4,000 free tickets to iTunes festival

Free music is great. Even better is when it's one of the world's top acts that you're not paying to see. That's why the iTunes festival is worth a mention.

It runs every night in July at the Roundhouse in Camden, London, and to get tickets all you need is to be a Facebook friend of iTunes or, if that's all a bit too revoltingly corporate wacky, sign up for a free Standard Card from the London Evening Standard newspaper.

Another route if you don't want either of those is to enter this competition.

Personally I'd use this route:

www.standard.co.uk/itunes

You can sign up for your card during the application process. And tickets are made available for different artists every week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LINE UP: Jamie T + The Slow Club, Fightstar + In Case Of Fire, Jack Peñate + Golden Silvers, Flo Rida + Ironik, Snow Patrol (pictured) + Silversun Pickups + Animal Kingdom, Franz Ferdinand + Passion Pit, Mr Hudson & Special guest + Kid British, David Guetta feat. Kelly Rowland, Paolo Nutini + Marina and the Diamonds + Milow, La Roux + Dan Black, Newton Faulkner, Peter Bjorn and John + Raygun, Placebo, Friendly Fires + Magistrates, Simple Minds, Noisettes + Skint & Demoralised, Calvin Harris + Miike Snow, Bat For Lashes + Polly Scattergood, Bloc Party + Delphic + The Invisible, Oasis (pictured) + The Enemy, Kasabian + Twisted Wheel, Graham Coxon (pictured) + Esser, a-ha(pictured) + Reamonn, Madeleine Peyroux + Imelda May, The Saturdays (pictured) + Sophie Ellis-Bextor + Girls Can't Catch, Amadou & Mariam + Charlie Winston, Simian Mobile Disco + Gold Panda, The Hoosiers + Steve Appleton, Mika + Erik Hassle.

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Get a hobby, save a fortune - don't be a zombie

Anyone who read my book, or heard me on Radio 5 Live's credit crunch special (hello mum), will know that my big money-saving tip is to get a hobby.

Not only do you save money by not dragging your inner zombie around shopping centres to buy imported goods you don't need, but you build important real-life social networks, vital if you're job hunting, and, heavens, you might even have fun.

Still not convinced?

Check out findmyhobby.com - it's an American directory of hobby sites worth a look. It will throw up gems such as the site for radio controlled planes addicts, or one for pets' right enthusiasts.

Still not interested?

OK, get a credit card, go shopping. Discuss zombies. What do I care?

Related

How playing the guitar can save you money

Now for some pictures of zombies shopping...

£45,000 to work for a charity overseas

Had enough of last place on the grid in the rat race of life? Then check this out. The Vodafone Foundation is looking for eight people to 'give something back to society' by working abroad for a UK-based charity for a year. Salary and expenses could be up to £45,000.

You need to offer passion, drive and commitment so just being fed up with your current lot is not a suitable qualification but it's being billed as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

To apply (by 30 July) and find out more visit...

Vodafone Foundation World of Difference

See videos about the project on YouTube 

A message from Lewis Hamilton...

Free: listen to the Sex Pistols final concert

All right, so this is of pretty niche interest but for aficionados, the farewell gig of the founders of UK punk is worth bunging the headphones on this lunchtime for. And as money-saving goes, it's free. So go on spend a session in the presence of John, Sid, Paul and Steve: the Sex Pistols. It's 'obnoxious and stirring', it says here, 'from one of the most influential bands in the history of rock music'. Enjoy:

The Sex Pistols Concert, Winterland San Francisco
14 Jan 1978

If that's not your thing there's plenty of other musical diversions on the site to while away an hour or so. But you do need to register first.

Related

Find cheaper broadband/ check your download speed

Free certificates of achievement for your children

Kids love stickers and certificates to reward their work and achievements. And now you can make your own.

Thanks to Resource Shelf, which highlighted the site myawardsmaker, we can now make all kinds of certificates to say well done in sports, school, general and special occasions - in about the time it takes to type your child's name. Try these:

School certificates

Sports certificates

Blank templates

Related

Free children's savings brochures

Call France or Australia from a mobile for 1p a minute

So, John Humphrys was wrong. Mobile phones are something to love and cherish.

