Boost Your Student Finances by Cutting Back on These 12 Things - Part 1

Students are known for struggling financially while at university, which means any small savings or deal they can eke out is important. In this 2-part blog, we look at 12 things that students can cut back on to save money.

1: Eating Out

There are plenty of delicious meals that you can eat at various restaurants and takeouts, but you'll be paying a premium for these. The cheaper option is to improve your cooking skills and start making delicious homemade meals. You can even turn your cooking into fast food by cooking more than you need, and freezing the rest so you can reheat it another day.

2: Prepared Food

There is a big price difference between pre-prepared food and un-prepared food at the supermarket. For instance, chunks of pre-sliced mango at a popular British supermarket come out at £3 at the time of writing, whereas a fresh mango comes out at £0.75. Buying your food fresh and unprepared will not only be cheaper but will often be better for the environment.

3: Daily Takeaway Coffees

Many people have a take-out coffee as part of their daily regime, which can be more expensive than you'd originally think. A basic £2 coffee every working day is £10 a week, £40 a month, and £500 a year! Often these coffees have more calories in them than an average meal, so they aren't great for your health either. Instead, invest in a coffee flask and fill it up in the morning before you leave.

4: Undiscounted Food

While this isn't always applicable, making a change to when you go shopping means that you'll be able to take advantage of reduced-price items. Combining this with meal prepping means you can make a range of meals from reduced items to freeze and eat during the week. The best times to hit the supermarkets are early morning, midday and later in the night.

5: Buying New Clothes

Full-priced, new clothes are often a waste of money, and bad for the environment. You can save a lot of money by visiting thrift and charity stores for new clothes, which in turn supports those charities. You can find plenty of good, rare clothes, so get out there and start looking!

6: Travel Costs

Taxis and Ubers are a massive drain on your student finances, and while they may get you to your destination faster, it comes at a steep cost. Public transport such as buses and trains are convenient, and a fraction of the price. You can also save more money by getting a rail card or day pass. Or you can take the healthy option and walk everywhere.

What is Unihousing?

Unihousing is a student accommodation provider near the University of Birmingham, operating since 1984. All of our accommodation in Selly Oak is owned by us, so we can respond quickly to any requests using our qualified team of tradesmen. Our property office is located on Bristol Road, only a short walk away from all of our accommodation. This means we can deal directly with our tenants.

Unhousing was selected as the Number 1 Student Letting Agent in Birmingham by the UK's biggest fresher community, Unifresher.

Contact Unihousing today to find out more!

How to be Sustainable as a Student

When you're living on a student budget at university, it can be very difficult to feel like you are living as sustainably as possible. This can be because of a loss of control when it comes to things such as budget when shopping, or with appliances in a rented household. While you may not be able to make the best environmental decisions in all aspects of your life, you can still make the correct decisions on the things you can control. In this blog, we suggest ways you can change your usage and disposal of things in your home to be sustainable.

Changing Your Usage of Products

One of the best ways of staying sustainable as a student is ensuring the appliances you do use last as long as possible. If you are lucky enough to have a dishwasher in your student house, then make sure you take good care of it if you do need to use it by checking the washing arm can move unhindered. With your washing machine, don't overload it with clothes and make sure you're using a good washing liquid. You can also try washing your clothes in colder temperatures. To look after your fridge, keep it clean and remove any spoiled food, in particular, ensure the seals around the door are clean.

You can make simple swaps with certain everyday items when living in a rented student property to be as sustainable as possible. Using a reuseable cloth rather than disposable wipes is a great way of reducing your waste, for example. You can even purchase zero plastic sellotape to make sure your study notes are kept together with no plastic waste. Reducing food waste is another great way to live more sustainably, a good way of doing this is to use multiple recipes that use the same ingredients, or even cook a larger portion and freeze the portions you don't eat.

Disposing Responsibly

You can make just as much of an impact on the environment by disposing of any waste responsibly. A good way of helping you to recycle is by splitting your waste into different materials such as general, glass, tin and paper. Products that can't normally be recycled by the council will often be able to be recycled by retailers or certain generous individuals in your local area. For example, batteries can be disposed of in special bins that can be found in certain shops that sell batteries, while inhalers can be taken back to some chemists who will recycle them. You can be more proactive with this by writing letters to shops or retailers who you feel should be recycling certain items if they are not. Do your research, and you may be able to find somewhere that will take items that won't normally be accepted for recycling.

Any old clothes that you have outgrown or have gone out of fashion can be taken to clothing donation banks, such as Heart UK or the Salvation Army. There may even be a local charity that will accept these as well. You may even be able to donate old shoes, belts, hats, towels, curtains and bedding. Meanwhile, if you have any dried, canned or jarred food that you don't need or have bought too much of, you can donate these to a local food bank. Even non-food items such as toiletries, face masks and detergents will generally be accepted.

Even when living in a rented property with a student lifestyle and budget, there are things you can control in your life to live sustainably.

What is Unihousing?

Unihousing is a student accommodation provider near the University of Birmingham, operating since 1984. All of our accommodation in Selly Oak is owned by us, so we can respond quickly to any requests using our qualified team of tradesmen. Our property office is located on Bristol Road, only a short walk away from all of our accommodation. This means we can deal directly with our tenants.

Unhousing was selected as the Number 1 Student Letting Agent in Birmingham by the UK's biggest fresher community, Unifresher.

Contact Unihousing today to find out more!