.com and bbc.co.uk/tickets, and sign up for email alerts to be the first to hear when tickets are released.

Take a walk
The clocks go forward at the end of March heralding the start of British Summer Time. Longer days mean there’s no excuse to stay cooped up indoors, and whether you live in the town or country, there’s plenty to explore in your immediate vicinity or a short drive away.

To find out about walks all over Britain visit walkingbritain.co.uk. Some city walking tours charge a small fee, but find out about free ones by searching online or visiting the city’s tourist board website.

Visit a museum
The wealth of fascinating museums across the country gives us the chance to learn about history, industry, nature, fashion, science and the universe.

In London, you can visit the Natural History Museum, the Imperial War Museum and the Science Museum, among many others, completely free of charge.

The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery is showing a free hair and hairstyles exhibition until July, while the Museum of Costume in Edinburgh has an exhibition about fashion designer Jean Muir from 3 April until 31 October.

For information about museums and exhibitions, go to 24hourmuseum.org.uk.

Learn a language
Learning a new language is something many people would love to do, but never get around to. A second language is a great skill but college courses can cost several hundred pounds, so why not borrow an audio kit from your local library or visit the BBC’s online language centre at bbc.co.uk/languages, which offers free 12-week courses for beginners.

Head for the hills
The more adventurous can don their walking shoes or get on their mountain bikes and head for the hills for fresh air and exercise. The Lake and Peak Districts, Snowdonia and the Scottish Highlands all offer inspirational scenery. There are trails for all abilities, but remember to do your research first, take adequate clothing and water, and never wander off alone.

For more information, visit regional websites. For details on walking routes, go to walkingbritain.co.uk, or moredirt.co.uk if you’re heading out on a mountain bike.

Support the arts
Immerse yourself in creativity and spend an afternoon soaking up art at a gallery. Many institutions, such as the Tate galleries in London, Liverpool and St Ives, are free except for major exhibitions.

Also, look out for work by local artists, and shows by art schools and colleges, which often exhibit students’ work in May and June.

Time travel
You can discover much about the country’s political and historical landscape completely free of charge. Visit the Houses of Parliament to watch debates or judicial hearings, use the archives or tour the Parliament buildings. You can arrange to climb the Clock Tower (Big Ben) by contacting your MP.

There are countless heritage sites, natural and manmade, that tell tales of the past, such as the 95 miles of exposed rocks that make up the Jurassic Coast of Dorset and East Devon; the mysterious white chalk drawings around Oxfordshire and Sussex, and the early Roman monument of Hadrian’s Wall.

For more information, visit enjoyengland.com and parliament.uk. It is free to attend Prime Minister’s Question Time in the House of Commons, but tickets must be obtained from your local MP so you’ll need to make arrangements in advance.

City farms and animal sanctuaries
If you’re an animal lover but finances are too tight to have your own pet, why not visit a city farm or attend an open day at an animal sanctuary? The time is right for spotting spring lambs frolicking in the fields and ducklings taking to the water.

Devon’s Donkey Sanctuary, which cares for sick and neglected donkeys, is free to visit, while Tiggywinkles Wildlife Hospital outside Aylesbury has a nursery area, where you can watch staff hand-rearing the orphaned birds and mammals, opens to the public during the spring and summer months.

For more information on city farms, go to farmgarden.org.uk.

Churches and cathedrals
The UK’s many churches and cathedrals are stunning feats of architecture dating back thousands of years. Durham Cathedral, for example, was founded in 995 and is thought to be the greatest Norman building in England, while Exeter Cathedral, which was built in the early 12th century, has the longest uninterrupted medieval Gothic vaulting in the world.

You can visit churches or cathedrals for free throughout the year, or check websites or noticeboards to find out about special events such as choral recitals and fayres.

Festival fun
Free festivals and community events are scattered across the calendar, from St Patrick’s Day in March to Swanage Blues Festival, the Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race on the Thames, and half-marathons and fun runs across the country. Cities and towns, such as Brighton, often host their own festivals during the summer months, or you could head into the countryside for a local fete or fair.

For more information about events in your area, visit free-events.co.uk.

Volunteering
There are thousands of organisations and charities in need of kind people to lend a helping hand. From working as a mentor to underprivileged kids to helping disabled people with their shopping or exercising a dog for an elderly owner, there are limitless opportunities to give your free time to a good cause.

Check out volunteering.org.uk and do-it.org.uk to find out about opportunities in your local area, or visit your local community centre.

Fun in the kitchen
The rising cost of food is pushing people to get back to basics in the kitchen. As well as being inexpensive and productive pastimes, cooking and baking can be fun, particularly if you get children or grandchildren involved. Be inventive and create your own recipes, or check out free recipes online, at sites such as at bbcgoodfood.com and uktv.co.uk/food.

Car-boot sale
Your free time doesn’t have to be all about spending money, you can use it as an opportunity to make a little extra cash. Venture into the loft or clear out your garage and assemble all those things you no longer want or need.

Most car-boot sale sites charge a fee of £5 to £10 for a pitch, but it’s possible to make this up from your first couple of sales.

Visit carbootjunction.com for a directory of all the car boot sales in the UK and cost of pitching at each site.

Wild camping
Escape commercial campsite fees and pitch your tent in the wild for free. Wild camping in England and Wales requires the prior permission of the landowner, but campers do tend to be tolerated if they respect the land. This includes keeping out of sight, far from any livestock, not building open fires, staying for just one night, and following the wild camper’s code of ‘pitch late, leave early’.