I beg to differ, of course.

But if you are of the Humphrys way of thinking then get over to the Alpha Telecom website as you may find their tariffs for certain countries are worth checking out.

Use the rate finder to see if it's for you.

Calls to much of Europe, the USA and Australia are just 1p a minute from your mobile. You need to pre-load your account then dial a prefix or register your number for automatic savings.

Related

Guide to change mobile deals

Fury at telecoms giants shoddy service

Phone deal finder

The best business and money shows on TV and radio

Anyone interested in a comic look at the causes of the credit crunch - it was greedy morons in banks by the way - will do well to listen to Radio 4 this evening at 6.30pm. The brilliant spoof phone-in Down the Line from Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson (pictured below)  is back with a crunch special.

Or for a more serious view of business and economic affairs there are a range of quality shows out there.

Here are some of our favourites. (Feel free to suggest others.)

Daily (weekdays)

Wake up to Money
BBC Radio 5 Live
5.30am-6am
An entertaining and insightful round-up of all things financial

World Business Report
BBC1 5.30am-6am
An alternative to the above if you don't have access to a radio or computer with occasionally interesting worldwide angles

Working lunch
BBC2 12.30pm - 1pm
Lighthearted lunchtime business round-up

Monday

Panorama
BBC1 8.30-9pm
Sometimes featuring an insider's view of business stories

Dispatches
C4 8-9pm
Sometimes featuring an in-depth view of business scandals

The Secret Millionaire
C4 10pm-11pm
OK, not really business and seems to have run its course, but a reminder that success is not everything

Jeff Randall Live
Sky News 7.30pm-8pm
A matey look at business issues on Monday to Thursdays

Dragons' Den
Weekly online-only show
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/

Tuesday

Great British Brands
C4 11.45am-12pm
Short daytime look at what made Great British business great

Down the line
Radio 4 6.3pm
Classic modern spoof of the phone-in. Rarely about business but there's still time to listen again to the crunch special

The Real Hustle
BBC 3 7.45pm-8pm
Free lessons in how to be a scammer

Wednesday

Money Box Live
Radio 4 3pm
Weekly personal finance phone in 

The Apprentice
BBC 9pm
Irritating game show with wannabee slebs around a business theme. But seems popular.

Saturday

Money Box
Radio 4 12pm
Long-standing personal finance show on the wireless

The Bottom Line
Radio 4
Today presenter and economist Evan Davies gets business leaders around the table

Sunday

In Business
Radio 4 9.30pm
A series of programmes about work covering everything from giant corporations to volunteers 

Related

>> Find cheaper broadband

>> Check TV packages in your area

Stuff you may not know about #2: Phone bills

You can save £500 a year off your phone bill. One reader claims to have saved £1,000. So what are you doing about it? Start here...

How to cut your phone bill by £500

Get rich slowly

'Few people get rich quickly, but almost anyone can get rich slowly by patiently following some simple rules.'

Spending a spending-free lunchtime reading this popular blog from an 'average guy' could be a useful diversion. Check out...

http://getrichslowly.org/blog/

Related

Cheap eats

How to... become a millionaire easily

I was chatting to an economist the other day about my theories on saving money.  Most so-called money saving websites are all about spending money on stuff you don't need, which is why the global economy is in such a mess.

He told me to check out the book, Millionaire Next Door.

The author has met some of America's people with fat bank accounts and found that anyone can get rich if they don't follow the herd and live frugally. 'They don't look like millionaires'. You can spend your lunchtime reading the 280-odd reviews (link below) if you don't want to buy it. Or read this account from the New York Times.

Millionaire Next Door by Thomas Stanley

Related

How to survive the credit crunch

Millionaire interviews

 

How to avoid the great airport water con

As we approach the end of our little series of travel-related tips, deals and offers, here's probably one of the most important for anyone heading through an airport this year - particularly if you are unfamiliar with the ins and outs of the War on Terror.

