A Conversation for Money Saving for Students

Edited Guide Writing Workshop: A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 1

benjaminpmoore

Entry: Money Saving for Students - A22008962
Author: benjaminpmoore - U3508889

Okay, so does anyone think this is a worthwhile entry and, if so, is it done in the right way? Also, if anyone has any additions they want to suggest, obviously there are researcher credits available.


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 2

Leo


You forget the most basic way of cheapening the laundry: Instead of doing separate loads for colours and black stuff, you put them all in one load and use only cold water. Unless something is new, the colours won't run, and you don't have to pay for two loads.

Another way to avoid doing too much laundry is to wear things more than once. Warning: do not do this with sock or underwear. smiley - winkeye


Textbooks:
Don't bother with amazon - there's allbookstores.com which searches for the lowest price among a range of sites, including Amazon, Abebooks, TextbooksX, ebay, and half.com. (And usually half.com is cheaper.)


I thought this was about saving money? The way to save money on food is to eat cheap things, like the dollar meals at McDonalds or to buy a huge box of rice cakes or frozen pizza at a wholesaler and live off that. A raw food diet might also be cheap. Plus, if you're on the verge of starvation, parties are a great place to stuff your pockets with tomorrow's dinner.

Also, particularly with drinks, it's great to get yourself treated. If you're far from home and a relative passes through, convince them that you want to meet them for lunch somewhere - the more expensive the better. smiley - winkeye

In terms of transportation: never pay to go anywhere you can hitch to.


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 3

Leo


Oh I forgot! sharing textbooks. If you're in the same class as a good buddy you can pass a book back and forth.

We ran an article about saving money on textbooks a few issues ago (college paper). I'll see if I can dig it up.


In answer to your question; yes, I think it's a worthwhile entry, but it needs more strategy to it and less about living clean and healthy. If living clean and healthy were so cheap, poor people wouldn't have shorter lifespans.


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 4

benjaminpmoore

I don't think clean living and health need to be sacraficed, I mean, you could save money by not washing your clothes until you were sociall ostracised by the smell, but I'm not going to suggest that am I? No, I'm not. Nonetheless, I accept your point about strategy, which is why I hope this entry will contain lots of other people's ideas about how they have saved money. Thanks for your thoughts and advice so far Leo, much appreciated.


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 5

Leo


Well I guess it depends on how desperate you are to save money. smiley - biggrin Some truly finicky people might have to sacrifice high standards - but they probably will anyway, now that mommmy isn't around to pick up after them. Many students wear things two-three times before washing simply because they don't feel like doing laundry. Social ostracism doesn't really come into it.

Anyway, that's my take. I did the poverty-stricken student thing one year with a bunch of other poverty stricken students and it was amazing how far people would stoop to save a few bucks.


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 6

Elentari

Hi! I think this is a good entry; here are my thoughts.

Leo - people only wear things 2 or 3 times before they wash them? Why? As long as they aren't dirty or smelly, why not wear them a lot longer?

Alcohol - find a cheap bar, maybe that specifically caters for students. A few of my friends like a bar here in York that is reasonably cheap to begin with but also runs a happy hour. Get a few drinks in at normal pace, then buy two just before happy hour ends.

Also, having a few drinks at home before you go out (and reducing the number of drinks you have out accordingly) is probably cheaper. So is buying non-brand name spirits.

Food - I don't know about other countries, but all the supermarkets in the UK have value ranges. It's cheaper versions of normal food, usually at slightly reduced quality. You cang et value versions of toilet paper and stuff too. Also, it is usually cheaper to buy multipacks (eg a four can multipack of baked beans or chopped tomatoes) than to buy individually - but this assumes you can afford the higher initial outlay.

Energy saving - things like lowering the thermostat in the winter and wearing warmer clothes, not filling the whole kettle, etc etc.

That's it for now, I might have more later. You have quite a few typos by the way. smiley - smiley


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 7

Leo

I know someone who only uses a shower towel once before washing it. smiley - laugh I pointed out that you're already clean when you use it so what's the big deal, but she insists. For someone like that, 2-3 times is a big deal. Personally, I think it depends on the garment - what layer it fills, how long you wore it, how sweaty you got... things like that. But I guess poor Benjamin can't be expected to dedicate an entire section to the science of deciding when something should go into the wash.

smiley - musicalnoteBlack socks - they never get dirty...smiley - musicalnote

What you mention about the food/goods: round here they're known as 'store brand', meaning the chain puts their own cheesy mark on it but you pay less.

Don't forget discount stores, where you can get the same thing for cheaper, or a cheaper m0del for cheaper.


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 8

Trin Tragula

Books - another good tip is to have a look around campus newspapers and noticeboards for final-year students looking to offload course textbooks on the cheap.

Food - money can be saved by going shopping at the right time. If you head to a big supermarket around seven in the evening, there'll be a lot of stuff nearing its expiration date which will be marked down.

Space to mention everybody's favourite student economy urban legend? A student who, having blown his penultimate penny in the usual way, fell back on the 'porridge in a drawer' technique (1. Make porridge 2. Pour it in a drawer and wait for it to harden 3. Hack bits off and eat nothing else)... and became Scotland's last recorded case of scurvy?

As for laundry - do students not turn up on their parents' doorstep with a black binliner full of manky clothes anymore? smiley - biggrin


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 9

Elentari

Good point, Trin! Lots of students get their parents to take them food shopping so they have a supply of food to take back with them, and maybe get them to take you out for lunch/dinner before they leave if they went back with you.

