5 Money-Saving Hacks All Students Should Know

Feb 21, 2019

If you’re a student or you’re heading off to university this year then you may be worrying about how you’re going to manage financially. Budgeting may be a challenge if this is the first time you have moved away from home. There’s accommodation costs, food costs, bills, and of course the costs of going out to think about.

University life doesn’t have to be made difficult with insufficient funds. If you know how to budget effectively then you will have a little left over to have lots of fun. There are so many ways you can save from cooking with your flatmates to buying and selling second-hand textbooks. Here are our top 5 money-saving hacks to help you survive your degree:

1. Be smart with your food shop

As a student, your weekly shopping budget is likely to be quite small. The best hack for food shopping is knowing the right places to shop. Once you have found the perfect place then food shopping will be a lot easier. Places like Coles, Woolworths and Aldi are the most budget-friendly. Before you shop make sure to write a meal plan so you’re not wasting money on food that you don’t necessarily need.

It’s also a good idea to get to know your supermarket. Lots of supermarkets have clearance offers (typically near closing time) as they are trying to get rid of food that is reaching its sell-by date. Often prices are cut down by half or more which is perfect for students on a budget.

2. Make meals with your flatmates

One great way to save money is to cook with your flatmates. It’s so much cheaper to divide up the costs of the ingredients than to cook just for yourself. Making meals and eating together is so much fun and you can make lots of lovely memories doing this too.

Another way you could split meal costs can be to assign each flatmate with a day that they are responsible for cooking for the whole flat. You could even turn this into a Come Dine With Me challenge but with the only difference being you have $5 to cook a meal.

3. Save with second-hand textbooks

Textbooks can cost a lot of money with some even costing hundreds of dollars brand new. There really is no point in buying new as you’re only likely to need them for a couple of years during your degree. There’s no need to freak out when you get given a lengthy list of reading material at the start of the semester, Zookal has your back.

Zookal has lots of textbooks which you can buy at bargain prices second-hand. What’s even better is that you can get the textbooks for less using our discount codes and coupons. You can find textbooks across a range of courses including psychology, medicine, engineering and more. If you have any textbooks lying around from your first or second year of uni that you no longer need then you can sell them on Zookal to make an easy few dollars.

4. Have a no-spend day

If you love a good challenge then we dare you to give the no-spend day challenge a go. Doing this once a week could save you a hefty fortune. Obviously before you do your no-spend day you want to make sure that you have all of the essentials in like food.

Be strict with yourself and promise not to touch your credit cards all day. If you think about it, there are so many things you can do for free. Opt for walking to campus rather than taking the bus, invite friends over for a coffee or karaoke night rather than heading to the clubs, and resist the urge of buying the pair of boots you’ve wanted for a while by avoiding going shopping altogether.

5. Get fit for less

When you’re a student you really don’t want to be spending over $50 on a gym membership as there are plenty of better ways you could be spending your money. Take a look at what your uni has to offer. Universities tend to have cheaper gym memberships as they know student life is expensive.

Although university gyms tend to be cheaper, it’s worth looking around at other gyms too to see what deals there are. If you’re not the type of person who is committed to the gym and only goes twice a year then it’s time to ditch the membership. There are many ways you can get fit for free such as walking, running and following workout videos online.

If you’re heading off to university this year then we wish you the best of luck! Make sure to check our website regularly for fantastic student discounts, discount codes and savings.