52 Student Saving Tips

Posted by David | Filed under Student Saving Tips

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Here are 52 great student saving tips to help save money while going to university.

Financial

  • Open up a Student Account, choose the one that will most suite you, click here for our article on choosing a Student Account.
  • Open up a high interest rate savings account, either online or on the high street. Ensure that the interest rate is well above base rate, and try and put as much of your student loan in it as possible. Make sure it is an easy access account which you can withdraw and deposit anytime you want.
  • Consider investing in Bonds if you have the money to lock away, you will be rewarded generously.
  • Try and save the pennies (literally)! You can take them to a bank or supermarket and usually have them exchanged or paid into your bank account. Get a Coin Sorter if you fancy one!
  • Don’t go over your overdraft! You won’t enjoy it, it can be a painful experience on your wallet.
  • Try avoiding spending your overdraft on things that aren’t for university, OK so have fun and go out, but you don’t need a 26″ LCD TV and a PS3.
  • Keep £20 in cash in a safe place, just in case you just go over your overdraft and can quickly avoid the banking charges by paying it in before the day is out.
  • Don’t carry more than £40 cash on your person.
  • Don’t get a credit card, you don’t need one.
  • Don’t take money out of your account you don’t need, especially if you’re going to get drunk and loose it.

The Bills

  • Pay all the bills on time, ensure that you don’t accidentally get yourself disconnected from a service supplier.
  • Look for the best deals for your services, checkout our Broadband recommendations.
  • Avoid services on a greater than 12 month contract unless you know your staying at that address for more than a year!
  • Remember to use Quidco to save yourself a bit more!
  • Do you need a TV License? Do you need pay TV? You probably won’t have much time for TV so why bother with these extra expenses, especially if you live in Halls.
  • Turn off the lights, computers, televisions on standby etc when they are not in use!
  • Keep the heat at a reasonable temperature, and turn it off in summer. Make sure the hot water is on sensible times.
  • Keep things in top condition, don’t get your deposit taken away by your landlord because something has got into such a state it needs replacing.
  • Spread the bills out between everyone in your house, make sure no one has too much burden on them.

Shopping

  • Always ask retailers if they do student discount! Many do already, some hide it!
  • Consider an NUS Extra Card
  • Don’t spend too much when you go food shopping, stick to a budget (~ £15-30). Check out the reduced counters and the offers, but only get something if you were going to get it anyway! Don’t fall for the marketing! Try using Cookthink to empty your cupboards and inspire your cooking.
  • Try sharing kitchen items with your housemates, both equipment and food items such as salt, pepper, ketchup, towels etc
  • Buy items that a cheaper in bulk with your housemates as well.
  • Don’t shop hungry or hungover! You will buy stuff you don’t need!
  • Just because food is expensive doesn’t mean its better! Tesco Value Tinned Tomatoes taste the same as Tesco Finest…
  • Checkout online voucher sites as well as Quidco for big savings on online stores.
  • Checkout Charity shops for second hand books and house equipment, you can find some gems in them, and you can feel good everything is going to charity!
  • Get the Supermarket Loyality card for the shop you shop in most! Get loyality cards for all the shops you use regularly. (Tesco Clubcard, Co-op Card, Nectar Card etc.)

University Life

  • Consider purchasing second hand books, there are many available from graduating students and Internet auction sites.
  • If you only need a book for a certain period of time, borrow it from the university library, or if its not available sign up to the local public library and see if they can order in a copy for you. Could save you a lot of money and loan length at a public library is usually longer.
  • Don’t bother with a car, you won’t need one really, especially if your university is on a campus.
  • Consider whether you actually need a laptop! A desktop is cheaper and far more poweful. It’s also less likely to get nicked – no one really takes their laptop to lectures anyway!
  • Go to your lectures! If you fail exams it costs money to resit, and if you’ve booked a holiday or have to resit a year at Uni you could lose even more money!
  • If you live in Catered Halls with pre-paid food, eat the food you paid for! Go to breakfast! Don’t spend money in a supermarket when you could just be eating what you already paid for. If your fussy then go for Self-Catered Halls. 
  • Close your windows and lock your doors when you go out, don’t get your stuff nicked. Turn on alarms etc if you are in a student house.
  • Choose your house mates for next year wisely… if you want your deposit back anyway!
  • The more creative you are at fancy dress parties the less you’ll have to pay in a shop and the better it will probably look!
  • Drink a bit with your friends before heading to the night clubs and bars! It saves a bit of money and its usually much more fun away to start a night.
  • Don’t excessively drink its not good for your liver or your wallet.
  • Checkout Buy One Get On Free Pub Lunches and Buffets!
  • Make sure you ask for tap water when you want water, don’t get ripped off!

