Would you like to know strategies and tricks to save money and to live your life as a student with greater serenity? Of course you do. What a dumb question. Here are 7 tricks to cut down costs that do not require giving up drinking.
Record Expenses
A Word file or, even better, an Excel file is enough to get a grip of your monthly spend and of your financial situation. Writing down every single expense will give you a pretty clear idea of how much you spend and on what.
Use A Bike
Cycling to uni? A great way to save on petrol, if you have a car, or on Dublin Bus tickets. And it's also a great way to keep fit and healthy. Just try. It will only take you a few weeks to realize how much money you have managed to save thanks to your bicycle.
Shop Smartly
Believe it or not, food is where most of your money goes. Yes, because it is quick to empty the wallet to fill the fridge. Therefore, to save money, it is absolutely necessary to learn how to do the shopping in an intelligent and reasoned manner, following some rules that will facilitate the task:
Make a shopping and compulsively shop for snacks and junk food;
Purchase long-life foods;
Check the price per kilo and per liter not to be fooled by the lower price;
Don’t shop at local stores because you’re too lazy to go to Lidl, prices are always way higher in small grocery stores;
Go for the value packs and freeze the surplus to avoid wasting it.
Use Student Discounts
University students benefit from a wide variety of discounts and advantages in numerous shops, supermarkets, cinemas and restaurants. Check out our blog post on where to find student discounts in Dublin.
Pack Your Lunch
Saving is a precise art, it requires maniacal attention and infinite patience. Your day probably feels like a scene of Inception and the only thing you want to do when you get back home is dying in your bed. However, preparing your lunch every day means saving a good deal every, besides eating healthier and better.
Drink Tap Water
Do you have any idea how expensive it is to buy water in bottles? Do a favor to your wallet and to the environment and switch to tap water. If the taste is a bit calcareous, you can buy water filters and you’re good to go.
Save On Rent
Saving on rent is the hardest part as Dublin has astronomical prices when it comes to housing. At Hazelwood Student Village, we did our best to keep the prices down in the past years. We are currently the cheapest student accommodation in town and we are not planning to increase the rent for next academic year. If you want more detailed information on how to look for a cheap room in Dublin, check out this article.