Are you tired of counting every penny in your pocket? Then take advantage of these 7 tips, and live like a king on a student budget.
Copyright: www.SeniorLiving.OrgYou may feel like that it will be a piece of cake to move out of your parent’s house and start at university, but remember to budget well – or you’ll be the one stuck with oatmeal and beans on toast all semester long.
According to the organisation SaveTheStudents, 80 % of British students worry about having enough money to get by.
Jake Butler from SaveTheStudents says: “It was surprising to me that a lot of students were worrying about money. We actually found out that one of the reasons a lot of students were worrying about money was the fact that 1 in 4 students answering the survey never budgeted before.”
And Jake Butler is right! With correct budgeting you can come a long way – even while being on a student budget.
But if you still want to have fun and enjoy life, there are still a lot of things you can do. So here you go! 7 tips to live like royalty on a student budget.
Going out for dinner
Being a student has it perks. One of them being available restaurant deals. Have a look at websites, such as: Student Beans, Money Saving Expert or Voucher Codes. Also if you have a NUS student card, you can get a world of great deals. Right now you can get 40 % off all your orders at Pizza Express. You can also order food from the app “Too Good to Go”. Here you can buy cheap leftover food from Cardiff restaurant’s.
So if you’re tired of cooking, you can still enjoy eating out while being on a budget.
Get your card on
As said, you can get a lot of discount with the NUS student card. It costs 12 pounds a year (which is worth the money), and you can claim more than 150 deals and discounts. You can, for an example, get 25 % off National Express and Odeon tickets or buy new clothes from ASOS and Topshop with a 10 % discount.
You can also get a Railcard for young people to save money on travel costs, or buy the International Student Identity Card. If you don’t want to spend money on a student card, you can also enjoy a lot of discounts with your normal student card provided for free from the university. Take a stroll through the city centre, and you will find a lot of shops offering a student discount.
Get discounts online
Taking care of your self, such as getting a haircut, a massage or your nails done, can be expensive. But if you take a look the websites Groupon, LivingSocial or Wowcher, you can find a lot of wellness and adventurous deals.
You can also visit the StudentMoneySaver or StudentBeans for discounts. Last but not least, you can create an account on UNiDAYS for free. With UNiDAYS you can claim discounts for ASOS, MissGuided, Apple etc.
Visit cheap stores
If you’re moving into a house for the first time, it can be a costly affair. But if you buy all your utilities from Wilko or Ikea it can be quite cheap. You can also save some money in Poundland (the perfect store for students) buying food.
Buy second-hand or borrow your books
Every semester you often need to buy a lot of new books. And that can be expensive! Amazon is a great place for buying and selling second hand books, which can save you a lot of money.
Instead of buying every single book, you can also borrow books from the library. Just make sure to hand them in again on time, so you don’t get stuck with a lot of fees.
Get a discount on movies and music
At Amazon you can get a 6-month free trial on Amazon Prime as a student. This means that you can watch an endless variety of movies and TV-shows for free. What’s not to like?
If you love listening to music, you can also get a 50 % discount on Spotify Premium, which gives you access to thousands of albums and ad-free music.
Visit attractions for free
Now to the most fun part! Even though you’re on a tight budget, you can still have an adventurous day around Cardiff. You can do a lot of sightseeing for free in and around Cardiff, such as take a stroll through it’s amazing parks, visit Cardiff Castle, visit places where Dr. Who and Sherlock Holmes have been filmed or visit the National Museum. There’s plenty of fun stuff to do in Cardiff without a penny in your pocket. See a full list of free attractions in Cardiff here: http://www.wow247.co.uk/2016/01/25/cardiff-for-free/.
Scroll and click on the picture to see some other student’s budget advice
SaveTheStudents encourages all students to get help, if they struggle to find enough money to pay for rent and food: “If you can’t find the means to pay for everything you need, there are organisations [National Debtline and Citizens Advice] that offer students financial advice free of charge.”
As you can see, life can also be fun being on a student budget. Even though you’re a student, you can almost live like a king. So what are you waiting for? Take your roommate away from the books and enjoy you fun, budget day!
Similar stories from InterCardiff: