Money Saving Tips For Students

I have just recently finished my first year of university, and although I loved it, it was also the most expensive year of my life. This is probably because for the first time, I was living on my own and therefore had a lot more expenses than I was used too. I had no idea just expensive simple groceries and everyday tasks could be. Although I did have a job alongside my student loan, there were still months when I was genuinely struggling for money. I would say that although moving into halls during your first year is definitely the best way to settle in and meet new people, university owned student accommodation is extremely overpriced, so if you can avoid in your following years I would definitely recommend doing so. I've compiled a list of some of the things I do to save a bit of money, so hopefully you also find some of them helpful.

1. Make the most of your student discount

One of the perks of being a student is that most high street stores offer us a discount. Topshop, New Look and even Asos offer students 10% off, and a lot of restaurants do the same. If you're a bit of a shopaholic like me, using your student discount can you save you loads in the long run. If you have a student email address, you should check out 'Unidays' for all kinds of amazing discounts. 

2. Get yourself a railcard or student bus pass

If you go to university in a different town or city, travelling home every now and then can be extremely costly. Getting a 16-25 railcard can save you 30% on train fares, which is a huge saving over the course of the year. Using your student card or Young Scot card when taking the bus can also save you money on fares, so it is worth looking into if you use public transport fairly frequently.

3. Set up a savings account

Setting up a savings account is an excellent way to save a little bit of money every month. It's easy to set up a savings account connected to your current account, and that way you can add a little bit of money into it whenever you have to some to spare. You can also keep track of how much you're saving by setting up online banking. 

4. Freeze your groceries

When you live on your own, there always seems to be a lot of leftover food waste, or food that's gone out of date because you didn't manage to eat it quickly enough. My biggest tip to limit your food waste is to freeze your groceries. Things like bread go out of date extremely quickly, so if you freeze it, you can eat it whenever you want without having to constantly buy more when it goes out of date.

5. Buy your textbooks secondhand and shop around

When I first started university, I couldn't believe just how expensive textbooks were. Thirty pounds for one book seemed extortionate, especially when I might only be using it for a few months. One of the biggest ways to save money when buying your textbooks is to buy them secondhand. You can do this by either buying your books from older students who are wanting to sell their own textbooks, or through secondhand websites such as 'abebooks.co.uk'. This is where I bought most of mine from as they were super cheap and still in great condition.

6. Use the '10%' rule

This is a tip that I learnt about just recently. Whenever you get a significant amount of money coming into your bank account, such as your wages or student loan, take off 10% straight away and put it into your savings account. I haven't actually used this tip before, but I really like the idea of it, so I'm definitely going to try it out when I go back to university in September.