A day in the life of a student… trying to save money!

I’ve seen many of these types of articles online before, as I’m sure you have as well, but I’m going to sum up some great websites that I have used myself throughout my time at University and that I would definitely recommend. A few of these I haven’t seen mentioned in a lot of other articles as well.

Approved Food – https://www.approvedfood.co.uk/

The premise of this website sounds a little odd at first – it sells products that are past their ‘Best Before’ date, but before their ‘Use By’ date. As the website itself states ‘Best before dates are about quality, not safety’. If you’re totally against this idea still, then maybe this website isn’t for you, but this website sells a complete range of stock at a reduced price, and for those of you with allergies – don’t fret! The website also has a certain section for ‘Free from’ foods. I have bought nearly everything from this website before; from pasta sauces to wholesale packs of chocolate bars, to oxo cubes. The deals change every day, and it’s worth checking out their Facebook page as they do a daily deals video covering them all as well as sometimes including voucher codes. A lot of the products on the site are from brands that you would usually buy and recognise anyway, and I have never had a problem with anything I’ve purchased. If you’re unsure, just check it out and see what you think!

Facebook

Keep up to date with voucher or offer Facebook pages, I would recommend https://www.facebook.com/10ways/ they can get a bit spammy, sharing links to cheaper products that you don’t necessarily want or need, but they also often share ‘glitches’ in shops that enable you to get items a lot cheaper than you necessarily should, as well as sharing vouchers or one-off discounts in certain shops.

https://www.facebook.com/couponmumuk/?fref=ts is also one I would recommend, again sometimes it shares a lot of products that you aren’t necessarily interested in, but it also shares coupons that you can download and either print off or show to your cashier to get money off products.

Checkout Smart (App)

Something that I tried briefly before but didn’t test out fully is an app called ‘Checkout Smart’, it allows you to get money off certain products or sometimes get them completely free. It lists which supermarket you are able to buy them from, and then you simply have to photograph your receipt and submit it to get the credit added to your account. However, if I remember correctly, you have to gain a certain amount of credit before you are able to cash it in.

UNiDAYS

Finally, if you haven’t signed up already (shame on you!), you definitely need to sign up to UNiDAYS, not only does it have variable discounts for most high street chains, but it’s free! I bought an NUS card in my first year, but actually found that I used the discounts on this more.  If you want to sign up today you can use the link here.

For advice on financial issues, you can find help at the Advice service

Not all problems can be solved with money, but for those that can why not apply for ULFAF? pic.twitter.com/T1SfJP0IlZ

— UniOfLincoln Support (@UniLincSupport) November 8, 2016