Where to find cheap dinner deals, concert tickets and fitness hacks

We’ve put together a 5-minute guide to the apps, sites and tips you need for scoring discounts on everything from dining to fitness.

Patience can be the key to stretching your discretionary budget further during the current prices squeeze.

Besides last-minute ticketing sites offers, joining members loyalty programs with corporations you are already signed up to for your mobile, internet, banking or insurance services can also help save dollars on going to entertainment and sports events.

Here’s a guide to some of the apps, sites and tips for scoring discounts on everything from dining to fitness.

DINING DISCOUNTS

The Fork

This website and app offers specials at restaurants in Australian capital cities. The discounts can be as great as 50 per cent and are available for breakfast, lunch and dinner. An added bonus is you can book weeks in advance and the cheap eats are not confined to off-peak dining times.

www.thefork.com.au

Eat Club offers last minute takeaway and dining deals.

Eat Club

Last minute takeaway and dining decisions come with a significant markdown-tag on this site. In some cases, the 30 to 50 per cent reductions make the restaurant prices cheaper than the cost of cooking at home. A selection of restaurants and cafes participate across most capital cities, allowing them to offload tables that would otherwise go empty.

www.eatclub.com.au

First Table

This site is for diners wanting to plan a night out within the coming week. The best deals for the seven days from the date of search are presented and among them are some fine diners, including celebrity chef Luke Mangan’s Glass Brasserie in Sydney. The only catch is you need to eat at fringe dining times — for dinners, as early as 5pm and for breakfasts, as early as 7.30am. But a recent addition to the concept, called Last Table, means you can snap up cheap seats at the tail end of service (around 8.30pm).

ww.firsttable.com.au

Groupon offers bargain dining deals with vouchers valid for several months. Picture: AP Photo

Groupon

One of the longer-running sites in this space and hugely reliable for bargain dining deals. Vouchers with several-months validity can be purchased and either booked on the spot or at a later date. The site also offers discounts for travel, electronics, beauty and spas and adventure activities. Those who sign up to email alerts are often rewarded with flash sales on the already-reduced voucher price of up to 15 per cent.

www.groupon.com.au

Cudo

Similar to Groupon, Cudo offers inexpensive eat and drink deals across Australia. You can also nab cut-price accommodation deals and experiences. Further email discounts are offered periodically to customers signed up to the site on top of the existing special.

www.cudo.com.au

CHEAP THEATRE/OPERA/CONCERT/SPORT TICKETS

TodayTix

Theatre and Opera lovers need not be denied their passion in tight financial times, with this site offering bargain seats to some of the best shows in town. Deals as cheap as $45 are sent to those who register interest to certain performances in their city. Recently discounted shows include musicals Moulin Rouge and Mary Poppins and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly opera.

todaytix.com

Discounted Moulin Rouge tickets have recently been available on todaytix.com.

Tixel

An ethical secondary ticket marketplace created to take price-gouging scalpers and unofficial resale online sites out of the equation. It offers last minute tickets at face value and below for shows that have sold out from punters who can no longer go to the gig.

tixel.com/au

The Venue

The last-minute option. Limited tickets are often available at the box office on the day or night of a show due to tweaks to the production which opens up seats which weren’t initially available. Always worth giving the venue a call to see if they have released any extra tickets in the days head of a big gig. And if you’ve got some cash to splash, the unsold VIP packages may also be discounted in the 24 hours before show time so do a last-minute check on the official ticketing site eg Ticketek, Ticketmaster, OzTix or Moshtix.

Telstra Plus offers discounts for a range of things, including movies and sport.

Loyalty programs

Telstra Plus offers discounted movie and NRL and AFL tickets, Foxtel Rewards has free tickets, access to sport and entertainment “experiences” and cheaper movie passes. Your employer may also have special offers on cheaper tickets for entertainment events. Most cinema chains offer cheaper tickets for members. Art galleries, museums and theatres also have member discounts or last-minute offers, so join up.

https://plus.telstra.com.au/tickets

https://www.foxtel.com.au/foxtel-first.html

FITNESS APPS

FitOn Workouts

This app features a huge library of workouts, from strength training to HIIT, yoga and pilates to kickboxing, that you can do at home with guidance from its trainers. Best of all, it’s possible to try and to use many of these workouts for free, or you can subscribe for full access to more, and workouts with celebrity trainers, for $45.99 per year.

Fitonapp.com

Yoga workouts are available through FitOn.

Sweat

The Aussie workout app from Kayla Itsines has expanded a lot over the past year but still costs the same price. Fourteen trainers can now guide users through strength, boxing, yoga, HIIT or cardio workouts, as well as regular challenges, using no equipment, little equipment, or gym machines. A subscription costs $19.99/m or $119.94/yr.

sweat.com

Apple Fitness+

Everything from dancing to meditation, cycling and rowing to pilates and core workouts is included in Apple’s workout app, available to users with an Apple Watch and a desire to get fitter. The app also features workout programs, guided walks, and workouts ranging from just 10 minutes to 45 minutes for a monthly fee of $14.99.

apple.com/au

CHEAPER TECH

Apple Certified Refurbished

It’s possible to score a serious discount on an iPad, MacBook, iPhone, Apple TV or Watch if you find it on this site. Apple's little known Certified Refurbished website features near-new products that come backed with a one-year warranty and a reasonable discount.

apple.com/au/shop/refurbished

You could score a deal on a refurbished Apple product.

Amazon Outlet

All manner of overstocked, refurbished or open-box goods are discounted on Amazon’s Australian Outlet site, that regularly offers goods at significantly lower prices. Items range from smartphones and headphones to personal and office gear.

amazon.com.au

eBay Tuesdays

Online marketplace eBay regularly launches discount deals on Tuesdays and has been known to launch occasional 10, 15 or 20 per cent discount codes for use across entire online stores. Often, its prices can be cheaper on eBay than in the stores themselves.

ebay.com.au

Originally published as Where to find cheap dinner deals, concert tickets and fitness hacks