Of course, living at home saves lots of money, rather than living at the uni.


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 10

Leo


One small thing: the University is paying the utility bills. So if your discman has a plug option, it's smart to use it whenever possible instead of batteries. The same if you're using speakers on a discman. If you don't plug them in you can drain the battery. The same goes for anything with a plug and non-rechargeable batteries. Which reminds me -rechargeable batteries are probably a worthwhile investment.


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 11

benjaminpmoore

Okay so I've added a few of the ideas you guys have given me, although my additions aren't exhaustive- what do you think now?


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 12

Wilma Neanderthal

Hi Benjamin, nice idea for an entry - and I like the structure. Very good smiley - ok

You still have some typos in there: sepArate and surreNder are a couple I particularly noticed.

Other than than, you may want to suggest a way to make sure the student has access to cheap clothing. There are some very inexpensive high street stores but charity shops and markets are also great for that unusual, original accessory that just *makes the outfit. Other than that, girls and boys may want to raid dad's wardrobe next time they're home. Dress shirts in particular are a popular item for girls..

The world is packed with freebie/discount opportunities for students. The best place to start finding out about all the different ones (from theatre to airline tickets) is to visit the uni student council offices...

W


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 13

Elentari

It's looking good! Thanks for the add. I'd also specify, as Wilma said, that it's worth finding out what student discounts you can get and making use of them. Even if somewhere isn't on the list, ask. You never know.

You still have a few typos and stuff, can you run it through a spell-check?


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 14

benjaminpmoore

Wilma- thanks for the tip, I will put that in.

Elentari- I always give credit when people make a contribution that I want to use, doesn't seem fair any other way. In terms of the spell check, I will do that when then entry is nearer completion, perhaps in pr, I'm worried more about content now, but I will correct errors that anyone spots.


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 15

Elentari

smiley - ok

There was something else I thought of, but I've forgotten now. I'm sure it will come back to me.


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 16

2legs - Hey, babe, take a walk on the wild side...

When it comes to food shopping, theres a big differnce between the first year (which for most students is in halls of residence), and after the first year, where most students are in shared houses/flats with their university friends. Once your in a shared house, and so long as your all getting along, a big saving can be made by shared cooking, making up larger quantitys rather than just cooking for one. Also, combined with this, shared shopping can be a good thing; We used to dash along to the supermarket nearish to where we lived, and buy up all the discounted food. Bread, from 80 90 pence a loaf (the proper bread not the sliced rubbish), often reduced down to twenty or ten pence. Lasts for ages; simply freeze it. Packs of sausges and other meat, a lot less than half price, again freeze it, then the best before date is pretty irrelivent. Also, combined with this, if you can buy up, e.G., cheap mince, you can make a mammorth portion of, E.G., chilli, etc., and freeze down in portions. Or, for sausasges etc., cook em all up and freeze, then a simple microwave of the resultant frozen cooked sausages makes a great sausage sandwich with minimul effort smiley - magic (also handy to avoid expensive take away food on getting back from the pub). smiley - ale Most telephone/internet provider companys now do pretty decent discount deals for students; My Brother for example got a good deal with NTL/virgin media (Note other providers also exist and probably do equally good offers)., on this deal they didn't need a phone line, so got a good broadband account without needing the phone line; they use skype for the phone smiley - magicsmiley - ermsmiley - erm Of course, if money is really tight, theres also a few other things people can consider; not buying clothes but instead asking for them for Xmas birthday etc (yeh boring might be nicer to get a new IPod but its saving valuable beer money for term time) smiley - ermsmiley - erm There really is something quite odd about waking up in the morning to take a shower and finding out thanks to the lack of central heating that the shampoo has frozen in the bottle smiley - ermsmiley - weirdsmiley - 2cents


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 17

Elentari

I don't think this is what I was going to say, but here it is anyway:

Transport.

You need to really think about the costs of getting around. If you have to get a bus frequently, does it work out cheaper to get a bus pass?

If you have a car - is it really worth taking it? Consider that you'll have to have it insured and taxed, as well as paying for petrol and possibly parking. Also, parking can be quite scarse in universities. Your friends will also want you to drive them places all the time.

If you have to get the train a lot, or even just to and from uni at the beginning and end of term, it may be worth getting a railcard of some kind. In addition, booking rail tickets as early as possible usually makes them cheaper.


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 18

Leo


Don't forget hitch hiking. smiley - ok


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 19

benjaminpmoore

Okay, so I've added two new sections, a few more researcher credits and a load more quotes. What does anyone think now?


A22008962 - Money Saving for Students

Post 20

Leo


Books for literature, history, and other liberal arts courses can often be borrowed from libraries, particularly if you're located in a large city with a well-funded public library network.

Also, sometimes students on campus will post prices for textbooks that are more expensive than those posted online. You can always try bargaining with them, using the online price as leverage. You'll save on shipping and get your book faster that way.


I like the last story. smiley - biggrin Reminds me of the family story of my grandfather heading abroad for university. His brother was already there and the first thing they did was go shopping and buy an entire loaf of bread. The idea was to leave it out so it got stale, which would make it harder to eat, leading to less eating, leading to less outlay on food, leading to conservation of wallet.

Did I mention pocketing food at parties? If I did, don't feel pressure to put it in. But I have a friend who purposely donates her quarters for any and all parties so that she can have the leftovers.


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