Guest post by Muzammil Bashir, senior editor of freestuff.co.uk.

Everyone loves a bargain, and there’s nothing better than finding great free offers and discounts to help your cash go a little further. So here is a quick guide for budding bargain hunters:

1. Jumble Sales, Yard Sales & Car boots

Summer time is in full swing and if you didn’t know already; it’s yard sale season. This is the time of year that walking round a field at 8am suddenly looks like a pleasant day out, and if you have got a keen eye for a bargain, what better opportunity?

There is sure to be a sale near you, so have a look in your local paper, and make sure you turn up early to snag the best deals before someone else does.

2. Bargain Shops & Money Saving

Some people raise their eyebrows at thrift stores and the like, but if you are on the hunt for good deals, you can do a lot worse than rummaging in your nearest charity shop. Sure enough, some-times you won’t find a whole lot, but it only takes the occasional gem to make it all worthwhile.

The best fun of the exercise is that you never know what you might find. These types of stores can have anything from books and clothes to gadgets, games consoles and I even found a pair of skis one time!

3. Recycling / Freecycling

The green revolution has brought with it a new opportunity for lovers of free stuff the world over. Free recycling or freecycling as it is known works like this:

Family buys new sofa and hence; no longer needs old sofa

Can’t be bothered to sell old sofa, but doesn’t want to send to landfill

Sofa is given away free to a good home…

There really are people out there with big ticket items, used but in good condition who simply want to give them away to anyone who will collect. Find your local freecycle network and see what treasures await.

4. Outlet Stores and Seconds

The previous few ideas have all been about getting second hand stuff for cheap, which can work really well, but what if you want something new, and perhaps a little nicer?

Well, outlet stores are a worthwhile place to start. Rather than shopping at your local sports store, or branding clothing shops, why not go online and see if you favourite brand has an outlet mall near you?

5. eBay!

I’m not going to say a lot here to be honest, but in simple terms, you have been going pretty darn niche before you will find a product that isn’t available on eBay.

eBay is a big business now-a-days, and there are a great deal of measures in place to help keep you safe. Ok so this is a bit of a boring suggestion, but if all else fails, it is always worth checking on eBay to see what the prices are like.

Westfield London Shopping Centre has launched a ‘Kids Eat for FREE’ offer as part of its Summer 2011 campaign. I think this is brilliant news – often the most expensive part of the day when we go to Westfield is lunch. Although the voucher doesn’t include our usual stop – Pho – several other great restaurants are taking part, including Benugo, Caffe Concerto, Ciao Baby Cucina, Comptoir Libanis, CrepeAffaire, Fire & Stone, Isola Bella, Jom Makan, Le Pain Quotidien, Mandaloun, Shawa, The Meat & Wine Company and The Real Greek.

The Kids Eat Free vouchers can only be redeemed in Westfield London at the restaurants specified from 23rd July – 4th September 2011. Westfield’s Summer campaign also includes kids’ events, shows and other entertainment activities, most of which are free.

Download your Kids Eat Free voucher here: http://uk.westfield.com/london/.

UPDATE 8.8.11 – We used our voucher on Saturday and it was as easy as pie. At CrepeAffair DSD’s crepe was free – no rules or restrictions from what I could tell.

This amazing news just in! Trafalgar Square will be painted red tomorrow (not literally) and renamed Tomato Square as 100,000 free tomato plants are given away to the public. The Tomato Flash Grow is part of the Capital Growth project which supports community food growing projects in London. Plus one lucky plant will be hiding a ticket to the RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The giveaway starts at 6.30am so swing by on your way to work to bag yourself a very special green shoot to start your veg patch.

Massive thanks to Time Out for the scoop and @tbex for bringing it to my attention. For more info, see capitalgrowth.org.

What’s not to love about Free Cone Day? This year, Ben & Jerry’s will be giving away free scoops TODAY from 6-9 p.m. at shops across the UK. The one exception is the Leicester Square scoop shop which will start handing out free cones at 3 p.m. Find your nearest Ben & Jerry’s here.

No voucher necessary this time around. Get in!

On Sunday I finally got back to working on DSD’s quilt and as I was sitting there sewing while streaming an episode of Glee at the kitchen table I realised that I should share my free TV tips with all of you.

This post is for you if you want to watch telly while you’re cooking, folding laundry, getting ready for work, in bed or anywhere you don’t have a TV. Or if you want to catch up on old episodes or old series of shows you missed. Or if you want to watch particularly crap American telly that hasn’t made it’s way over here (or American shows one series ahead of where it is here!)

This is also for you if you’re not that bothered about quality. There are clever ways to download pirated video and other methods I haven’t figured out yet – but this is about watching online and sometimes there’s awful quality out there. But if you’re only half watching while you do dishes, do you care? I don’t.

The free TV revelation started when a friend turned me on to SurftheChannel.com. She was living in France and now she lives in Spain – places where it is pretty hard to find Glee and 30 Rock, I would imagine. Now I have a few go-to sites when I can’t find the links I need! Here is the cheat sheet:

SurftheChannel.com – Good site, very community driven – which I like – but sometimes poorly organised as a result. I tend to head here now more for films.

