Of all people, students know how hard it is to live on a shoestring budget to make your student loan last as long as possible. So, the experts at Mystudenthalls.com – the original dedicated student halls search engine – have pulled together 11 things you can do to save over £1,000 a month, whether you’re a student or not:
- Get a part time job
Average monthly income: £224
Whether it’s working in a bar, waitressing, babysitting or helping on a reception desk, you can earn a bit of extra cash by getting a job outside your studies. As well as looking good on your CV, if you’re earning the national minimum wage for 18 to 20 year olds (£5.60 per hour), you could take home £224 each month from a 10-hour shift each week
In just one month, you’ll have earned just short of what you’d need for a Glastonbury ticket (if you’re lucky enough to snap one up before they sell out).
- Quit smoking
Average monthly saving: £250
Not only is smoking a horrible habit; according to Smokefree, the average smoker saves £250 each month by quitting. In your first month as a non-smoker, you would have saved enough to buy yourself a new Xbox One 500GB Console.
- Make your morning coffee at home
Average monthly saving: £49
Most of us are guilty of buying a morning coffee to kick off our day. Considering the average cost of a medium latte from Costa is £2.45, you’d be shelling out at least £12.25 each week (even more if you’re treating yourself to a coffee on weekends too) – that’s £49 per month.
Invest in a reusable ECoffee Cup for around £10 and make your coffee from home to take in with you. With the £39 left over, you could catch a return flight to Alicante!
- Make your lunches
Average monthly saving: £34
Just like coffee, it’s easy to end up spending far more than you realise on lunches each day. Even if you’re trying to save pennies by going for a £3 lunch meal deal, you’ll be spending £15 a week. That’s £60 each month.
Buying the ingredients to make a similar lunch at home would cost around £8.50 each week. So, making this small switch could help you save around £34 each month. You could even use the savings to restock your kitchen with all the cookery equipment you need to make more adventurous meals!
- Cancel unwanted gym subscriptions
Average monthly saving: £25
It’s easy to get sucked into that gym membership you always mean to use…but never do. But if you’re being careful of the pennies, this will add up. Even with a student discount, you could be spending around £25 each month on a gym membership when you can still get some exercise by going for a run. That month’s savings could get you a basic pair of running shoes to get you out in the fresh air.
- Don’t worry about council tax!
Approximate monthly saving: £100
If you’re a full-time student and either live on your own or only with other students, you’re exempt from paying council tax. Not only is it great fun to live in student accommodation with your friends, you’ll be spared around £100 a month depending where you live.
Feeling hungry? You could spend that £100 on six large margarita pizzas…
- Have a spring clean
Approximate income: £50
If there are a whole load of items in your wardrobe you no longer wear, it’s probably time to have a clear out. If you sold 10 things for £5 each on eBay, you’ll be quids in. As well as earning £50 just by getting rid of things you don’t want any more, decluttering helps clear the mind so you’ll find it easier to concentrate on your coursework. Maybe that £50 should go towards new textbooks?
- Get into gigs for free
Average saving: £60
If you’re a music-lover, you could get a gig handing out flyers outside music venues. While you may not always get paid (sometimes you do – bonus!), some companies run schemes where you and a friend into the gig for free in return for flyering the queue. Given you’d have to queue anyway, meeting new people outside plus saving around £60 on a pair of tickets for your favourite band isn’t a bad deal.
- Walk the dog
Approximate income: £300
While you have to pay to play with pooches on sites like Borrow My Doggy, companies such as Tailster help you find paid dog walking jobs in your area. At around £15 per walk, you could be cashing in as much as £300 a month if you had a regular slot walking a local dog before lectures. After all that walking, you’ll probably be in need of a holiday…
- Go shopping!
Average saving: £75
What? Getting paid to go shopping. Shut the front door. But it’s true – sign up to become a mystery shopper and you pose as a customer to help companies assess their customer service levels. The great thing is, in return you could get your meal, hotel stay or items you’ve bought for free. Depending on the length and complexity of the assignment, you might get paid too.
Assuming you reviewed one three course meal with a glass of wine each month (let’s say it’s a fancy restaurant – why not, eh?) worth around £35 and bought a new pair of jeans (worth £40), you’ve probably saved enough to justify a bit more of a shopping spree!
- Get paid for your opinions
Approximate income: £50
There are paid market research companies that will pay you for your feedback about products and services as well as about your opinions on various issues. The amount you can earn varies with each opportunity but is usually around £50.
For an hour and a half out of your day, you could earn enough to buy a new pair of Converse. Not bad.
