Five Important Money Saving/Making Hacks for Students (that you need to know)

I am the definition of a poor student (without a maintenance loan oops) so I have established some handy ways to save money. Let me know if I have missed anything and I'll include it in my next version! Enjoy!

Student Amazon Prime (for free)

I use Amazon Prime for all my stationery, household items and gifts. I am the Queen of forgetting people's Birthdays (at least I am honest!). I always use (student) Amazon Prime to get reduced price items with free next day delivery. This means I can forget a Birthday until the night before and buy something to give to them the following night. If you use this code then you can receive 6 months free then have a massive reduction to less than £4 a month for a subscription. This also includes films, music and discounts on textbooks. I find it really handy to use as I can decide I want something at 10pm and have it at my door the following day without having to go out and get it. The best part of student amazon prime is that you can cancel before you have to pay for the subscription if you do not like it! It is my lifesaver and I completely recommend it.

Don't buy university coffee!

Sure, I love uni coffee. We have a Costa Coffee near pretty much all of my lecture halls, and my lectures are always 3 hours long. To stop myself falling asleep during my lecture, I like a coffee, who doesn't? But it is so expensive if you do this on the daily. My hack is to buy a flask which provides you with hours of hot coffee (or whatever you choose your bev to be), doesn't take up too much room in your bag, and is basically free as it is out of your cupboards. And you know it tastes good (you don't want to risk the coffee machine that's never used on the other side of campus!). There are some good flasks in this link!

Transportation Hacks

There are loads of varying transport modes to get into uni which hugely depend on where you live and which university you attend. The cheapest ways of travelling are definitely walking and cycling if you live within distance, or travelling by scooter or motorcycle. I travel into uni on my motorcycle everyday because it saves me loads of money and time! If you are not up for that, the alternatives are the train (do not forget your 16 to 25, or 25 to 30 railcards to save 30% on train fares - use your tesco clubcard points to buy this half price!), the bus (which most universities have a deal with the local bus providers to give you a reduced rate) or your car. Most car parks near universities are quite dear, so either try to find the cheap all day car park which will not cost you a bomb, or park further out so you can park for free on a side road and walk in. Some areas also have park and ride schemes which can be worth using depending on how frequently you are in uni and how long for, it may be cheaper to park in a car park closer to uni: do your research! I have also been known to park in local park car parks and move my car in my breaks. I like to use parkopedia to find out where I can park for the cheapest rate!

Freelance Work (in your PJs)

If you are anything like me, you end up chilling in the evening with nothing to do. I like to keep myself busy by earning money on freelance websites and survey sites. Over the past few years I have tried lots of sites (and earned myself a ridiculous number of junk emails). Currently the two sites I like to make money from are People Per Hour, which is where people pay you to complete freelance tasks, and Swagbucks, where you play games, answer surveys and watch videos to earn money. With People Per Hour you can get out as much as you put in, sign up for gigs when you have time, or advertise your expertise for free and let people do all the hard work and find you. If you use this link to sign up it will give you (and me) £30 to use on the website which is great value! I have already made a post on how to optimise your workload with People Per Hour, so check that out here. With Swagbucks, again you can do as much or as little as you want, but you also get weekly and monthly bonuses and earn points when you shop online. I downloaded a browser app which means every time you go to shop on one of the sites they will give you cashback for, it notifies you and makes it easy to redeem. It does not take much to make £100 either in amazon or mastercard vouchers, or paypal. If you use this link to sign up with, you will receive bonus points to get you on your way to your first £100! These two websites have actually saved me from my credit card bills, have a go and earn yourself some cash!

Don't Drink Away Your Money!

We all like a drink, especially on a night out! But really, what is better? The pre-drinking or the night out? Now I love the music and to dance, but once you hit that club, you lose half of your mates and you end up next to one or two, randomly bumping into a couple every so often as they drift in and out. I find that the pre-drinks, if done well, are the best part of the night out. And pre-drinks, obviously, are so much cheaper than drinks in a bar. So everyone should bring their drinks, have a party with music and drinking games (ring of fire, beer pong etc), pour a dirty pint and go to the club having drunk enough that you do not need to spend £100 on yourself! It is always a good idea to aim for the bars with free entry before midnight or 2-4-1 drinks as this is definitely going to be busier than the expensive bar down the road, and it will save you a fortune! On a final note, I also use mySupermarket to work out where it is cheapest to buy drinks. For example, if I know I want a specific drink for a cocktail, I will search it on mysupermarket to see where it is cheaper and then head for that shop. I may also use my saved up nectar points and clubcard points to make me feel like I am spending less!