Sidereel.com – My latest favourite for telly, although they seem desperate to monetise so you’ve got some annoying videos and adverts popping up. Well organised. A bit crap for films but great for telly.

Yidio.com – Similar to Sidereel but seem to have fewer links. Also a bit crap for films (I think this is because they don’t want to annoy studios.)

Blinkx.com – Great for finding films but I can’t work out how to find telly on here.

Now before you go trying this I have a few more words of advice. These sites basically aggregate links to the shows that are around the web. Some you pay for, some are free. I always look for links from Megavideo. Why can’t I just search on Megavideo? I don’t know, but you can’t, search is rubbish on the site. Megavideo only lets you watch something like 120 minutes at a time before they ask you to buy a subscription or wait an hour. Sometimes I buy a subscription.

The companies that make these shows have caught on to this stuff and now pull a lot of links down so you may get some “removed due to copyright infringement” messages but don’t be discouraged – keep clicking the next few links and you’ll almost always find one they’ve missed.

So what should you watch? Check out Amy Poehler’s Parks & Recreation if you want to fall of your chair laughing or Hellcats with HSM’s Ashley Tisdale playing captain of her university cheer squad for a seriously guilty pleasure.

Any sites I’ve missed? TELL ME NOW!!

Lemsip are running a fun promotion I think you’ll like, given that you’ll probably get sick and need some Lemsip this season anyway (just saying!) They are promoting the launch of hte new Lemsip Max Lemon Flavour Tablets – “the first and only dual format cold and flu tablets” – by giving away free film downloads from LoveFilm.com.

To claim a free LoveFilm download, visit the official Lemsip Facebook page, choose from one of 15 films and download, watch it yourself or send it to a friend. Get cozy, watch a film, and make yourself feel better with a cup of steaming Lemsip (and maybe some cake). This offer is good until 31 December.

If you must leave the house when you’re feeling poorly, Lemsip Max Lemon Flavour Tablets can be taken on the go, helping to relieve headache, sore throat, a fever, body aches and pains and a blocked nose whilst you’re out and about. Then when you finally get the time to stop and give yourself a break, the tablets can also be added to hot water, dissolving to make a comforting drink, helping to relieve your aches and pains and providing Max strength relief from the symptoms of cold and flu. Just swallow or dissolve!

Centrale Shopping Centre in Croydon is throwing a free four-day Spooky Extravaganza that started on Thursday. Activities will run from 11.00 a.m. to 3.45 p.m. each day until Sunday, 31 October.

Here are some of the highlights:

Mr. Tricks - Centrale’s very own master of magic presenting a box of tricks

Spooky Sing Along and Scary Story Time – Songs and books linking in with the Halloween theme providing an interactive event that all ages enjoy.

Halloween Mask Making – Craftwork sessions for children to decorate their very own Halloween masks.

Treats – Specially made Centrale Tricks and Treats bookmarks will be given away during the event.

Wacky Wizard Shows – See the magical puppet show about a small boy who goes to a magical land to find work. While there he meets a wicked Witch who only the good wizard can save him from.

Halloween Parade – At the end of each day children and parents are invited to join in the Halloween parade in fancy dress with the best  effort winning  a goodie bag of treats!

A full events list can be found here.

If you’re in North Wales, the HallowBrenig Spooky Woodland Walk might be for you! This event is free for families and includes a storyteller, a few surprises and a really lovely, spooky setting. At the end of the walk you’ll even be served scary soup!

The walk starts at the Llyn Brenig Visitor Centre off B4501, Cerrigydrudion, LL21 9TT this Saturday, 30 October, at 6.00 p.m.

Drop into your closest Clinton Cards for free face-painting between 11.00 a.m. and 3.00 p.m. on Saturday, 30 October. The following stores are participating. While you’re there you can also take advantage of Clinton’s 3 for 2 offer on fake blood and costume make-up for the big day!

The Bullring, Birmingham
Bluewater Shopping Centre
Bristol Cribbs Causeway
Queen Street, Cardiff
St David’s Centre, Cardiff
Chelmsford High Street
Braehead, Glasgow
Metro Centre, Gateshead
White Rose Centre, Leeds
Arndale Centre, Manchester
The Trafford Centre, Manchester
Midsummer Arcade, Milton Keynes
Eldon Square, Newcastle
Victoria Centre, Nottingham
Oxford Street ,London
Westfield Centre (White City), London
The Liberty Centre, Romford
Meadowhall, Sheffield
West Quay, Southampton
Lakeside, Thurrock

You know that old, unused mascara (or five) you have taking up space in your medicine cabinet/junk drawer/make up bag? Mine is a waterproof for sad occasions and swimming that I really never actually use (and you know you’re supposed to chuck them after three months anyway…) Well starting Friday Clinique is doing a Mascara Swap at Boots.

Take in your old mascara (any brand) between 29 October and 16 November and you’ll get your choice of deluxe mascara samples free!

You can choose from High Impact Mascara and High Lengths Masacra. One per customer while supplies last.