Chief weapon in our country's armoury is a clear, resealable plastic bag no larger than 20cm x 20cm approx in which to place all carry-on-board liquids, which must be in containers no larger than 100ml.

According to the Department For Transport:

'Remember that 'Liquids' includes:

All drinks, including water, soup, syrups
Creams, lotions, oils, perfumes, mascara etc
Sprays and pressurized containers including shaving foam and spray deodorants
Pastes, including toothpastes
Gels, including hair and shower gel
Blah, etc

While, taking soup on a plane is a niche pastime these days, we all really ought to be taking water with us to ward off dehydration. And this is where we confront the 'Great airport water con'. If you arrive with a bottle of water, you are forced to either drink it all before passing through security or throw it away. After security, you may then buy a new bottle of water from the imaginatively priced airside shops. This is an outrageous rip-off. But it doesn't have to be.

Simply take an empty bottle with you - there no anti-terror law about that - and fill it up with water from the fountain or the loos on the other side of the security checks. Easy.

Related

Must read: Official rules on hand baggage and liquids.

Deals and offers: Low-cost travel insurance

 

Free art: toilet paper origami

The temptation to compose a hilarious April Fool's missive today is one I'm not about to fall prey to. Flicking through the papers this morning it's almost impossible to tell whether some of the stories are genuine news or made up jokes so let's not add to the misery.

Instead, here's something that on the face of it is rather silly but equally fascinating: toilet paper origami, or toilegami.

If you have ever wondered how those hotels manage to create free form art out of the last sheet of bog roll this site is a perfect way to spend a lunch hour. Check out:

The Origami Resource Center toilet paper section

There are loads of links to useful books and videos on the subject.

I particularly like the line: 'Stephen Gill spent 3 years photographing the folded toilet papers in hotels from various countries.'

Related

Outrage at Ryanair's 'toilet charge'

Woman paid next door's water bill for 16 years

Find a hotel deal

Richard Browning

World's best free toy for children

Of all the tips in this here book, one of my favourites is for the world's best toy. Best? Well it's free. And children love it. So what is it?

Why an iceberg of course. You get an empty ice cream tub or large yoghurt pot, fill it with water and freeze it. Come bath time when your tired children scream in your face about hating baths - and you - remove the frozen slab and drop it in the bath water. Best toy ever; up there with the wrapping paper and boxes their Christmas presents come in. They might even start loving you again.

Related

Free brochures

Free investment advice (with share dealling account)

Check your credit (free trial)

Save £1bn with my dad's diet

With a UK diet industry worth £1bn and a US one worth £70bn and the revelation that only one in 100 dieters are able to keep the weight off it doesn't take a mathematician of the calibre of Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting to realise that lots of billions of pounds are being wasted on pointlessness and not many of the other kinds of pounds are being shed. So let me introduce my dad's diet: don't eat bread.

It works for him and it works for me. In a fortnight I can slim from pregnant to svelte with little effort. Take it one step further and cut out wheat - so no biscuits or cakes - and within weeks you can start looking ill if that's the look you crave. Add a bit of exercise into the mix and your rib cage will soon be visible through your chest for all to admire.

Now that bread is more expensive than fresh fruit, even in winter, the dad diet will save you money and your life. Not bad for not doing anything much at all. Please make cheques out to Richard Browning for £71bn.

Or buy my book. 

 

So, economics is funny after all

As we sit back and watch the end of the Western economy as we know it there are a couple of ways to react. All right, there are loads, but here's two for starters.

1. Read the musings of the modern economic thinkers, such as Umair Haque and his User's Guide to 21st century economics

2. Laugh about it.

The idea that  long-established economic models are dead is an interesting one (especially as there's a chance that a new, more caring society may emerge). But so is watching BBC's former economics editor turned presenter of Radio 4's Today programme, Evan Davis, performing an economics-based stand up comedy routine. For the Comic Relief charity, of course.

In case you missed, may I suggest that you spend a lunchtime watching the comic efforts of four BBC luminaries, also featuring  Libby Purves, Peter White and Laurie Taylor.