Mystudenthalls.com is the UK’s first and most comprehensive student halls search engine. The site saves hours of legwork for students looking for their perfect student accommodation across the UK. The super-fast, responsive site can be searched and filtered in seconds and allows students to contact their desired halls directly at the click of a button without having to create a user account.
-Ends-
Notes to Editors:
For the sources of figures mentioned above please see:
- The national minimum wage for 18 to 20 year olds is £5.60: https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-rates
- Glastonbury tickets for General Admission cost £238 plus booking fee: http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/information/
- £250 per month saved by quitting smoking, according to NHS Smokefree: https://www.nhs.uk/smokefree/why-quit/cost-calculator
- Xbox One 500GB Console package costs £219.99 from Game: http://www.game.co.uk/en/xbox-one-500gb-console-with-battlefield-1-halo-wars-2-and-3-free-games-1864969
- The average cost of a medium Costa latte, according to This is Money, is £2.45: https://www.thinkmoney.co.uk/news-advice/the-cost-of-britains-love-of-coffee-shops-0-4432-0.htm
- A 14oz ‘Aquaman’ ECoffee Cup costs £9.95: https://ecoff.ee/collections/reusable-coffee-cups/products/aquaman
- According to Skyscanner, a Ryanair return flight from London to Alicante was £39 in March: https://www.skyscanner.net/routes/lond/alc/london-to-alicante.html
- Buying the ingredients to make ham sandwiches, crisps and fruit for the week would cost around £6.50 (loaf of bread: £1; margarine: £1; packet of ham: £1.50; multipack of crisps: £1.50; five apples: £1.50; tap water: £0)
- With £34, you could buy the following kitchenware at Wilko: a 16cm everyday value non-stick saucepan (£2.25); a 24cm everyday value black wok (£2.50); set of two everyday value non-stick frying pans (£4); one everyday value 16-piece cutlery set (£1.70); an everyday value dinner set (£5); a 1L Pyrex classic measuring jug (£6); an oven glove (£2); a 33cm roasting dish (£3); a lrage bamboo chopping board (£4); and four everyday value white mugs (£3). Total: £33.45. http://www.wilko.com.
- Running shoes from £26 on Sports Direct: http://www.sportsdirect.com/puma-carson-run-mens-trainers-127110?colcode=12711026&src=google&gclid=CjwKEAjw2qzHBRChloWxgoXDpyASJAB01Io0chFI5V4jBFPkLkngHIPvAt7yjqnVVNeQIAKGk_OK_hoCUGrw_wcB
- To find out your area’s council tax, visit: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/how-much-council-tax-2017-9829071
- One large 13.5” cheese and tomato pizza is £14.99 at Dominos https://www.dominos.co.uk/menu
- According to Headspace, reducing clutter is proven to help concentration: https://www.headspace.com/blog/2016/03/21/clear-space-really-mean-clear-mind/
- Registration to become a ‘borrower’ on Borrow My Doggy costs £12.99 per year: https://www.borrowmydoggy.com/membership
- To find dog walking opportunities on Tailster, visit: https://www.tailster.com/
- To find opportunities to sign up as a mystery shopper visit: mystery-shoppers.co.uk
- To find market research focus groups you could take part in, visit: https://www.peopleforresearch.co.uk/participant/
- A pair of high top All Star Classic is £50: http://www.converse.com/uk/en/regular/chuck-taylor-all-star-classic-colours/M9160C_030.html
- For information on medical trial recruitment, please visit: http://www.londontrials.com/.
For further press information, please contact:
Natalie Garland/Melissa Hobson/James Brooke
Rooster PR
T: +44 (0)20 3440 8924
E: [email protected]
About Mystudenthalls.com
Mystudenthalls.com is the original dedicated student halls search engine. Mystudenthalls.com saves hours of legwork for students looking for the perfect student accommodation across the UK. The super-fast, responsive site can be searched and filtered in seconds and allows students to contact their desired halls directly at the click of a button without having to create a user account.
Mystudenthalls.com is the UK’s first and most comprehensive student halls search engine. Every month, tens of thousands of students use Mystudenthalls.com to choose from thousands of high-quality student rooms and pinpoint their home-from-home. Users simply enter their chosen city or university, hit search and start checking out options from the comfort of their living room. Results, which can be filtered by location and budget, display those all-important smaller details crystal clear; from proximity to the shops, to secure bike storage, super-fast Wi-Fi or availability of an en-suite.
For more information, visit https://www.mystudenthalls.com, https://www.facebook.com/mystudenthalls or https://twitter.com/mystudenthalls.
