Ways To Cut Down On Costs At University

University can be expensive especially for those of you that are on a budget, here are some tips to cut down on costs! The constant nights out, meals, text books, travel to your university and home, to wherever it is you have to go home to visit the family. Simple tips on how to cut down costs can be a life saver for those struggling!  

1. Buy food to cook at home

It may seem fun to eat at KFC every night but believe me your bank account won’t thank you and you will also feel rubbish, eating all that food. When you move out for the first time, I feel like you need to go through eating Maltesers and energy drinks for dinner, when you don’t have parents telling you what to eat for the first time. But this gets old very quickly, this is from the girl who ate mini sausage rolls constantly for 6 months, now I can‘t even look at one without feeling nauseous. Eat at home to cut down on costs. 

2. Don’t join the gym, if you want to cut down on costs

Go for a run, cycle or swim. Or take advantage of the thousands of personalised work out apps available on the app store! Unnecessarily expensive gym memberships get old quickly and ultimately if you are too lazy to go because of a deadline or summer sleeping in, you will feel guilty. If you forgo the membership, and get to work out from home, no £30 being taken from your account every month and you won‘t get the guilt if you don’t work out!  

3. Buy your own alcohol in bulk

If you drink cans of beer, head to the nearest ASDA and invest in a crate of beer to satisfy your cravings rather than buying small packs from your local shop. Also, this can apply to spirits, a huge bottle of vodka will work out better than having to buy small bottles every time you go out. Just make sure to not leave the bottle at a friend’s place, which will mean you will never see it again! Or have a system with friends where you share the big bottle of spirits and then take it in turns to buy to keep down costs.  

4. Mend your own clothes

Rather than throwing out that jumper that has a hole in it, or the jeans that have ripped (in a place which isn’t cool for them to) learn how to mend them yourself. To cut down on having to constantly replace your broken items. Or if sewing isn’t your idea of fun, you can buy fabric glue to fix your clothes, without having to learn how to sew to do so. 

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5. Buying Christmas presents

For the person in your class who wants to buy everyone Christmas presents, that is great for them, if they can afford it. For those of us, who cannot, a secret Santa is always a fun way to eliminate unneeded costs. Get everyone involved and instead of buying 12 different presents for your classmates or friendship group, you only have to buy the one. Genius. And secret Santa always throws out some completely random presents that you would never have thought of.  

6. Socialising

This is a huge aspect of university and for some it is their favourite part, getting to catch up with friends, getting drunk and stumbling home at 3am. If you can’t afford to go out one night, try and suggest an alternative to save some money. Everyone loves a games night, bust out your favourite games of Scrabble, Cluedo and Monopoly – if you are feeling brave. If you want to incorporate alcohol into the games, you can always play the always funny Cards Against Humanity which you can set horrid drinking penalties for not winning.  

If you have any tips on how to save money whilst at university, include them below! It will be good to share tips to help cut down on spending too much money.

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