1<\/strong> If you sign up to secret seat-filler sites such as Show Film First<\/a> and Central Ticket<\/a>, you\u2019ll be alerted to last-minute tickets at rock-bottom prices \u2013 sometimes nothing at all. The only catch is you have to keep this on the quiet to maintain the illusion that performances are packed with paying punters.<\/p>\n 2<\/strong> Want to read the New Yorker article everyone\u2019s talking about, but don\u2019t have a subscription? You can do so for nothing with many library memberships and the Libby app<\/a>, which gives access to pretty much every magazine you can think of, with no loan limits. Libby and a similar app, BorrowBox<\/a>, also lend thousands of ebooks and audiobooks; read or listen on your phone, iPad, Kindle or laptop.<\/p>\n 3<\/strong> An underutilised benefit of Amazon Prime is Prime Reading: hundreds of free Kindle books and audiobooks are included, as are magazines such as Grazia and Radio Times.<\/p>\n 4<\/strong> Bagging tickets for concerts and festivals has never been more competitive. Tools such as Visualping<\/a> alert you as soon as a webpage has changed \u2013 so you can be first in the queue when seats are released. It\u2019s also handy for securing a table at hot restaurants, knowing when a sought-after pair of trainers is back in stock, or alerting yourself to events such as the Eurostar flash sale.<\/p>\n 5<\/strong> Don\u2019t let theatres fool you into thinking restricted view seats are a\u00a0false economy. For instance, the end-aisle seats for Hamilton in London\u2019s West End are consistently rated five stars by users of the site SeatPlan<\/a>, who report that, as Hamilton is primarily performed at the centre of the stage, you won\u2019t miss any key plot points or songs. SeatPlan collates hundreds of thousands of seat-view photos, so you can check the vantage point before you buy.<\/p>\n
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