mature Student looking for Student Discounts for day to day living

DSmiffy

Hi All, I am a mature student with a valid student ID card and wondered if anyone out there knows if there are any places that give student discounts for everyday living.... such as Tesco, Asda or discounts on car insurance etc??
I think lots of companiese assume that all us students live on Maccies and Subway and spend all our money in HMV !! Just thought I might be able to use it to a greater advantage. Thoughts anyone ??? Thanks very much

caroline1973lefty

i ask most places (mature student too) and i don't think any supermarkets do discount - co-op used to have a scheme, but i can't find any info about it any more. not sure about car insurance but endsleigh do household insurance specific for students, though i think some of the offers on the boards on here are probably just as good. especially if you use quidco or other cashback websites. if you are in real hardship the utilities companies do various schemes if you let them know.

the old style boards on here are the best place to find out about saving money on food, and how to use up what you've got in the cupboards! aside from changing my lifestyle significantly, my biggest savings have come from:

- 1/3 off london transport season tickets with oyster card
- 1/3 train travel (including 1 day travel cards) with young persons railcard
- 10% off most high street clothing stores (not that i use them that much either but i always use my card even if its just a quid saved)
- council tax rebate - 25% if living with non student, 100% if living independently
- concessionary rates on leisure, culture and education - museums, galleries, theatre tickets (can often get student standby or concessions in advance), local authority swimming pools and spas, even library fees.
- STA do cheaper long haul flights for students
- always take student card on holiday, brilliant for saving on sightseeing
- do occasionally have macdonalds (oh the shame...)

- plus the £1500 interest free overdraft at co-op is rather good! :T

for some of these you have to be a full time student but the definition of that sometimes varies, and its always worth asking - maybe not in small businesses but everywhere else. on rare occasions i get a sniffy reaction but i just try and ignore that. i feel really lucky to be studying something i love and that will be valuable to society, but it won't neccessarily be particularly lucrative to me, so i don't want to get in loads of debt. my personal view is that its really regrettable that students are so skint and that there is less and less financial help available to people on ordinary levels of income to study, retrain or apprentice in things that motivate them, but that's another story...