Obvious tips (from a first year)

lellie

fran_from_willesden wrote:

I remember when you could a 2l bottle of lambrini for £199 from the local Day and Night. The stuff is minging but back then I didn't have a taste for expensive wine. here's another tip. If you drink wine/spirit with mixer, drink it out of a pint glass (borrowed from the pub) so you don't have to waste time refilling!

cherry lambrini is the best stuff ever for getting drunk. One £1.50 bottle and I'm well on my way. tis yummy yummy too.

djhworld

StudentSaver wrote:

Sharing food isn't a great idea. As mentioned above, you'd need to be living with exact clones of yourself for it to work, and if you're in university halls of residence or such like, the chances are that the people you're living with will be anything but clones of you! I know that's true for me anyway!

Exactly.

One of my flatmates is a vegetarian, one only eats chicken as a meat, I like my curry/chilli hot and spicy, others don't.

It's just a total waste of time really.

We know someone in another court who's flat basically has a 'big brother' style ethic of purchasing shopping all together and cooking for everyone each night.

Arguements are not rare over there mind, there have been some major conflicts.

Cook for yourself, it's easier and cheaper and less hassle.

muddled_midget

How about some ideas that don't involve alcohol then...
Before going to uni make sure your parents stock you up well with store cupboard essentials, ie, salt, pepper, vinegar, herbs and spices etc as these things really add up over the year, and then when you go home, raid the cupboards for anything you think the folks could do without (I think my dad must go on OS as the cupboards are always full of BOGOFs and special offers, if me and sis didn't help him out he'd drown under it all!) Failing that find someone with a car to take you to the supermarket every 4-6weeks to stock up on heavy items and BOGOFs for yourself, it really hurts trying to carry them back on the bus! Or organise yourselves and do a big internet shop splitting the delivery charge between all of you.
Check out the printing and photocopying prices in town as you'll probably find these are cheaper than the uni library, ie Co-op only charge 5p a sheet for photocopying, whereas my library is 6p. Or even better find an admin job with nice bosses who pretend not to notice all your printing coming out the office printer...
Never ever buy the books on the reading lists until you start the course and have actually looked at the books in the library, I have 2 shelves of 'essential texts' that have cost me over £300 in the last 4 years, but have only opened about 4 of them. The rest have been utilised as doorstops and placemats instead.

freebie_junkie

djhworld wrote:

Haha, I'm just saying, the febreeze tip just lets your existing clothes smell nice the next day, especially after being in a smokey environment. I do wash my clothes when they need washing! The only irritating this is the fact that our laundrette is ages away, well, I'd say about 400 metres away or so, but it's a job hauling all of your washing all the way there and back.

if your clothes smell wash them, simple as!

wirm

djhworld wrote:

Those who are sensible enough to stay off the alcohol, make sure you ask for no ice in your drinks, this isn't really a money saving tip as such but gives better value for money. People often complain to me when I do this because they think the drink you get won't be cold. I've hardly ever tasted the difference in temperature to be honest.

Actually this doesn't apply to us students in Northern Ireland because we are given bottles of mixers. Getting ice is actually better for us because then your mixer will last longer. I can get a small bottle of coke to last me 4/5 vodkas. Or 6 as the nite goes on!

wirm

freebie_junkie wrote:

if your clothes smell wash them, simple as!

I have to agree. I live with a guy who uses freebreeze and lets just say it his clothes don't smell the best. He really needs to wash them!

Karnam

djhworld wrote:

We know someone in another court who's flat basically has a 'big brother' style ethic of purchasing shopping all together and cooking for everyone each night.

Arguements are not rare over there mind, there have been some major conflicts.

this happened with some perfect ordinary people i moved in with. suddenly we were a 'household' and i was under pressure to be at 'home' at certain times blah blah. needless to say i moved out after one month, with screaming people saying how i was 'breaking up the household'

:rolleyes:

djhworld

wirm wrote:

I have to agree. I live with a guy who uses freebreeze and lets just say it his clothes don't smell the best. He really needs to wash them!

Argh!

I don't mean "never wash your clothes, just stick with febreeze!" - I was just mentioning, you can wear a tshirt, or a pair of jeans or something for 2 -3 days without having to wash them.

This just saves me time and gives me a chance to just visit the laundrette once every two weeks or so.

p.pete

Textbooks - once you've decided on the books that will be useful to you and that you'll use (loads you won't and others will have decent availability from the library), try find them on ebay or amazon's used section. Make sure they're being sold by reputable sellers and you should be able to get good prices.

Mobile - try figure out which tariff you should be on, huge savings to be made depending on what kind of usage you have.

The_Machine

Moneysaving tips I learned during my time at uni. Not all will be applicable to you, but one or two could save you money...

Baked beans from Aldi taste as good as, if not better than, Heinz's. Generally, named brand goods are seldom much better than supermarket own brand, or even their value ranges. They don't warrant a price often 2 or 3 times more expensive.

Try not to eat out. Make sandwiches for your lunch if you're away from digs all day. Even SU subsidised prices are far more expensive than making your own lunch.

Pasta, potatoes and rice are cheap, especially when bought in bulk. Combine with a jar of (value!) sauce for a cheap, decent meal.

A jar of pasta sauce will keep for 3 days in the fridge and do for 3 or 4 meals.

If cooking for several people with different tastes as regards spicy food, make a basic, non-spicy dish and let each person add chili sauce to taste.

Frozen minced beef is a more flexible commodity than fresh minced beef (which you may end up freezing anyway). It is also easier to cook from frozen as it's not all in one solid lump - so you don't have to use it all at once. There is little difference in taste.

Meat is often the most expensive part of any meal. Try eating vegetarian occasionally!

Don't buy crates of lager so that you can have a cheap beer or two before heading out - you will end up drinking them for the sake of it while you're watching Richard and Judy after a long, 3-hour day in lectures!

Don't get into a routine of buying the same groceries week in/out. Adapt your shopping to the BOGOF offers. Buy in bulk when you see particularly good deals. However, bear in mind the type of goods you are buying. If perishable, they may go off before you have chance to use them up.

Buy things such as microwaves, TVs, washing machines, desks, etc. second hand and then flog them back to someone else when you leave (landlord, first/second years, locals).

Once you've decided which textbooks you can't live without, look out for second hand copies for sale on departmental noticeboards. They may not be all new and shiny, but they have exactly the same information between the covers and often have bonus notes and scribbles from their previous owners! Sell yours back when you leave.

Walk everywhere! (within reason, of course). Save over a quid/day on bus/taxi fares. It will also keep you fitter and burn off the calories from all the beer you're necking!

Don't spend a fortune on hangover cures. Eat before you go out, intersperse alcoholic drinks with tap water (free!), and drink a pint of water before you go to bed. Then, I find a couple of paracetamol tablets (basic, 19p/packet paracetamol) as soon as I wake up and another 30 minutes in bed is about as good as anything if hungover.

Some supermarkets have change-counting machines that convert copper collections into proper beer money for free.

Hope these are of some use.

Regards,

Machine