Blog: My top five tools to help save you money
Written by Student Content Shaper Katrina Jan
It's National Student Money Week and with many students facing rising living costs, saving money has never been more important. Here are just a few things I do to save that I hope you’ll find useful too.
1) Use cashback sites
Cashback websites such as TopCashback and Rakuten pay you when you go through them to spend with retailers or providers, the site Cheddar is currently my new favourite. On Cheddar you can buy a gift card and top it up with the amount you want (you can find most brands and retailers on here) and so far, I’ve made £25 from doing this. Redeem the cashback whenever you like straight to your back account. Easy peasy!
2) Retailer Rewards
Some retailers and supermarkets offer rewards for when you shop. For my groceries, I’m currently using Asda Rewards which adds up with every purchase, and you can use the money earned to save on your next food shop. Other supermarkets such as Sainsbury’s and Tesco have loyalty schemes which offer members with their loyalty cards (such as Nectar or Clubcard) cheaper prices than regular shoppers. Lidl also has a rewards app which is frequently updated with offers.
Coffee chains such as Costa also have a great rewards scheme, with weekly treat drops, free drinks and their 25% off food reward can go a long way on a lunch break. You can also download the free Food Fellows app to get points each time you purchase in a campus coffee outlet and get your tenth drink free.
But it doesn’t stop there! Other retailers such as Boots (my fave) have an even greater rewards scheme with their Boots Advantage Card. You can even get student discount with every shop! It gets better- recycle five empty toiletries with their Scan to Recycle scheme and get £5 back in points with every £10 spent. I’ve saved over £200 doing this so far, and they usually increase the points you get back around the festive season too.
3) Cooking on a budget
Fancy gourmet-style yet convenient home-cooked meals but don’t want to spend a fortune? Meal-kit companies such as HelloFresh, Green Chef, Frive and Gousto all have great introductory offers when you first sign up. I got my first HelloFresh box for £10 when I first signed up and had enough meals to last over a week. You can also invite friends and you’ll both be rewarded.
If you’re looking for budget-friendly food when out and about, you might want to try the Too Good To Go food bags, which have range of food retailers signed up to give away discounted food, including those based on campus such as Spar and Costa.
For more money-savings tips on food, check out the student meal plans on Save the Student and our Banging Budget Friendly Meals series on Instagram created by us Student Content Shapers.
4) Get paid to be sustainable
Did you know you can earn for recycling your items? As you can see from my earlier comment, this is something I do a lot. I feel so much better about getting rid of my old clothes and shoes when I know they’ll be recycled into something else. The one I’ve been using for years is the H&M recycling scheme where you can pop into store with clothes you no longer want and earn £5 with every visit. You do need to spend £25 to use this, but you have 6 months to do so, and if you have the H&M app you can also earn points and use both at the checkout.
Another one I’ve started recently is recycling my shoes at stores such as Schuh since they give a generous number of vouchers which you can then spend in store. If you’re interested in shopping sustainably, why not check out second-hand platforms such as Hazaar, a student marketplace founded by UoB alumna Harriet Noy. There’s also Vinted, Depop, Shpock, Ebay and Facebook Marketplace.
5) Mobile Network Rewards
Did you know that most phone networks have a range of benefits and rewards? I’m currently on o2 Priority and love the o2 Airtime Rewards. According to the app, I’ve saved £130 so far and my phone bill has sometimes been reduced to just £5. Lots of mobile networks have little incentives and offers, so you can shop around and see which works best for you.
I hope you found these tips useful! Sometimes a little can go a long way to help you save for the bigger things.
Need a helping hand when it comes to managing your money? Our Cost of Living Support pages are full of handy tips, advice and resources to help you survive and thrive at university. You’ll also find information on the financial and wellbeing support available to you at UoB.