Free and cheap things to do in KL

If you’re not one for steam rooms and Zumba classes, the Flex ‘n Fit Gym is a steal because an all-day entry to its weights section is just RM6 (add another RM1 to use the cardio equipment). The compact space means you’ll have less room to do floor exercises but the gym makes up for it with a good number of treadmills, adjustable benches and chest presses.

Finding it hard to include exercise in your daily routine? Body Factory is open from 12 midnight to 11:45pm daily so you can still squeeze in a workout after a huge plate of late-night Hokkien mee. Spanning two floors, the gym is equipped with power stations, dumbbells and a variety of weight machines to turn your flabs into abs. Best of all, Body Factory also offers fitness classes, personal training services and sauna facilities for both men and women.

If you’re in desperate need of a trim and have an hour or two to spare, here are a few top-notch hair academies offering student haircuts below RM10. What you need: plenty of patience (these are students, after all). If you’re worried about the outcome, rest assured as hair instructors will be on hand to monitor their handiwork. Toni&Guy Academy Bangsar charges RM8 for all cuts (reservations required) and RM50 onwards for colouring. Kimarie Hairdressing Academy in SS2 charges a RM9 flat rate for haircuts (wash and style included) by advanced students, and colouring for short hair starts from RM38 (which is a steal if we ever saw one). Also, Miko Hair Academy in Sungei Wang charges RM10 for ladies and RM8 for the men.

Beat the Monday blues at The Bee (but only at their Jaya One branch!) – from 5pm onwards, it’s buy one free one for burgers and beers. Eat with relish the avocado chicken burger, Mexican chilli burger, the signature The Bee burger or the other varieties available, and then cap off with a cold one or two.

Dance Lessons teaches trial salsa and bachata classes on a random day in the last week of the month (call ahead to find out). However, if you’ve already mastered the basics (and if you are enrolled in one of their courses), you can join them for free practice sessions on Saturdays.

To learn swing and meet new friends, New Star Studio organises Swing Socials on Friday nights. Rock up sometime before 9pm for a 30-minute East Coast Swing beginner class and then join in the dancing fun from 9.45pm onwards. Better yet, wear your vintage best to better improvise and jazz dance with the rest of them.

To learn moves like Taeyang or 4Minute, sign up as a member online to be eligible for Korea Plaza’s free contemporary dance classes.

No cash? No worries. Get something you need (and declutter too) at the BarterIt market. To participate, just bring along any unused or unwanted item to exchange with others. If you have a lot of things, then display them on a tikar. The value of items exchanged may not be similar, but who cares when you manage to get a new(ish) water filter without forking out cash? Check their page for when their next market will be held, and in the meantime, you can head to their bartering platform savepot.com.

If you’re not willing to settle for plain white toast, here are the best places to score on the buns. After 5pm, Yeast Bistronomy in Bangsar and in Mid Valley offer 30 percent off on their breads and pastries, takeaway only. Swiss Bakery Heistand in Bangsar Village makes the most delicious sundried tomato loaves, made all the sweeter with its 30 percent off deal after 8pm. If you’re at Suria KLCC, head to the Marks and Spencer Food Hall for some sweet tea time deals. Between 3pm and 6pm, you can usually buy one and get a second at 50 percent off. After 9pm, Tedboy Bakery in Telawi offers 30 percent off on all their preservative-free loaves.

Still hungry? Here's another option: Lemon Garden 2 Go in Shangri-La Hotel KL offer 30 percent off cakes and 50 percent off breads and pastries from 6pm to 6.30pm.

If you want to navigate Kampung Baru a little better, the Jalan- Jalan @ Kampong Bharu walk is led by qualified guides, where they’ll bring you to notable landmarks such as Master Mat’s house (a traditional Malay house built in 1921), the Kelab Sultan Sulaiman Gallery, which showcases the history of the Malay political struggle, as well as the Gurdwara Tatt Khalsa built in 1922.

Learn about Chinese folklore and Mandarin in classes of 20 students on weekdays or Sundays for just RM40 per month at the Kwong Siew Free School (it’s been open since 1927!). Call them up when registrations open mid-December.

To pick up the Japanese language on a budget, there’s the Japanese School of Kuala Lumpur (JSKL) near The Saujana Hotel Kuala Lumpur which offers lessons every Wednesday night, 6pm onwards. The course will last for three months. At the time of print, you only pay a registration fee of RM30. Check them out when enrolment starts in early July.

At Korea Plaza, learning hangul for free is somewhat like the lottery. After registering online, all you can do is hope you’ll be lucky enough to be selected at random by the management. Lasting for 16 weeks each, the King Sejong Institute-affiliated language classes have two intakes a year (in January and July), so if you didn’t make it this round, keep your fingers crossed for the next.