Top Leisure Tips

Cut back on unnecessary expenses

Take a long hard look at your expenditure list and remove any items that you don’t need or cut back on things you can use less of, Its estimated that over £200m is lost every year in unused gym memberships, how much of that is your cash? Plus you can always keep fit at home or by paying far less at your local pool and by spending time out walking the dog or out walking with your family etc.

Use your car wisely

With rising fuel costs think before you make that journey, a quick trip to the local shop can be made on foot maybe or popping down the rd to see friends, if your journey is less than a mile walk or ride a bike, it will save you money and keep you fit too, saving you money on that expensive gym membership you never use? If you see cheap fuel on offer at your local supermarket fill the car up, if you can car share with a friend at work. Check your tires etc regular good maintain your car will not only save on repair bills but greatly increase fuel efficiency.

Make your own lunch

Take your lunch with you to work instead of paying for it at the local sandwich shop, on average we spend more than £960.00 a year on our lunch when you could make it for less than £300.00 saving £660.00 a year. Imagine what you could do with that money, if you smoke try and cut back or even better quit, if you smoke just 10 a day you can save over £1000.00 and you also get to live longer to enjoy it. Take a look at your broadband cost you could save over £100.00 a year by combing it with you TV service for example.

Book Early

Low-cost airlines have created a market in holidays for people prepared to fly to any destination provided it's cheap. You can benefit from this too. Just remember, only a few seats on each flight are sold at bargain-basement prices and once they're sold, the prices rise. So book early.

Saving: £100

Link: Skyscanner - the air fares comparison site

Book your own 'package' holiday online

The popularity of High Street travel agents is waning as more and more people warm to the benefits of researching and putting together their own holidays on the internet. If your holiday consists of flights, accommodation, transfers and possibly car hire, then take this test. Order a brochure from a leading holiday company and work out the price of your holiday including all the complicated supplements. Now go online and, starting with the flights, try to put the same package together.

Saving: £100+

Links: This is flights, HotelClub.co.uk, Shuttle Direct, Holiday Autos

Don't pay full price for theatre or theme park tickets

If you are prepared to tolerate the unwieldy website and hit-and-miss customer service, lastminute.com regularly boasts some amazing deals for London's theatres and the nation's theme parks. At the time of writing you can see top West End show The Producers plus a two-course meal for less than £20 a head, a saving of £60 per person, and tickets for Chessington World of Adventures cost from £12, a saving of nearly £50 for a day out for a family of four.

Saving: £100s

Link: www.lastminute.com

Walk/cycle to the station/work

It maybe a bit of hippie notion to many people but it's free.

Saving: £100

Link: Cycle Campaign Network

Cut down your drinking

A few beers after work a few nights a week is a financially debilitating state of affairs. Set limits and stick to them.

Saving: £100s

Link: Calculator: Pleasures v treasures

Pack up Smoking

Never mind the health implications, the guilt and the smell, your 20-a-day habit is costing you nearly £2,000 a year. Pack it in.

Saving: Nearly £2,000

Link: Givingupsmoking.co.uk

Cancel your gym membership

If you pay your £40 a month by direct debit and you use the gym three times a week, great. If not, cancel your membership immediately. You'll soon save enough to buy your own bike and, if you're so inclined, a rowing machine. Consider running home from work three times a week. It's free.

Saving: £100s

Link: Compare prices for rowing machines on Kelkoo

Use your library

The local library is a mecca for the money saver. You'll never need to buy another cookbook, guidebook or lifestyle manual again and if you can bear to wait a few weeks in the queue for the latest blockbuster, you never need to buy books again. CDs and videos are great value too.

Saving: £100

Link: www.whichbook.net - find a book and check if it's available at your local library

Take up a money-saving hobby

Hobbies not only open your mind to new experiences but they also take up your time – important if you would otherwise spend it in the pub drinking away your hard-earned money. If a painting takes 20 hours to complete, and you normally get through a pint an hour. That's a saving of a least 40 quid a picture. Think about it. Get painting. Go fishing.

Saving: £100+

Take a packed lunch to work !!!£££!!!

It's obvious. So obvious, in fact, that most days I receive an email from someone somewhere explaining the money-saving virtues of making your own lunch. 'Do the maths, Rich!' So here goes: you spend a conservative £5 a day on lunch plus the luxury of £1.50 on a coffee and £1 on snacks, it's nothing. It's only £7.50 a day. Or £1,800 a year. Or, for the hard of understanding, the cost of a brand new £10,000 car after a mere five years. Over your working life you can easily chomp away more than £100,000. And you know what? An awful lot of people spend considerably more than £7.50 a day. While making your own lunch isn't free, remember: a sandwich is just some bread with some stuff in between. And for the price of a small pension, does the coffee really taste that good?

Perfect packed lunches

Drivers: slow down and save

Unless you drive everywhere at 30mph it's becoming all-but impossible to avoid being caught speeding at least once in your life. There are now more than 6,000 speed cameras waiting to catch you out. But if your driving involves high mileage think about this: if you drive at 70mph rather than 80mph - and I've seen how few few drivers stick to 70mph - it will save one litre of petrol for every 20 miles, says one reader. If you do 10,000 motorway miles a year, that's a saving of nearly £450.

Speed camera database

Cheap theatre tickets

The lure of the West End stage is a powerful one - and not just for the actors. Hundreds of theatre-lovers are bussed in from the provinces every day to watch largely over-priced dross. The price of the tickets is enough to cripple a family's budget, never mind the extra costs of transport, food and accommodation. Much better value can be found in the fringe theatres, and even better in your small local or pub theatre. If you must come to London, the Kings Head in Islington is highly rated, as is Upstairs at the Gatehouse, Highgate. Outside London, the Theatre Royal, Windsor is a try-out venue for many West End shows.