a few ideas for saving student pennies

Legacy_user

Im going to uni in September and I sold some of my old college books on Amazon. I did quite well making £100 which I then used to bid on Book Vouchers and I now have £150 pounds worth which I will use for any set books and stationary. Add to that the 10% student discount and I think I will have made quite a good saving. I am also watching out for the sales at places like W H Smith to stock up on pens/paper/folders/notebooks etc. Just thought this might give other students some ideas on making their sudent loans go further.

System

:-[ whoops, forgot to add if anyone knows of any other money saving tips I could use please let me know. Many thanks!!!

elisebutt65

Join the local library and keep an eye out for their booksales.
Mine regularly has sales of old, tatty and out of date books but being a tourism student I stock up on the loenly planets and rough guides and they usually do them at 6 for a £1 - I now have 3 bookshelves full of travel books - lol.

David_Brent

If you are in halls of residence, I found that having a petty cash system in the kitchen is a good idea for things such as: milk, bread, butter and tomato ketchup! (all the essentials). It really does save you some money and is very effective as long as you make sure everyone is contributing fairly! It helps stop you wasting things like bread that you will never finish on your own, within a week and will go out of date and be wasted anyway.

System

:)Thanks for that!!! A friend has also recommended using some of the freebie sites to stock up on vouchers/toiletries etc and Ive been told to watch out for the 'freshers week'?!?

Petree

also there is a message along these lines, but more foody, in the 'moneysaving old style' forum, called 'what's in your week', sorry i'm no good at links, but people were very helpful, when i asked about student living tips so check it out.

Travelqueen

A bike! Depending on where you live with relation to the University of course, but it saved me loads of money... after I got some non-puncturing tires of course - why are the Liverpudlian streets full of glass? ???

Also - rather than buying rounds, pool the money with your mates BEFORE you go out, and then everyone is spending the same...

Plus, in freshers week, don't sign up to a ridiculous amount of clubs & societies, most will take your money & know they will be unlikely to see you after xmas...

And, most importantly of all, have fun!

TQ

System

yeh dont go stupid in fresher week..ive known ppl to blow more than there months allowance in that week.
charity shops for clothes is a good place...a few clothes are brand new that the shops have bought too much of.
if you can get friendly with on ur course who is staying near you, share books (or even ppl who have just finished their course now sellin books). dont expect to go out every week clubbing. make sure you have enough money for food (no microwave rubbish..too expensive and unhealthy....staple foods are good to have in stock..pasta rice potato and veg) what i used to do is buy in bulk (being cheaper) and cook for our floor for 1 day...another person another day. that way its cheaper and you only have to cook once a week.

fragster

dont expect to go out every week clubbing.

i assume he means every night, you should expect to go out clubbing at least once or twice a week, one of my housemates was out 5+ nights a week for pretty much the whole year, i'd settled down to 2-3 by the end of the year but at the start, especially in the first year i imagine as im going into 2nd this year, its completely mad ;D

Travelqueen

Hmm, a more moneysaving way to do that would be to try and get a job in either a club you enjoy or one of the pre-bars - that way you may be able to get yourself free entry / drinks on your nights off, and still enjoy yourself AND earn money when you are there - plus you'd be very popular with your fellow students! ;D

First year is traditionally the year that no-one does much work & parties a lot, but, make sure you go to the majority of lectures as there's nothing more miserable than failing your exams and having to spend the summer revising whilst the rest of your mates are enjoying themselves. Also, by the time you get to your final year you don't want to suddenly have to make up for all the work you HAVEN'T done!

Plus, student loans - I am really glad that I had more than a few hangovers to show for mine, and I don't resent paying them back now because not only did I use them for rent / books etc (along with the jobs I had throughout Uni) but I also managed to travel during holidays & work abroad too...

Sorry if thats all a bit too sensible, but I've just seen a lot of my younger sisters friends come out with hideous amounts of debts, and have to go home and live with their parents, all because they lived way way above their means throughout uni...

TQ

sans_2

I was an evening student who went to uni twice a week after work (40 hour week job I might add). I brought most recommended course books, however I did save a few peenied by buying a couple of older edition course text books off a friend who finished uni 2-3 years ago. I borrowed my friends new edition textbook who I sat next to in class, made comparissons and just photocopied the extra bits. Most of the time it was just new case studies, in one book it was 1 new chapter. Nothing major. I think that half the time they bring out new editions so students etc. feel obliged to buy the new edition!

I didn't have to do law, but with subject like that then I suppose you are better just getting the new edition book.

Also in Edinburgh/ Glasgow you get student snapfaxes. They offer some good discounts so get your hands on one. Also use your student id to pay for student priced cinema tickets!

That's all I can think of so far.