It’s very easy to get carried away with the excitement of moving away to University, investing in all kinds of things to make sure you have all your home comforts as well as the essential things for your classes and coursework. Before you know it, you’ve spent hundreds, if not thousands, and you’re in debt before you even get the chance to blow your student loan on countless nights out and value cans of baked beans.
It’s only natural that you’ll go out, either alone or with your parents, and buy everything you think you could possibly need during your three years at University, but in actual fact you could make substantial savings by taking a step back and thinking logically.
The first example here is in the kitchen in your flat. The chances are, people just like you will be heading out and buying packs of pans, baking trays and cutlery, meaning that – as long as you all remain on good terms of course – you could use theirs instead of splashing out your own money on a tenth pan between four of you.
Your bedding for your bedroom can be made cheaper too. Rather than going and buying all new pillows, sheers, duvet, pillowcases and alike, raid your cupboards at home – and check with the parents first obviously – for any bedding that isn’t needed, and use that. This will save you hundreds, as bedding is something you simply cannot do without – we all know how important a good night’s sleep (and afternoon nap) can be to students.
Then there are your gadgets. All young people want the very latest smartphone, laptop and whatever else has just hit the stores at extortionate prices. But by budgeting on certain pieces of tech, you can spend a little bit more on your others, or save it all for emergencies. One example is investing in a low cost printer, which can be just as good as the latest release. After all, you only need to print a few essays and lecture notes on it, it’s not as if you’re working in an office where you’re printing hundreds of documents a day. Cheap printers are simple to run, and while they don’t come with all the fancy extras, you don’t need it to.
Saving money doesn’t always have to mean cutting back. A lot of the time it’s as simple as getting something second hand, like your textbooks from online stores, or raiding the cupboards at home for unused items that you could make use of. Uni life is meant to be fun, not all about trying to save money, but if you can save a few pounds here or there, you can have much more fun towards the end of the year when you’ve got plenty left in the bank!
