2) Be a volunteer!
3) Visit the libraries, parks and museums
4) Do some paintings using recycled stuff (eg. old furnitures, plastic water bottle)
5) Start an online business
6) Keep fit by exercising at least 3 times a week (eg. swimming, cycling or even washing the car)
7) Set a day aside for for shopping at the fresh market or supermarket (eg. Walmart/ Target)
8) Check out the Premier Outlets during public holidays for great discounts.
9) Take up a hobby that appreciates nature (eg. photography or gardening)
10) Try decorating the walls and furnitures with removable wall stickers (eg. http://www.roommatespeelandstick.com/)
Some tips from Kimberly Palmer (@alphaconsumer) is the author of the new book Generation Earn: The Young Professional's Guide to Spending, Investing, and Giving Back.
If you're ready to cash in on these freebies yourself, here are my top four tips:
1. Use Hulu.com. As most people under age 25 know, the website Hulu.com makes it easy to watch many shows for free, including fan favorites such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Office, and Modern Family. With limited ads and easy streaming, the only downside is that not all shows are available at all times. That's when you might need to use the next option. [See also: The Economic Reality of Primetime Families.]
2. Before paying for a new episode of your favorite show on iTunes, do a Web search with the name of the show and the words "full episodes." Networks don't always make it easy to find the latest show through their websites, but a Web search with those terms will help turn it up. This technique helped us find the latest60 Minutes, Survivor, and Amazing Race episodes, for example. But it can also turn up spam sites. Steer clear of any urls that you don't recognize.
3. Take advantage of the online content you might already be paying for. If you subscribe to a cable provider, you might be able to watch even more of your favorite shows online than you can find through your TV screen. For example, the HBO Go app allows users to access all episodes of shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm and Sex and the City. We were happy to rediscover these long-lost (to us) shows. (To access to shows, you must be a HBO subscriber.)
4. Check out iTunes, and not just for music. Networks often make their shows available through iTunes at low or no cost to the user. We also figured out that it was easier, and in some cases cheaper, to rent foreign films through iTunes than it would be through a video rental company (such as Netflix or Redbox). For just a few dollars, we downloaded an amazing French film (The Heartbreaker, for anyone who wants a recommendation) and watched it in high-definition on our laptop.
