Tag Archives: uni

5 Ways to Save Money When You’re a Student

Saving Money, University, ,
Wallet
photo by Jeff Keen

This guest post is by Heidi Taylor from Graduate degree online.

It’s not something most students are programmed to do, but it’s something that makes really good sense. The habit of saving for a rainy day is an aberration for the young, what with their tendency to live for today and take tomorrow as it comes. But the cost of university is high, and if you don’t realize that today, you’re going to end up with a huge debt and no way of repaying it when you graduate, especially because of the way the economy is and because jobs are hard to come by. If you’re looking for ways to save money while at university, here are a few tips to help you along:

  • Don’t use your credit card: We’ve all heard that a penny saved is a penny earned; in the case of credit cards, a penny not spent is more than penny saved when you calculate the amount of interest you’re saving. Don’t get into the habit of charging things to your card. Remember, you’re spending money that you do not have but which is borrowed, and on which you will owe interest if you don’t repay it within a certain time. Continue reading 5 Ways to Save Money When You’re a Student →

Enjoy More, For Less

Saving Money, University, , , , , , ,

Cheap TicketsThere’s no point going to uni, if you just go to lectures and then spend the rest of your time staying at ‘home’. Nothing wrong with spending a little time socialising with your flatmates and friends in your new home, but everyone needs to get out and about at sometime.

The problem, well going out costs money. Going out to a club, costs you entry plus drinks to get you in the right ‘state’. Going to the cinema to see the ‘must see film’, all your friends have seen. The list goes on, but how do you get a great night for less money? Well with clubbing it’s worth setting yourself a limit, e.g. only withdraw a set amount of cash before you go out. Also try drinking at home before going to a club, it’s always cheaper (pubs/bars/breweries put a large mark up on pints, remember you’re paying to use there facilities), just don’t go over the top, else you will never get to the club! If you do want to go to pub first always try your student union bar/pub, they generally give the best deals on drinks. But also listen and look out for pubs and clubs doing student deals, and remember drink responsibly!

So you want to go to the cinema? But if you are not on the Orange network or it’s not Wednesday? What’s plan B?

Well try studentbeans.com

As long as you have a student I.D. you can get great offers to print off including my favourite 2 for 1 at Cineworld from Mon – Thur. There are many other offers in a range of categories such as entertainment or eating out. Some offers are better than others. One slight drawback is studentbeans.com is mainly based in and around major university cities in the UK, therefore not everywhere is covered. Although I would say coverage is pretty good.

Plus things just feel better if you get them cheaper than usual!

Cheers,

Martyn.

image: www.freeimages.co.uk

Save Money, Eat Well

Saving Money, University, , , , , ,

pastaOne of the constant hard hitters on the health of my wallet is food, yes we all need it, but can we save money and eat well at the same time? As a student you are constantly tempted by student deals from takeaways and other fast food outlets. The ‘10% off for students’ or ‘ Free [insert food] with this voucher’, offers can be hard to resist, but the bottom line is everyone wants your money and students tend to fall for these marketing tricks. Anyway why not, students like to be lazy, why cook when you can just pop into the nearest chippy?

Cooking does take time and effort, but is a lot more rewarding (if you don’t burn it!). Pasta must be one of the quickest and must be one of the most cost effective meal. Quite easily less than 50p a meal if you buy a large bag of pasta at the start of term. Why not jazz it up adding cooked bacon or grated cheese e.t.c. Cook more pasta than you need, rinse and save what you don’t eat, mix with mayonnaise, tuna and sweetcorn, to make something different for your dinner tomorrow. Certainly by cooking for yourself or others (even more cost effective if everyone pays a bit towards the cost), you have more control over what goes into your food, unlike that fat infested burger you had from the burger bar the other night (yes we’ve all had one!).

My last thought is, buy own brands products, e.g. Tesco Value range or Asda Smart Price. Many consider these products to be inferior when they are sometimes just as good if not better than their more expensive counterparts. In many case the same company that makes the recognised branded product also make the own brand products for supermarkets. On the other hand I’m no so sure about Sainsbury Basics tuna or mayonnaise, not as good as Tesco’s or Asda’s equivalent.

Anyway Happy Eating!

Martyn

image: www.freeimages.co.uk