Watch the preparation and the performances here

And if you want to take a leap towards our new caring society, don't forget to cast your phone vote. 

Related

>> This is Money's investment writer Philip Scott in Sierra Leone: 'The Isa that can help save children's lives'

>> Check out the archive of our economics editor, Dan Atkinson

Red Nose Day site

The (free) Ultimate Book Guide

There aren't many books that spawn movies that are as good as the thing that took some poor writer months of thought, pain and misery to compose only to be told that chapter three needs rethinking because that's where Hollywood dictates the turning point should be.

One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest did it for me; both the book and the film were masterpieces. As does Holes, the wonderfully whimsical tale of theft, murder, magic, the palindromic Stanley Yelnats and the camp where bad kids get sent to dig holes for bad guys. There must be others. Help me out here folks.

But it is Holes that leads nicely into this little tip about the Ultimate Book Guide, which is a series of books full of detail of the best reads for children and teenagers.

There's a blog and there's a website with details of where to buy the books but if you head down to your local library you can pick up cut-down versions for nothing.  They're decent reads in themselves but if you've been wondering what you ought to be reading to your kids, or what they might enjoy, they're invaluable.

Related

Another book you may be interested in, (mine)

or if you're in a financial hole, check out the advice in...

Dealing with debt

 

Free investment advice

The best things, as John Lennon once told us, in life are free. Ha, try telling that to the people on 0% credit cards when the interest-free period runs out. But never mind, I now have a legitimate excuse to publish a nice big pic of the father of the beat combo and can boast a dreadfully tenuous link into this little tip...

If you have an interest in buying shares, and if you have any money you are prepared to lose if it goes wrong and if you lack the confidence to make your own decisions, you could do a lot worse than our share dealing service that offers a free investment advice helpline.

Now, I'm not saying that you should ever trust any so-called financial expert but it just maybe that a second opinion from someone who still has a job in financial services may be worth listening to.

Find out more about our share dealing service  

More free legal music

(I've always wanted to start a piece with the words 'why' and 'quite' with the first line in brackets. So here goes...)

Quite why, in the days that music downloads rule the audio waves, HMV doesn't offer an in-store facility to download music on to your pod or player is beyond me. You can do it on the website. In spite of this anomaly. HMV seems to be doing pretty well. It has just bought some of the vacant Zavvi stores.

Visiting Zavvi with its ridiculous over-the-top security presence often felt like you were visiting a crime scene rather than a shop with a few CDs and loads more CDs out of stock. I gave up with them ages ago. And this is someone who used to spend all day every Saturday in the Eldon Square Virgin Megastore who still spends stupid amounts of money on music. Dear old defunct Woolies frequently offered a similar experience; like visiting a badly organised jail with heavily guarded sweets, cheap tellies and Shania Twain CDs lining the aisles instead of cells. HMV take note - from my recent experience you seem to be filling the gap on the security front these days, it's not pleasant. 

Aside in small print: I did a quick reccy yesterday in the High Street. At 1.30pm, peak lunchtime shop-a-thon time, the shops were almost all, almost completely empty - apart from Tesco (big queue at the cigarette counter) and WH Smiths (big queue at the cigarette counter). The Smiths branch is closing down at the end of the month.

If High Street retailers won't adapt the game's up. Sky has just anounced an online music service to rival iTunes. Amazon and Play.com are doing a fine job offering music downloads. There a loads of others. But these are the paid-for ones.

The free legal stuff is incredible. If you haven't checked out Spotify do it now because, frankly, I can't work out how they plan to make proper money.

And for today, here's another legal one.

Wolfgang's Vault has a smallish but worthy archive of concert and interview footage of some of the greatest bands. It won't suit people into the more modern stuff on show in last night's Brits - but hey what's modern about Duffy? There's some interesting 'old' U2 footage that fans may want to check out. They were on the Brits too.

http://concerts.wolfgangsvault.com/

You need to do a quick registration but unlike Spotify and our erstwhile music retailers it shouldn't be blocked by any workplace's overzealous security presence: the firewall, that is.

