A topic I feel passionately about is that of saving money during some of the most critical and incredibly broke times of our lives—the glorious student life. Inflation is on the rise again and being a student means you can’t work full time, but there is still hope.
Having gone through student life twice, I am here to share tips on saving money that made my life easier when I was a student. From setting a strict budget to finding ways of generating passive income, here are my top 10 tips on how to save money as a student.
The good thing is that many of these tips will apply to you regardless of where you are in the world, so let’s buckle in!
1. Be Thrifty
The art of thrift shopping applies to pretty much anything. When you move into a new rented flat, look for used furniture online in places like Facebook Marketplace and eBay. Buying pre-loved items not only help you save a ton of money, but it is also a sustainable way of life. You would be surprised at how many things can be easily acquired online for a fraction of the original price!
Items you can buy second-hand:
- Furniture such as tables, shelves, chairs
- Textbooks and reading material
- Household electronics such as kettle, coffee machine, microwave
- Cutlery items like mugs, plates, and pots
2. Student Discounts
If there is one thing students have going for them, it’s student discounts! When I first discovered the power of student discounts, I was unstoppable! Everywhere I went, I asked if they had a student discount and 9 times out of 10, they did.
Student discounts can help you save money, and you will find student discounts on pretty much everything, such as:
- Film Tickets
- Museums and Zoo entry tickets
- Shopping online through Unidays
- Discounts on city-wide transportation
- Ordering food
It’s amazing how many discounts you can end up finding when you ask. Every dollar you save through these discounts can go into your savings or spending on something else that is more useful. Talking about spending brings me to my next tip…
3. Earning Quick Cash
Making time for a regular job can be difficult for students, especially if the lecture schedule is changing all the time. Not knowing your free hours can cause a lot of stress because you can’t commit to fixed hours.
But that is not the end of the world because there are jobs that don’t require fixed hours. You can commit to these for a few hours and get paid. Some ways of making quick money are:
Paid Online Surveys
Doing quick surveys in your free time can help you earn enough money to spend a night out with friends or go for a few drinks every once in a while.
There are many options for survey websites depending on where you live, but to get you started on the basics, check out this essential guide on paid online surveys below:
Pet or House Sitter
Looking after someone’s house or pet when they are away is a job that doesn’t require too much of your time. You can accept the requests that fit in with your schedule, and you get paid a good amount for a job well done.
There are websites that match pet and house sitters with people and go through strict checks for the safety of both parties and to make sure everything goes well.
Testing Apps To Earn Money
Companies are always looking for ways to test their apps and products to get a better understanding of user behaviour. You can sign up to become a test user or look for apps that pay you money to complete tasks such as registration on new apps, playing games and reviewing products online.
4. Buy At Budget Stores
Discount stores are a great way to save money and should be your go-to when you are a student. Depending on where you live, these can vary, but places like $1 dollar store or £1 pound shop stock many of the house items you might need.
Always go for the cheaper option because you are trying to be purposeful, not fancy. Not that there is anything wrong with being fancy, you can buy good quality items, but cutting costs can help you save money in the long term.
Ikea can be a discount store if you are only there to buy cutlery, but other stores can also hold a variety of cheap household items for a fraction of the price.
5. Payback and Cashback Points
If you don’t already know what these are, I am here to help! Payback points is when you buy something in-store or online and get a fixed amount of points that lead to a prize or coupon or discount voucher. So collecting 500 points could mean you have $5 worth of points.
Cashback on the other hand is when you buy something and get a certain percentage of the buying price back. For example, you buy a book for $15 and get a 2% cashback, so you will receive $0.3 back on that purchase. It may not look like a big amount when you start off, but if you continue to do this, you will accumulate enough to buy something nice for yourself once in a while.
During my student days, I would use payback points to get a free pizza or cash it for an Amazon voucher! Depending on where you live, these options can vary.
6. Coupons, Coupons, Coupons
I learned my lesson the hard way because I never took coupons seriously. I would get a receipt back after shopping and think of the coupon on that receipt as a hoax. If you notice, many payment receipts you get have a coupon at the end.
They offer discounts, free items, Buy 1 get 1 free offers, and more!
There is more than one way of looking for coupons, such as:
7. There Is Always Food At Home
It is true. Whether you like to hear it or not, the probability is that there is food at home! Cooking for one is not always fun, but cooking for one in batches can be something that can help you save money. Meal prepping is a great way to utilize all your groceries, save money by eating in, and save time by cooking once every few days.
There are many resources online that tell you how to meal prep and the number of groceries you will require based on your eating habits. Eating out is tempting and this is not to say that you should NEVER eat out because you definitely should and with a planned budget, you can do so without any guilt.
8. Create A Budget
9. Attend Social Events
This one is a personal favourite because it has more than one benefit. Going to social events hosted by your university not only allows you to create meaningful friendships and connections over time, but it also comes with free food!
Eating food at these events saves you money on buying or cooking that food at home, and you also get to hang out with others. You may also find coupons or vouchers for such events, in case they are sponsored by companies, so all in all, going to social events hosted by your university is a great idea.
10. Library Memberships
Another great way to get access to books for academic or personal reasons is through library memberships. Public libraries have a wide variety of books for all kinds of readers, so search public libraries in your area and sign up with them. Chances are that you will get a student discount on membership too, so it’s a great way to save money!
There are also options to sign up to public libraries online and simply access the books you need through online databases. This will save you a trip to and from the library as well. One website that does this is Libby as it allows users to access audio and e-books simply through the app.
Dollar A Day..
Whether it is through eating at home or through looking for coupons on every and anything you come across, every dollar you save counts! Student life is stressful, as is, and these tips are here to make your life easier, even if it is by a fraction. Some of these tips I used to follow personally, like eating an endless amount of pizza at university events just so I didn’t have to cook at home! But in the end, it was all worth it and I got to spend my saved money on traveling with friends or paying for rent.
If you have any tips that you would like to share, don’t forget to comment below and let us know! We hope that these tips can help you during your student life.
