College is both wonderful and awful, in that it’s the best time of your life, but you can’t afford to do shit. These tips are the bare essentials required for you to make the very most of your weekly allowance; creating the all-important nest-egg for Friday night drinks. Keep reading to learn all about these 10 easy student money saving tips!
Scavenging from the homestead is a rite of passage, and one that must be continued well into your late twenties. Toilet paper, moisturiser, non-perishable tuna, pasta and beans – the staples of any household. This also includes the extra dinner that’s left over and put into Tupperware.
Make a grocery list, AND STICK TO IT LIKE GLUE. Making a financial budget for the essential items for survival actually doesn’t cost as much as you might think; as long as you know how many people you’re buying for. That goes for milk and bread, no point in buying a massive bottle and a full slice pan when it’s just you who is going to eat it, and eventually throwing half of it out.
Sticking to a list not only helps with cash, but it can also help if you want to start eating healthier foods. Pasta, a few veggies, and a side of baked chicken shouldn’t cost more than €5 in Lidl or Aldi, our student item godly supermarkets. Sticking to lists will also help to add up to treating yourself at the end of a hard week, that being that new top, or just ordering pizza for dinner. Either way, you set yourself an goal and stuck to it, so now TREAT YO’SELF.
Again, toilet paper, non-perishables, toiletries like toothpaste, shampoo, razors and deodorant. Buying the multi-packs probably seems stupid and ratchet, but having them tucked away in your cupboard all adds up to saving that few euro and a walk to the shop. Not the most appealing thing in the world when your hair is standing up with last night’s backcombing, and you smell like a stale biscuit from fake tan. Girly shit is expensive yo.
Seriously, just make huge dinners. Chicken curry, spaghetti bolognaise, lasagna– all stuff that can be frozen and spared for a few weeks. Having a back-up dinner after a mad week is heaven on earth; just bang it in the microwave for two minutes and you’ve got another escape from hunger.
This also goes for when you’re out and about in college. Get yourself to Dealz and invest in little Tupperware boxes so you can carry salad, pasta and fruit; rather than a foot-long from Subway, indigestion, and smelling like red onion. Mama will be proud.
No beating around the bush here. Not having the current account on tap will save you from desolate poverty. €20 here and €10 there will eat whatever your poor account is trying to cling onto. Instead, take out between €25 to €30 and see if you can cover your groceries, and then leave the change in your bag for buses and stuff. If you can make it through the week without having to get to the ATM then you’re winning at life.
This dream of saving can often be unrealistic when the possibility of drinks is imminent. So, head to the cheaper places for a mixer like Tesco for 60c, and split a litre of whichever poison with a friend. Good craic and half the price! Also, shove €20 somewhere on your person in case of emergencies, because at least with €20, ‘emergencies’ like 3 Jäger-bombs for the price of two won’t clear your bank balance, and you need a taxi home.
Keep using this for as long as you can, even if you’ve graduated and look 30. Just remember to dress accordingly, ‘cos producing a student card when wearing a suit looks pure dodgy, and we all want that 10% off hot chocolate.
May be outdated and remind you of your grandmother lecturing you about how every penny counts, but the thing is, it actually does. Get the tin style ones, (again, Dealz) as in the ones that you can’t open. Might seem like a dumbass idea, but after throwing in spare change here and there, it will be full in no time, and you’ll be laughing while walking to the bank. Just be careful to put it some place where you can’t break it open when you’re drunk and hungry and want to pay the pizza man.
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