Being a student is harder than ever these days, as money gets tighter and tighter. We’ve compiled our top 5 favorite money saving tips from the Money Saving Expert:

• Get your NUS Extra card – make sure you pick up your NUS Extra discount card from the Students’ Union. They can save hundreds of pounds with discounts from cinemas, restaurants, most high street clothing stores and more. They even work online!

• Use free office software – there’s many bits of software out there that you can use to do your essays on. Follow this link to find some free and legal software: CLICK HERE

• Use less energy – not only will you be more environmentally friendly, but you will also save money. Turn your heating on for 2 hours in the morning (to make getting out of bed easier) and 2 hours in the evening, that way you wont be heating an empty house during the day. Also make sure to turn all your lights and electrical items off when you leave the house.

• Go for supermarket own brand food – it may not be as glamorous, and you don’t have to shop in the value section to make a saving. Going for Asda 4 pack of Baked Beans rather than Heinz will cut your costs by half!

• Make a budget! – Knowing your income and outgoings is essential to not overspending. Budgeting doesn’t have to be hard and the university SWAT team can help you.

During Freshers’ Fair; Aaran Saunders, a 1st year economics student, guessed the closest prices to each of the shopping baskets and beat 134 students to be the winner.

The competition involved students guessing the prices of two similar baskets of food. One of the baskets contained branded items and one contained own brand produce. The branded goods cost £15.90 and the own brand cost £8.93. This shows the kind of savings you can make by switching to own brand products.

The SWAT team are available in the Sheppard Library and support all students with budgeting, funding, money management and other welfare issues.

For other student friendly tips from the Money Saving Expert, follow this link: CLICK HERE