Your studies don’t allow you to work full-time, but they cost thousands of dollars a year – thanks to textbooks, tuition, and much more! So it’s hard to manage your money, let alone save money as a student.
The good news is, there are easy ways for students to spend less, save more, and still have a good life. This post lists eight different ways to save money as a student. We’ve also included links to useful apps and websites that can do a lot of the work for you.
In no particular order, here are great ways to save money as a student. We’ve also included links to apps and websites that will help you meet your budget goals.
Make a budget
It covers all kinds of conventional wisdom: don’t shop when you’re hungry, manage your loans, and avoid unnecessary costs. Instead of listing tips that you can figure out on your own, we recommend that you just start a budget. What gets measured gets managed. If you keep track of what goes in and out of your bank account, you focus on the cost of your purchases and automatically start saving money.
Fortunately, technology has made budgeting less of a chore. We no longer spend hours on the kitchen table filling out spreadsheets. Modern budgeting apps connect to your bank account and automatically track expenses. You just need to review the numbers occasionally and adjust the categories.
The best budgeting app for Australian students is PocketBook. It’s available on Android and Apple and is very easy to use because it does most of the work for you. If you want to add pensions and investments, MoneyBrilliant is another option, but it’s more complicated. If you’re an avowed semi-Luddite, you might like apps that mimic traditional budgeting tools, like You Need A Budget.
Buy, trade and sell – including your school supplies
This includes everything from clothes on your back, furniture in your home, and school supplies. Despite the digital revolution, many students still have to buy mountains of textbooks, which cost hundreds of dollars each!
Instead of buying your new textbooks, use them on StudentVIP (formerly TextbookExchange), Sell My Text Book and even Ebay. You can easily save 50% to 80%, and many used textbooks are barely used. Once you’re done with them, sell them on the same site! You will often be able to sell them for the same price you bought them.
Don’t buy a car
A car is one of the most expensive things you can own, and not having one is a great way to save money as a student. Considering the initial cost, there’s also rego, insurance, parking, maintenance and fuel – all of which add up quickly! We did the numbers and found that even small cars can cost over $ 7,000 a year!
Using cheaper transportation options can save you a lot. Active transportation is the cheapest and the best for you. Biking, skateboarding or scootering is free once you have the gear, and walking is completely free! If you have a long commute, something motorized, like an electric bike, might be the ticket.
When you need to take a longer trip, public transportation is the best option, especially for student fares. For those times when you need a car, use a carsharing service like GoGet which offers great prices for students. You can also use carpooling services like Uber and Taxify when you need to make a one-way trip.
Add these costs to your budget and you will find that they often cost a lot less than owning a car. Yes, you might have a month where you spend a hundred dollars or more on transportation. But once you factor in the thousands of dollars saved on insurance, gasoline, and depreciation, you’ll likely be ahead.
Prepare your meals in advance
Being a student is much more expensive than it should be. Your studies don’t allow you to work full-time, but they cost thousands of dollars a year – thanks to textbooks, tuition, and much more! So it’s hard to manage your money, let alone save money as a student.
The good news is, there are easy ways for students to spend less, save more, and still have a good life. This post lists eight different ways to save money as a student. We’ve also included links to useful apps and websites that can do a lot of the work for you.
8 ways to save money as a student
In no particular order, here are 8 great ways to save money as a student. We’ve also included links to apps and websites that will help you meet your budget goals.
Know your discounts
You can save money as a student by finding discounts you qualify for – there are plenty! Students can save on travel, movies, food, software, and retail if you know where to look.
If you need to buy something specific, make sure you have google. Start by Googling the product name and “students”. For example, “Adobe Photoshop Students” will take you to the Student and Teacher discount page. Likewise, searching for “GoGet Students” will take you to our student discount page.
It is also worth registering with a site like UNiDAYS. These sites collect offers from several companies and make them easier to find. If you’re going to spend the money, you might as well try to spend less.
