Money hacks for new uni students

Here are some free money hacks below to help you save those pennies for something actually worth spending them on, like a panda onesie or for the more financially functional out there, a non-stick frying pan.

Student discounts

This may be obvious to many of you out there, but student discounts can save you hundreds of pounds over the course of your education. The basic principle is if what you want to purchase doesn’t have student discount, question whether there is somewhere else which offers the perfunctory 10-20% off, where you can get a similar if not the same item.

It is also useful to grab a Totum+ card, which is the card you purchase for £14.99-£29.99 and is valid for three years. With this card you can get great discounts across some extremely useful companies, from transport to dining out to clothing. Other websites, such as Student Money Saver and Save the Student, also aggregate all the other extra student deals that are out there, so that you don’t have to do the hunting.

Top tip: when you are out and about, ask absolutely everywhere you pay for something for student discount, sometimes just by asking you get some sort of discount.

Tax

While tax is a dreaded word for those who have joined the rat race, for uni students it is just a concept we hear our parents moaning about, and this is the way you’ve got to keep it until you’ve finished your course. As a working student you should remain below the government’s tax bracket meaning that you shouldn’t be paying any tax on your earnings. When you get a job whilst you are at university ensure that your employer knows that you won’t be paying tax.

Use Gumtree and Amazon for textbooks

When you get to uni you will realise a new kind of financial pain; the textbook, the 200 page book full of pictures, graphs and dense text which will set you back all the money you have that week, which in fact only contains one piece of useful information for your assessment. To save on this necessary but frustrating expense, try searching through sites like Gumtree and Amazon for you particular textbook. Or, better yet, go to your universities swap shop/second hand store, which is usually run though a Facebook group. This will let you know when people are getting rid of textbooks they no longer want and which you can grab for good price.

Use apps to save money

Using apps like Money Supermarket will give you the chance to compare prices across the different supermarkets, ensuring you can buy the cheapest crate of beer or bottle of prosecco. Other apps like Splitwise can help keep track of all the little IOUs which are ubiquitous with uni life. It may not seem that useful to start off with, but IOUs quickly tot up to what can be considerable sums.

Everything in bulk

This is a very general rule, but one which will save you loads of money. The basic idea is very simple; buy things in bulk; this can be anything from toilet role to pasta to razors. Needless to say, if you live with others this will save you loads over the years.