Student Money Saving

student-savings

Congratulations. You are a student and are therefore currently enjoying the best time of your life. You are young, confident, intelligent, fearless, sociable, happy... and skint. Very very skint.

It's time to start applying your brains to your budget, so that you don't leave uni in complete financial turmoil. To help you along the way, here are a few money saving tips from the experts here at LoveMyVouchers.co.uk. Form your smart financial habits now, and you are sure to reap the benefits for the rest of your life. True story!

Collect Loyalty Points

First of all, invest in a very large wallet. Sadly, this is not to put your huge wad of bank notes in, but to hold your plethora of loyalty cards.

The next step is to pick up a loyalty card for each store that you regularly visit.

Loyalty schemes vary from store to store, but the general idea is that they save you some money.

Coffee shops, for example Cafe Nero, and sandwich bars, such as Bagel Nash, tend to offer the paper loyalty cards. Each time you get a coffee, or bagel or whatever, you get a stamp on your card. Collect a certain number of stamps, and your next coffee, bagel or whatever, is free. Even if you only go to the outlet ten times during your entire university career, you will still have saved money by the end of it; so don't be dismissive of loyalty cards for stores that you don't go to often.

Other types of schemes allow you to accrue points. The points can then be used to get money off future orders or to get free stuff. Boots.com are a classic example, with their Advantage Points.

The Tesco Clubcard boost is handy, as you can use points to buy a voucher for a restaurant or for entry into a theme park, for example, and the value of your voucher will be boosted up to four times – saving you even more money. You can also purchase a range of products at a discount with your points, including tableware, Bluetooth speakers, and more.

Nectar cards are also a useful loyalty scheme, as you can accrue points at a variety of different shops with the same card, such as Argos, Debenhams, BP, Ebay, confused.com, Eurostar, Sainsburys and Expedia.

Look out for ways to earn additional points. Boots will regularly send you some vouchers that give you the opportunity to get extra points. They also have special Advantage Points days, where you will receive up to three times the amount of points that you would usually receive. You can visit the Nectar website to find out current offers that will give you a points boost.

Last, but by no means least, look out for your university loyalty points scheme. This will allow you to use your student card to get discounts and rewards in local stores, bars, and food outlets. If you discover that your university doesn't have one, then start one!

Buy Food Past ‘Best Before’ Dates

The best before date alerts you to when food is past its best. This does not mean that the food is not edible, nor does it even necessarily mean that there will be anything wrong with the food. Fruit and vegetables ripen at different rates, and can often be good for days after the average best before date. Sometimes food in cans can still be fine way past the best before date.

You can find food reduced in supermarkets and local shops that are on or just after their best before dates, usually with some sort of 'Whoops' or 'Oops' sticker on them. Do not be afraid, as the chances are they won't kill you, and will just save you a few pennies instead.

There are also sites that are dedicated to selling out of date stock, such as the Approved Food website (approvedfood.co.uk). This is probably the easiest way of shopping for clearance products.

Amazon’s Secret Warehouse Deals

Little is known about the warehouse deals that you can get from Amazon, but this is where you will find some of Amazon's best bargains on pre-owned and open box products. With a wide range of categories listed, including mobile phones, computing, kitchen and home, personal care, video games, and books, you can get virtually anything you want for less in this deals section.

Visit Amazon Warehouse Deals to find a fantastic discount.

Don't Buy New – Buy Pre-Owned

While we are on the subject of pre-owned, it is good practice to get what you can second hand. Not only are you doing your bit for the environment, you can also save so much money this way. Books, clothes, electronic products, games, DVDs, and loads of other items can be bought second hand on websites like Ebay.co.uk, Oxfam.org.uk and Preloved.co.uk.

Price compare your products

Sometimes you need to weigh up loyalty to a particular brand or stores against the price of the products that you regularly buy. If you can get them much cheaper elsewhere, then why wouldn't you?

Using websites such as mySupermarket.co.uk can help you to find the cheapest supermarket deals for your groceries. They compare top supermarkets such as Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's and Poundland, among others, so you can discover the best offers, and save up to 30% on your groceries.

Other price comparison websites include comparethemarket.com (of meerkat fame), for comparing insurance, utilities, and financial products such as credit cards and bank accounts; moneysupermarket.com, and confused.com.

Use Cashback Sites

Cashback websites can be your friend, and your nemesis, so proceed with caution. That is not to say do not proceed at all, as in actual fact, you can get some great discounts with cashback sites. The trick is not to assume that your cashback account should be used for buying everything. Often the best discounts are not given to cashback websites to advertise, which means you could get your products cheaper elsewhere, despite the cash back offer. The general advice is to shop around, even if you are a member of a cashback site. Some of the most popular cashback sites include Topcashback.co.uk and quidco.com.