Misc

  • Consider a Young Persons Raildcard or Coachcard if you use National Express or the trains. Can save you significant amounts of money.
  • Listen to music online, or borrow CDs from friends, could save you some money! Checkout Songza
  • Consider open source alternatives to commercial software!
  • Type the Ultimate Steal into Google for stupidly cheap Microsoft Office Ultimate.
  • Take advantage of offers such as Orange Wednesdays and SeeFilmFirst.
  • Get some student insurance! Cover4Students is the best for this, if your stuff gets nicked make sure its not you who ends up paying.
  • Use Energy efficient light bulbs.
  • Sell any second hand CDs or Games you don’t want anymore.
  • Consider getting a part time job, or selling a service you can offer e.g. computer repairs, piano tutoring etc.
  • Reuse and recycle.

We know there are probably loads more, but this was enough writing for one night! International Students may also wish to check out the StudyLink article Show me the money!

Home > Student Index > 52 Student Saving Tips

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Permalink | Comments (3) | Friday, 15th Aug 2008

3 Responses to “52 Student Saving Tips”

  1. Student Budgeting while away at University | David's Blog Says:
    August 28th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

    [...] can read our 52 student savings tips here, other advice also includes buying cheaper drinks in pubs, VK or VS instead of WKD will [...]

  2. Tips for General University Student Life | David's Blog Says:
    August 31st, 2008 at 11:30 am

    [...] If you have any more ideas, please post them below! For more saving tips see our article on student saving ideas. [...]

  3. moneymagneto Says:
    September 4th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    nice saving tips

    my personal saving tips are

    1.Switch your mortgage: If you have a mortgage and your interest payment is too high. Why not switch your mortgage to a better deal. You will surprise at the savings you could make. To find out the best deals on offer use a fees free broker to check.

    2.Use energy saving appliances: Your annual fuel bill will fall, when you use the most efficient home appliances. New electrical appliances have the energy saving logo, so choosing the most efficient one. Using energy saving light bulbs can last longer and reduce your electricity bills.

    3.Cut down on driving – Running a car can be very costly especially as petrol prices, insurance and road taxes continue to rise. The best action is to abandon your car and use public transport. But if having a car is a must, why not consider buying a less powerful, more fuel efficient car. Your running cost will be lower. Slowing down when driving can save you money on car fuel bill. A recent research found that most car engine run most efficient at 50 -70 miles per hour than at 80mph.Save on car insurance but searching for cheaper car insurance online. A good website to search for insurance deals is money supermarket.

    4.Avoid using expensive credit cards – Do not buy anything you can not afford with a credit card. Credit cards are an expensive way of borrowing than your local bank loan which offers better rates and better terms for you. If you are going to use a credit card, use credit card that offers 0% on balance transfers.

    5.Cut down on expensive sandwich and junk foods – sandwiches, Burgers, fizzy drinks, sweets, potato crisps and takeaways are more expensive and do not nourish your body like the less cheaper fruits and vegetables. Instead of buying a expensive sandwich from a shop, taking a pack lunch will save you a lot of money.

    6.Stop smoking and drinking – last April the government increased the taxes on cigarettes and alcohols. You could save thousands a year just by stopping smoking and drinking. The average price for a packet of 20 in the UK is £5. For a 20 a day smoking habit will cost over £1500 a year.

    7.Do your shopping online. – shopping online can save you money. Online retailers are usually cheaper than high street retailers due to lower running cost. Thousands of online retailers offer cash back deals, which will reduce your shopping cost even further.

    8.Open a high interest savings account – You can receive a higher interest rate when you open an online savings account than a regular current account. If you are not getting the best possible interest rate for your current saving account, you can move to a higher interest account. Kaupthing edge offers high interest savings accounts.

    9.Draw a budget – To handle your personal finance properly you will need to write a budget and then stick to it. When creating a budget you will need to consider your past spending and personal debt and then allocates your future personal income towards your savings, debt repayment and expenses. There are various tools available to help to create your personal budget such as the Mint.

    10.Cut your mobile and telephone cost – there are numerous choices of telephone and mobile deals and packages to choose from. If you are paying too much for your monthly calls and text, while not consider switching to a cheaper tariff provider.

If you found this post helpful, or you have your own suggestions, why not leave a reply! Alternatively why not discuss this topic in our NEW forum?