Financially speaking it has never been harder to be a student. Tuition fees are at an all-time high (and could still rise whilst the Tories are in government) and the cost of living with regards things such as heating, water and general grocery purchasing is at an all-time high too. We feel for you.
No doubt you will know many of the basic hacks that will ultimately help you to save money but we believe that you can never be too aware of money saving tips that could aid you in the long term. We’re going to give you a run-down of our favourite student money saving tricks - if you’ve heard them all before, apologies, but it won’t hurt to hear them again and have them instilled into the memory forever. But if there are a few tricks that we can highlight that you may not have heard of or tried, then happy days, everyone’s a winner.
The first important thing that we’ll reiterate is travel and the availability of travel cards for people in this demographic and the bonuses that can be got from these. Many of you will already be aware that a considerable amount of money can be taken off the cost of travel on things like trains and buses with a travel card (which cost a fortune to be fair) and it is certainly well worth your while looking into these because paying full price for travel in this day and age just isn’t feasible. Running a car isn’t the easiest whilst you are at university either. Often there is nowhere to park it and it is too expensive to run in terms of fuel and maintenance on a student budget anyway.
Cutting back on unnecessary expenditure in general is also a no-brainer. We appreciate that part of going to university is to get a feel of the freedom and the student life, but you have to get into the real world and appreciate that if you haven’t got the means to be going out clubbing every night then you really ought to be reigning it in a tad. The same goes for food and other outgoings. Of course, food is not a luxury it is a necessity but a shopping list can be tweaked to accommodate a lesser income. Many students, for example, will go to the supermarket and fill a trolley with pot noodles and other ready meals, and we bet you’re one of those people. But did you know you may actually be paying more out doing it this way? We appreciate time is of the essence when there are assignments to get out of the way, and meals such as those that you can throw in the microwave fit in with this way of life just perfectly. But, there are much cheaper ways to eat and prepare meals and they are no more time-consuming either.
What you should instead do is buy ingredients that you can use again and again and that are relatively cheap. Vegetables, for instance, whilst they may not be the most student-friendly food choice, are cheap and can be used in a variety of meals all the way through the week. Stews and casseroles are easy to make and mean you can use the same ingredients. Slow cookers are also good investments, especially for people who have limited time. You can prepare a meal whenever you have a spare couple of moments and then just turn on the cooker as soon as you get in. No fuss.
You should also try to keep heating costs to a minimum as well, do your grandma proud and if it is at all possible, keep the heating off and get more jumpers on. You’d be surprised just what can be saved if you take a more sensible approach.
So, we’ve discussed a few things with regards to making savings on travel and food, and to be fair they are the main things that you should try to work on.
Other things are just common sense little approaches that you may wish to try.
Dedicating time to sourcing discount codes for eateries so that you can still enjoy a night out wining and dining once in a while, without having to feel the pinch is a good one, as is watching out for sales in your favourite clothes shops.