In Scotland, you are free to roam as the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 makes wild camping legal in most cases when practiced well away from property and roads.

For details of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, see outdooraccess-scotland.com and The Mountaineering Council of Scotland mountaineering-scotland.org.uk/

Games night
Most people have a collection of old board games, such as Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit or Pictionary, at the back of a cupboard, collecting dust. So why not dig them out and invite some friends round for a games night?

If board games aren’t your thing, you could play cards or the games console you got for Christmas. When everyone chips in for snacks and drinks, it’s a fun, inexpensive night.

For rules on hundreds of card games, visit pagat.com.

Join a book club
There are thought to be as many as 50,000 book clubs in the UK. Some are for general reading, while others are devoted to specific genres such as crime, horror or romance. There isn’t a national directory of book clubs, but you can find out more from local papers, community bulletin boards or by word of mouth.

Team sports
Grab a group of friends and head to a local park for a game. Cricket, football, rounders, touch rugby – there are lots of sports to play if you can find some open space and a ball. It’s a great way to have fun and get fit for free.

Plant a veggie patch
Save money and eat well by growing your own fruit and vegetables. Providing the frost has subsided, March and April are good months to start sowing seeds, such as potato tubers, which can cost as little as £5 for a 2.5kg pack at garden centres.

You can also buy seeds for everything from aubergines and cabbages, beans and tomatoes, to sow indoors, then move outside when the weather gets warmer.

Learn an instrument
Is there a dusty instrument at home, that’s been sitting there for years untouched? Now is the perfect time to learn how to play it. The internet is a fantastic free source of musical information, with websites devoted to lessons, tuning, sheet music and tablature.

Try looking on an internet search engine, typing ‘beginner’s guitar lessons’, for example, for step-by-step guides.

Energy Assessor

Many thanks to Nick Beetlestone, a brilliant Domestic Energy Assessor for performing a Domestic Energy Assessment at very short notice for one of my clients.

9 things the Internet has ruined forever

This is funny

Woolwich – reading the tealeaves

I’m not the biggest fan of Woolwich at the moment, they seem pretty relaxed about the absense of customer service.

However, they have come up with some interesting products that should appeal to many people, including 4 and 5 year fixed rates and some capped rates, even some capped, offset rates.

Anyway, what’s in the tealeaves?

Well, the 3 year fixed rate is 3.89%

The 4 year fixed rate is 3.99%

and the 5 year fixed rate is 4.49%

That’s a big jump from 4 – 5 years – they are effectively saying

‘it’s worth payng 0.5% extra for 4 years to protect yourself from rates in year 5′

- so rates in year 5 are expected to be 6.5% + on this reading.

It may well be that ‘now’ is the time to look at a 5 year fixed rate, especially if you are definately not going to be moving house in that time.

Adrian

Premium Bond rate changes

Premium Bonds are often regarded as a great ’speculative but safe’ place to put your money.

Your money, once in Premium Bonds is 100% safe and while you may win nothing, you may win £1,000,000. This doesn’t mean it’s a free draw – because you won’t get any interest on your money while it’s in premium bonds, so that is the true gamble.

With a maximum holding of 30,000 bonds and a chance of winning set at 1:36,000 you should, on average, win 10 months in 12.

However, this months change, which reflects the low interest rates available today means that while the odds of winning remain the same, one of the £1m prizes is being withdrawn and redistributed as smaller prizes and the smallest prize is being reduced for £50, down to £25.

However, as a balance against the gamble – the interest you could receive somewhere else, this is probably still OK.

And we all like more prizes.

So, there is probably a place for Premium Bonds in a large portfolio of savings, although it’s probably not at the top of the list.

Wow – I’m groundbreaking…

There is an article on IFA Life website and it’s repeated in IFAOnline – that tells about the benefits of Social Networking websites…

I have a Facebook Presence and I’ve been on Twitter for a few months (earlyish adopter…)

That makes me one of ‘The 10′ IFA’s in the country using Social Networking.

The article is here

Prescription charges

If you don’t qualify for free prescriptions and you have more than 14 precriptions per year, or more than 3 in 3 months, you’ll be interested in this.

It’s not widely publicised, but you can buy a annual prescription certificate. Currently an annual one costs £102.50 and can be bought over the phone and even paid for in 10 monthly installments by direct debit.

Given that a single script costs £7.20, this could be useful.

Details on the NHS website

New rates out – good news?

Well RBS/Natwest group have released some new fixed rates today and the Coventry have tweaked theirs.

RBS/Natwest

Have reduced their 2 year fixed rates and brought out some 5 year fixed rates.

Coventry

Have adjusted their very interesting 3 year capped rate – it’s now got two tiers – 65% Loan to Value has the same rate as before, but a second tier now for 65 – 75% has a higher cap.

Commercially it makes sense – they were leading the market by too much at 75%. Still, a shame that it only lasted a few days.

And, I’ve just been reminded by Bradford & Bingley that they are waiving penalties for people that want to leave them.  However, given that they did alot of 85% buy to let lending, a large number of their customers will not be able to take advantage of this facility as house prices fell.

Bank of England historic interest rates

This covers the period up to today from 1694.

1694 – not 1964 – so, 300 years or so.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=phNtm3LmDZEPN0XZoiXuQZA

Well, I was fascinated…