Related

>> How to get better and cheaper broadband + reader's experiences

 

How interesting, successful people organise their days

The US President Barack Obama gets up at 6.45am, works out, has breakfast, reads the papers, helps his daughters get ready for school before heading downstairs on his now 30-second commute to work.

Writer P G Wodehouse (pictured) on the other hand, got up at 7.30am, did some regular exercises, had a breakfast of toast, cake and tea - then smoked his pipe with tobacco assembled from crumbled cigars.

What do you do?

If you're looking for inspiration into how you may want to adjust your daily routine as you strive for success, then check out this fascinating blog: Daily Routines.

http://dailyroutines.typepad.com/

Related

When redundancy can become an opportunity

Spotify - 'free legal music honest'

There's really not a lot of point me writing about this fabulous free legal music player with a massive catalogue of tunes from most artists I can imagine because it has all already been said here:

Free music on the internet - Spotify

and here

Free legal music honest

Suffice to say, if this is the future of online music then it's looking, so far, pretty healthy.  

Create your account here - and you won't have to wait for an invitation.

Here are some of the people I have been listening to...

Child tax credit relief

Anyone who has claimed Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit and the array of well-meaning but stupid-confusing taxes is likely to understand how it is possible to have missed something you are entitled to claim. If you haven't claimed and don't understand, never mind, but you may have missed this one - and there's still a few days left to claim it. It could be worth a grand.

It could, also be a complete waste of time but it is worth reading this yarn about Child tax credit relief.

Related

Tax credits - official site

"How can playing the guitar save you money?"

On Sunday evening I took part in a Radio 5 Live special debate on the credit crunch - in my role as author of How to Survive the Credit Crunch: 101 top tips to beat the crisis. As part of a panel of three guests, including recruitment consultant Jenny Ungless of Monster.co.uk and Bev Budsworth managing director of thedebtadvisor.co.uk I was alongside a couple of consummate professionals in the fields of helping people find work and coping with large debts. The show was hosted by Andy Verity, whose daily Wake Up To Money show, at 5.30am, is probably the best business/money show on air.

For the opening gambit he asked us each for our one top tip. I was representing the money savers and I announced that my biggest money-saving tip of all is to get a money-saving hobby. The poor bloke nearly fell off his chair. "How can playing the guitar save you money?" So let me explain properly.

For the past 30-odd years I have been playing the guitar for an average of about 5 hours a week. That's five hours of not going out and spending money. If each hour of practice is worth say £1. That's £7,800 over three decades. Not much in the scheme of things. But I estimate that as you get older the savings become much more than that.

If you spend a Saturday or an entire weekend with your hobby rather than going out spending haphazardly on stuff you don't really need because that's what you do, or popping off to Prague because the flights seem so cheap, the savings really start to add up into the thousands - a year.

On top of that, if you join a club and share your passion with other likeminded people you not only build lifetime friendships but you're building a social network that you may be able to rely on to help find a new job, as well as trusted tradespeople who while may not work for 'mates rates', won't rip you off or leave you without central heating over Christmas. Jenny backed up the point about using networking to find a job with the staggering statistic that 75% of jobs are not advertised; you can only find out about them through who you know.

Then there are the fringe mental health benefits of having an all-engrossing passion that you can turn to when you're feeling down. You can't put a price on that.

And let's not forget that if you become any good at your hobby you can start to earn money teaching either privately or at an adult education college. A couple of £20 lessons a week and there's an income of more than £1,000 a year to add to the coffers.

You don't have to have any artistic streak. You can do anything just so long as you do something. If you really can't decide, check out your local adult education college for courses or your council for a list of clubs. If you're still bemused, head over to your local library, where, if all else fails, you may be able to borrow a jigsaw - some of the bigger ones offer such items as part of the package. The time it takes to complete just one 5,000-piece puzzle could save you a small fortune if you're otherwise addicted to shopping.

Related

My book is currently on special offer at the This is Money bookshop for £6 inc P+P.

That's £1 less than at Amazon.