Search for Vouchers

Ah yes – here we are. The great thing about saving with discount vouchers is that you do not need to sign up to anything. There are no commitments, nothing to pay up front, and you don't even need to provide your personal details, which you are forced to hand over for so many things these days. Simply search a website such as (ahem) LoveMyVouchers.co.uk before you buy anything online. If there is a special offer or discount available, you can take advantage of it there and then. Easy peas.

Of course, there is nothing stopping you from signing up to the voucher codes newsletter. It is just one way of ensuring that you don't miss a good discount, as some of them are very short lived. Furthermore, with Love My Vouchers, your email address is transferred and stored on a secure server, and you can be assured that your information will not be passed on to any other company. You are not obliged to sign up though, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Click & Collect for Free Delivery

As a student, you may have a bit more flexibility than most, and should therefore be able to take advantage of the click and collect service offered by many top retailers, including Debenhams, River Island and Very.co.uk.

If you shop online a lot, delivery charges can make a significant dent in your funds. Click & Collect is one way of saving on those hefty delivery fees.

Click & Collect can also be a great way to take advantage of supermarket special offers. Rather than wandering round the supermarket hunting for offers, which takes valuable time and also leaves you open to the possibility of missing a fair few of them, you can head straight to the special offers page online and fill your boots (metaphorically speaking).

NUS Extra Discount Card

NUS Extra is the discount scheme offered by the National Union of Students. The card costs just £12 per year, and entitles you to money off with more than 170 brands participating in the scheme. Visit https://www.nus.org.uk/en/nus-extra/ for more details.

Haggle

Yes, that's right. Haggle! This is not just a technique for markets in Marrakech, but can also be used on the high street in the UK. We're not saying this will always work, but it has been known to work and is definitely worth a try. There may be stock that is just about to go on sale, in which case, the store manager may decide to offer it to you at the discounted price. In smaller, privately own stores in particular, the owner may be more interested in getting your trade than getting their desired price for the item.

Special Offers For Students

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Vodafone - 10% Student Discount

Get 10% off pay monthly bundles when you place your order online. Includes smartphones, tablets, iPads and SIM only plans. Find out more »

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Spartoo - 10% Student Discount

Enjoy a 10% discount on clothing, shoes and accessories at Spartoo. Find out more »

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Miss Foxy - 30% Off Student Discount

Register at Miss Foxy with your UNiDAYS password to get your 30% discount. Find out more »

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Jane Norman - 25% Student Discount

Get your 25% discount at Jane Norman when you register with Student Beans. Find out more »

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Select Clothing - 20% Student Discount

Select Fashion have a fantastic offer available for students. Simply register with your UNiDAYS code to verify your student status, and you can enjoy one fifth off every time you shop at Select Fashion. Find out more »

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Quiz Clothing - 15% Student Discount

Register at Quiz Clothing with your UNiDAYS password to enjoy your 15% discount. Find out more »

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Mainline Menswear - 10% Student Discount

Save 10% at Mainline Menswear when you register with your Student Beans ID. Find out more »

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Long Tall Sally - 10% Student Discount

Attention all tall, long and lanky ladies - enjoy a 10% discount for Long Tall Sally exclusive to students. Find out more »

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Little Mistress - 15% Student Discount

Get 15% off when you register your UNiDAYS ID at Little-Mistress.co.uk. Find out more »

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Hertz - 15-20% Student Discount

If you are 21 or over and have been driving for more than a year then you are eligible for a fantastic discount of 15% on car hire and 20% on van hire. Find out more »

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French Connection - 15% Student Discount

Register with your UNiDAYS password and get your exclusive 15% discount code to use online. Find out more »

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Footasylum - 10% Student Discount

Register with your UNiDAYS password and get your exclusive 10% student discount code to use online. Find out more »

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Crew Clothing - 15% Student Discount

Register with your Student Beans ID and get a 15% discount on your order every time you shop at CrewClothing.co.uk Find out more »

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Cheapoair - Exclusive Student Deals

Enjoy fantastic savings at Cheapoair. Visit the student page for the latest deals. Find out more »

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Apricot - 10% Student Disount

Get your unique student code which allows you to save 10% on your order every time you shop at Apricot. Free delivery on orders over £75 also available. Find out more »

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Topman - 10% Student Disount

Register with your Student Beans or UNiDAYS ID and get 10% off at Topman. Find out more »

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Ted Baker - 15% Student Disount

Get a fantastic 15% discount when you shop online at Ted Baker. Register with your Student Beans ID to get your discount. Find out more »

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Schuh - 10% Student Disount

Get 10% off your orders when you register with your UNiDAYS ID. Find out more »

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Ryman - 10% Student Disount

Save 10% on your stationery orders from Ryman. Simply register with your UNiDAYS ID to benefit. Find out more »

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Office Shoes - 10% Student Disount

Get 10% off all your orders from Office Shoes when you register with your UNiDAYS password. Find out more »