The Student's 'live for free' challenge

chloebelle

I admire the point you made about drinking OP. There is a terribel mentality monst students that you 'have' to spend every night and all your loan getting tanked up. When I did my first degree there was definately the attitude of 'we're students, thats what we're supposed to do'.

It can be hard to stand up to that stereotype and be sensible so good for you.

Smidster

Hope you all had a good Christmas and are looking forward to the New Year Celebrations, with the exception of the hours of trash TV I know I did.

Now it is time to crack on with the challenge, and I will admit I was doing clickthrough's on xmas day, but I was wrapping the presents honest!

So far I have a couple of quid banked and would like to get to around £25-30 before I go back in a weeks time. Don't think I will be counting either interest payments (Which due to my scrooge like ways over the past 10 years will be substantial) or the money my dad gave me (Instead of presents i should point out which is far more appreciated as we have no space and all that is on offer is utter tat)

best of luck to anyone else taking part.

Chris

Smidster

hi all - time for an update

unfortunately my plan to earn a fair bit before I came back rather died a death when the internet failed on New Years Eve - typical orange!

Because of that I was unable to earn anything (Aside from picking up coppers etc) for 5 days which was incredibl frustrating as I had been building up to the challenge and really looking forward to it.

Anyway as I am now back at Uni I don't have to worry about the incompetents at Orange and have been able to crack on in free hours etc.

Highlight so far is the £7 I earned for a Psychology memory experiment that was actually good fun as well as being a nice earner.
Will have to see how much of the income is left at the end of the weekend after food shopping has been done in town (As I go into Coventry market due to the fact I don't consider supermarket fruit to be edible!)

Anyone else doing the challenge care to post updates?

[Deleted User]

Here's a suggestion to students: have you tried finding focus group meetings? You get a phone call, they ask you a few questions about your lifestyle, then invite you to a meeting where you get paid cash in hand to talk about a certain product / service for an hour or so.

I got 150 quid once for talking about robotic cleaners for 2 hours! More typically they'd pay 40 - 50 pounds

Karmacat

Hi there

Like the challenge! It occurs to me, tho, about the internet, just for the future - every library in the UK is supposed to have free internet access, you'd be able to do some things online there.

I like what you're doing, tho!

Smidster

Going to start using this as my 'daily diary', even if just to copy some of the others on he board who provded me with the inspiration to try this.

Think I am temporarily 'in arrears' on the challenge as the weekly shopping has been done over the weekend for £15. This is more than normal but does include 2 chickens which will easily do me 5-6 meals or lunches so is good value and the outlay will be one off in nature. And this is where I would like to have a quick rant about Jamie Oliver. If he has his way, and given the climate of the nation I am sure he will within a very short order, this sort of economical purchase will soon be out and as a consequence people on very tight budjets such as myself will find it difficult to be able to afford actual chickens. I am sure on the other hand Mr Oliver wouldn't want me to buy the vile battered reconstituted ''chicken (and i use the term loosely)'' that will of course still be available at a fraction of the price. There are some areas on which I am unwilling to economise, bread for example I am one of the very few students nationwide who make my own, but with regards to chicken welfare I have to be honest and say I am not really bothered about it.

Had a pretty good time down at the market yesterday getting my weekly fruit of apples,plums, pommegranates and grapes for £4. In tesco this morning it is quite cringeworthy to compare the prices people are willing to pay for things compared with what you can pay if you are willing to go looking. As an example the pommegrantes were 'on special offer' in tesco at 'only' 66p each. Yesterday I got 6, with beautiful red fruit for 75p.

Looking forward to the week that awaits which will hopefully involve some good FA cup football on the radio, Andy Murray doing well in Aus and I would also like to get a digital radio (Using an xmas voucher) any reccomendations?
oh and I guess I could do a little work?

Look forward to speaking to you all soon.

Smidster

trying to get as much into surplus ahead of weekend as possible

been slicing the pie during my odd hours off - otherwise they can be really dull as it is such a short period of time you don't really have the time to do a great deal. Just wish we didn't have download restrictions in halls as to do this I have to go to the library and given the weather round here at the moment that isn't a very appealing prospect!

Did another Psychology experiment today (Earning £3.20). Really want to do as many of these as possible as they are good fun as well as earning a few pennies for the pot.

Also found a 20cnt Euro coin today - I am to sure how to classify this as it is cash but isn't spendable.

Sure there were more things I was going to rant about tonight but can't remember them at the moment, I am sure all you avid readers can hold on for the next installment however.

Smidster

right well hope we are all having a decent weekend considering the weather is pretty bad
the challenge is going along pretty well at the moment, with 5 straight No spenders certainly helping! Can't help thinking it will stutter a bit this week as the STP scout room closes and with it will go round £3 a day in income
More fun down at the market today and also had a good time chatting to someone there about life and different ways of approaching it.
did manage to summon up the energy to do the job I hate most while here, and one of the things I cannot wait to get off campus next year to avoid, the laundry mission. How people survive without normal washing machines I have no idea. Although on the plus side I did find 10p in there.
this week at Warwick is 'One World Week' and tonight i went to a film looking at our dependence on oil and the consequences when we run out. Was good if a little on the depressing side. Must try to get along to more events through the week...especially as most are free

evesham1988la

This week is the Christian Union "Priceless" Week - where they have LunchBars - a free lunch and a short talk. Went to one on Tuesday - they give you lunch first - help yourself to baguettes, with whatever fillings you like + muffins and then the talk, so in theory you could only stay around for 10 mins just for the lunch. Its on again at 12 and 1 in the Chaplaincy tomorrow and at 12 in the Cooler on Friday.

Deloitte were giving out free (rather big) bottles of smoothies in the Piazza at lunch time - nabbed two of them. In fact, I had an email off Unitemps earlier in the week looking for students to actually do this all day today, being paid £8.80/hr - but its a shame i was busy.

However, as part of ACE week (where Yr9 kids come onto campus to be encouraged to think about Higher Education) on Friday, I'm demonstrating a microbiology lab which pays £20 for the hour (already done one so far) - and am in an informal focus group about the BioMed Grid - £15 for a 45 minute discussion.

Oh.. and also bought £25 worth of free shopping from M&S this week - from the BarclayCard Platinum free voucher offer...

And also a very little random fact - the Klix coffee machine downstairs from the library entrance gives out coffee for 70p, however walk across the bridge into Chemistry and up a floor there is a Nescafe machine that gives out coffee for 45p and imo its much nicer...

Smidster

hello everyone

It has been a while since the last update but it has been a busy period.
Last Monday I was fortunate enough to be selected to do a 'student jury' in Manchester. Basically giving opinions on the state of higher education and how to improve the overall experience, as well as encourage more people to enter the system.

Not only did I get to go home for the weekend but I was also paid £75. While quite a bit of this (Around £30) was used in expenses it still added a very nice amount to the kitty!

Also rather looking forward to tomorrow when the new STP room opens and I can get back to earning money instead of only spending it.
I am also going for the February earning challenge altho will set my sights a little more on the realistic side at £5 a day. Have also joined 'mysearchfunds' and seem to be averaging around £1 a day. While this certainly isn't a great deal we have to remember that it all adds up. One of those sites where you wish you had alot of friends to refer!

Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekends.