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Travelling for free

I am lucky (and wise): I have a bike. But what if it rains or the distance defeats me? Join the fare evaders at the back of a bendy bus? Thumbing a lift is the rock’n’roll route, but, with a bit of organisation, carshares are now the best bet. Try Liftshare.com, a nationwide database of 222,000 members – and you don’t even have to have a car. Just register your journey and the website shows other users taking the same route. It makes for quite a weird encounter, but a welcoming one. Take some broken-biscuit cake to ingratiate yourself.

Getting favours for free

Local exchange trading systems are community-based barter networks that encourage local trade for “local currency” or pledges – no money required. Baby-sitting for three hours earned me 30 pledges, which could buy me IT support, interior design, language tuition or all manner of alternative therapies.

Getting treats for free

I needed to find a birthday present for someone. Freecycle.org is another local-network system where things are passed on for free. From secondhand ukuleles to discarded Masai spears, it was a treasure trove of ideas. When I made an appointment to collect the present, however, the owner never showed. It’s understandable: what was in it for them?

There’s more. Want to catch a show? Tvrecordings.com has details of radio and television programmes recorded in London, such as Al Murray’s Happy Hour and 8 out of 10 Cats. Now that’s what I call free entertainment.

For voucher and competition junkies, there is Freebieworld (freebieworld.co.uk), a user-generated network on which news of all freebies in the world (software, cosmetics, books, even a suspiciously inviting £250 grocery gift voucher) is posted online. Trendspotters call the growth of available freebies “free love” – a race for consumers’ attention made possible by the decreasing cost of producing the freebies. There is a catch, of course. To make it viable, you will need to become a marketing statistic – expect to hand over your personal details and receive constant bombardment from the ad men. Like free love, it can leave you feeling empty inside.

By the end of the week, I was seriously hungry, but otherwise I had coped. I had spent absolutely no money and found lots of support networks that will drastically reduce my spending in the future. Be warned, though: the money-free lifestyle is far from utopian – it’s tough and time-consuming. Still, when needs must . . .

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