Ideas for a student to save cash?

Lokolo

paul_raynes wrote: »

5, Get a girlfriend

Suddenly a free night in watching a film isn't so boring.

And make her wash up, clean, and buy protection.... :T

nephilim

having studied for a while and ending up with a £21k debt (whats left is in my sig) I can offer the following advice.

1 - buy everything from budget shops (aldi, lidl, netto) etc. Stuff like bread and milk is about 30p cheaper in there, than in tesco for example.

2 - get a job behind the student union bar, where I studied, I did this, and got 75% off all the drinks just for working there, aswell as getting £7 an hour.

3 - Join the business society, trust me, as someone said before, you go to alot of seminars and such, and its free, and you get alot of good advice, aswell as freebies.

4 - join a university sporting team, most clubs and pubs in the area should offer a discount if your a member of a team (I was a member of the rugby team and got 10% off in 10 clubs and pubs where I studied)

5 - shop in charity shops. DVD's, video's, CD's, clothes. I managed to get myself a ben sherman suit for £20 in a charity shop, and I have it still to this day, one of the best buys I ever did!

6 - Join the University Military scheme, you get to do ALOT of fun stuff (I went handgliding, white river rafting, and skiing with my one). And its free. It takes up 1 weekend a month, and you get additional qualifications (NVQs) for free!

7 - Host parties, but never go to them. If you host them, have the rule "Bring your own drink" or "no drink, no entry" that way, you only have to buy a minimal amount of alcohol, and when everyone has gone, you get to keep whats left!

8 - ALWAYS make your own lunch, never go to places like McDonalds, or subway etc, they are bad for your health. Making your own, saves you on average £15 a week!!!

9 - Depending on what year you are in, SELL your books to the students in the years below you, you can make a killing. Granted you paid full price, but offer them out at 1/2 price or 75% of original price, and alot of people will try to get them from you, I did that and the money made subsequently went towards buying the current books i needed. Works a charm!

10 - Offer yourself to the Physical Education / Medical Department for research, depending on what they are studying, you can make anything upto £100 a time (sometimes you make nothing, other times you make something), but it is also good for your CV to say you participated in a study for medical science etc.

11 - as stated before, get a girlfriend, if you are both students, then you will know what a hardship it can be, and as said before, staying in and watching DVDs with the mrs, is better than going out, spending money you dont have and getting nothing to show for it!

I will think up more for you later!

PsychGirl

A good idea is to make friends cleverly. lol. I love all my mates and they all provide really useful things aswell.

e.g, i have a housemate that can cut hair so I never pay for haircuts etc, my other housemate can sew really well so she repairs my clothes for me if they need it. I have a male friend who is a d/o in a gym and gets me in for free, dont go much tho tbh. I have another male friend who is head chef at a local posh italian restaraunt and if me and my friends go he makes sure our food is really good and we only pay 50% which means we get a good night out relatively cheaply.

This means you also have to have something to offer tho, Im a good cook so i do meals for everyone quite often and Im also really good at writing essays and doing presentations so I help with their coursework. lol.

Im thinking of getting a job too cos i still need extra cash. Dunno where tho cos my course has a lot of hours and i dont wanna ruin my social life.

talliedebtbuster

Well guys im in the same situation trying to work out how to save. of these things we mention are obvious. but really try to bring ur own lunches. (sorry im typing in text i think here!!)

get the BOGOF deals and half price deals and stock up on things. Also the damage section can get some great bargins there!

Make up juice in a bottle instead of buying cola. your have more energy too not having all that caffine.

get free pens from the bank and all those careers fairs you go to!! i doubt ill have to buy a single pen next term! you can get some great freebies there too, pads, post it notes, i even once got a free clock!!

Not sure really what else. its different if your in london, there is always freebies in the summer on my way to work in victoria! and the london papers too save me buying a paper!

The best thing is this site honest i cant believe how much my spending and attitude to money has changed with this site!!

Good luck everyone!!

chuckley

Lokolo wrote: »

Yeh tinkerbel's suggestions are what I do most of the time...

If you don't mind eating crap for dinner (its alright really) buy 6 for £4 Asda meals... lol yes its less than a £1 and goes with chips so like lasagna and chips. Toad in the whole... and chips.
Also last week Asda was doing 40 kitkats for £2! yes £2!!!! So I stocked up on these and they are lasting me until Easter woo woo.

Going out wise, I only tend to go out every few weeks just to make a point. A lot of my hall mates are in their overdraft, complain they don't have any money etc. and go out twice a week....

But I am plugging a lot of money into savings for a hosue deposit a few years after graduating.

Theres always summer jobs too and christmas!

fantastic if u would like to become madly overweight, have blood pressure problems (from the excess salt in that crap), have digestive problems (from the constant carbs of chips) and waste money.

steelmole

My advice is eat breakfast like a king. Make sure you have plenty of good stuff (porridge, weetabix and so on). That way you don't get feel madly hungry and end up splashing out later in the day.

Lokolo

chuckley wrote: »

fantastic if u would like to become madly overweight, have blood pressure problems (from the excess salt in that crap), have digestive problems (from the constant carbs of chips) and waste money.

how? I have good blood pressure, my BMI is 20 I think (around that), I am a little less than average weight compared to height and I don't get the s***s..... so..... say again? And how is it wasting money exactly?

nephilim

going back, other idea's i have

do not apply for a credit card, whilst they may look good, they charge a rediculous amount of interest and are not really worth it.

make sure you have some money in savings, as it will help you when you get into a financial quagmire - IE paying off some of your overdraft

sign up for all the freebies you possibly can

offer your skills for sale - if you are good with essays, offer to structure an essay for someone (but not write it), and charge a small amount for it

make sure you stock up on the BOGOF offers from places like lidl, netto, aldi, etc etc, as they will be a lifeline, for example, a 2lt bottle of pepsi in netto at the minute is £1, and its buy one get one free, so i got 10 bottles for a fiver, which will last myself and my mrs about 6 weeks!

if you buy juice, buy the own brand stuff, as it is literally what it says. you can buy 1lt of juice for 40p in lidl, and its just concentrate, but go into asda and you will pay 70p for the own brand thing!

if you are qualified to instruct any sports, start the club and start instructing, its a great way to earn a bit of money - if done properly, a guy I was in the halls with was a 3rd dan aikido instructor, and he made £3 per person (after insurance costs etc), and on average there were 30 people a time, 3 times a week, he also was allowed to do gradings (all of which were officially certified), so he made even more. I think in 1 month he made something like £400 extra just for doing something he loved!

things like that can and will also help you in your quest to save money as a student, I hope this helps!!

chuckley

Lokolo wrote: »

how? I have good blood pressure, my BMI is 20 I think (around that), I am a little less than average weight compared to height and I don't get the s***s..... so..... say again? And how is it wasting money exactly?

saaaaaaaaaaaaaalt. all that salt!!!!!!! plus the carbs in those constant chips chips chips.

It'l catch up on ya.