Win a copy with Teletext

Fun free way to learn to type

If you want to drive a car you need to have lessons and pass a test before you can take to the roads unaccompanied. Basic common sense dictates stuff like that. In fact, if you want to learn anything it's always advisable to take a lesson or two first. One of the fundamentals of civilisation should be our ability and willingness to learn and improve on the human condition.

So why then, when we spend most of our lives at a computer screen, do so few of us bother to learn how the damn things work? And why do even fewer learn how to type properly? Some kind of grand philanthropic gesture to keep the IT support guys in eternal employment maybe?

But when time is money, and we're all writing our own emails, learning to touch type should be at the top of the list of basic education. And it's pretty simple. Like hitting a few buttons, one might say. A child could do it. And they can - and so can you - thanks to the BBC.

Have a go at this - but turn the volume down if you're at work, not least because the 'comic' voices grate after a while.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/

Related

Test the speed of your broadband

Best of... part 3

Five more popular posts from the 2008 archive of stuff you can do in your lunchtime without being scammed, ripped off or spending any money...

5. How to avoid rogue anti-spyware

4. Most popular free downloads of the year

3. The easy way to give to charity

2. Is Britain really turning into a Dystopian horror movie?

and finally...

1. How to sort out your money and your life

Best of Not Work part 2

Five more tips from Not Work the archives that proved rather popular over the last year - things you may find yourself a bit better off knowing.

5. Never forget a password again

4. The Unbelievable Gift Company and other scams

3. How the Dragons made their millions

2. How call centres really behave

1. Directory of email addresses of big company bosses

It's still not work

Over the next few days we're taking a journey from credit crunch lite 2008 to some kind of place in 2009 that many people will not have experienced before. I thought we'd use the quiet few days ahead to take a look back at some of the most popular and most useful things you can do in lunchtime without spending any money.  Because next year everything is likely to be just a little bit different.

Here's today's top five.

5. This is Money readers' very own best of YouTube

4. Free office software

3. How to get parcels delivered when you're out

2. The best online bookshop

1. Quit drinking for less than a tenner

Tracking Santa

Retailers may have you believe that Christmas begins at the tail end of summer, just as as the kids go back to school, but what do they know about anything? For everyone else it starts today. And thanks to that internet we can track the progress of the man himself. (Is Santa real?)

The Norad Father Christmas tracking system has this year teamed up with Google to make it even easier to follow his progress around the world tonight. Whether that means Google now owns Christmas along with everything else is a debate for another time.

For today, if any children are getting far too excited, confused or overtired to the point of illness, get them to have a look at the progress of Santa. Because if they won't sleep, it ain't gonna happen.

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.html

Last years highlights

Most popular free downloads of 2008

Trying to find money-saving discounts worthy of posting is becoming increasing difficult. Almost everyone is cutting prices so there's not a lot of point singling out the most desperate offers. They all seem to be. Suffice to say that come January it will surely be a case of which chain will follow Woolworths into the mire.

Some of these offers are nonetheless better than others. For instance, Threshers/Wine Rack is currently offering 40% off wine. But let's take a closer look.

The popular French table wine from the JP Chenet label - the one with the funny shaped bottle - sells at Threshers / Wine Rack for £5.99 a bottle. Tesco is shifting it for less than £4 if you buy in bulk. But cross the Channel for a better idea of the true price and you'll see it's under £2 a bottle. Even at 40% off and considering the duty that UK Customs and Excise imposes - and even admitting that it's not an entirely accurate like-for-like comparison - it is a rubbish discount compared with its true French value.

Far better then to concentrate on some true bargains. Here are some of the best and most popular free downloads of the year. These offers are genuinely worth checking out.

Most popular free Windows downloads

Most popular free Mac downloads

Also worth checking

Songbird - open source music player

Related

Supermarkets cheat with bogus offers

Free games

Waste the rest of the day: it's free

www.friv.com

(warning: can be noisy)

Competition: win our credit crunch book

It's in the shops and already flown off the online shelves but we've managed to bag a few copies of the entertaining How to survive the credit crunch book to offer as prizes.

>> Enter now