It is generally acknowledged that the greatest cause of concern for students, right after surviving the exam sessions without a mental breakdown, is money.
We’ve all been through it. That internal struggle between your responsible self, advising you to live on boiled rice and water to save money for a greater cause, and your insatiable consumerist self, urging you to squander money on drinks, ice creams and useless stuff at Tiger.
We can’t help you with your gadgets addiction, but we can provide you with a round-up of the best deals in Dublin. Your piggy bank still has a chance to survive the slaughterhouse.
Before starting our list of restaurant discounts and cheap lunch options, we thought that if you’re trying to save money on food and entertainments, you might also be interested in how to find affordable student accommodation in Dublin. It’s a handy article full of useful tricks to snap the best deal on a student room. But now, let’s study the fine art of eating more for less money.
Eating Out In Dublin Can Be Cheap If You Know Where To Go
This time the luck of the Irish didn’t work at all. Dublin was ranked the second most expensive city for living costs in Europe. Not really student-friendly. However, being broke makes you crafty. If you know how to move, you can find a satisfactory number of affordable student eats in Dublin.
Let’s start with pizza, the student fuel par excellence. At Bella Italia, you can get a nice 50% off pizza and pasta from Monday to Thursday or Sunday after 5 pm. A bit pricier, but much tastier is Zizzi. It offers exclusive discounts for students, 40% off the bill on Monday and Tuesday and 30% on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.
What about a hangover burger? Bunsen is definitely kind to a student budget. You can get a juicy burger with crunchy fries for around €10. Low prices and good quality, but without vegetarian options. Other low cost burgers can be purchased at Green 19, in Camden Street Lower, and Gourmet Burger Kitchen, offering an 25% off your food bill but exclusively on the restaurant's app.
If you’re looking for cheap eats for students with slightly healthier options, Umi falafel prepares yummy falafels and fresh salads for under €10, while at Sweet Tomatoes you can get a whopping 10% off the salads.
After the student food deals, let’s sniff around the cheapest drink deals in the Irish capital. It is now possible to get drunk without breaking the bank.
Have you ever heard of the cheapest pint in the city? Noisy youngsters in Harcourt St form long queues to get into Diceys, probably the most famous venue in Dublin, where a pint is just €2.00 on weekdays and €4.00 on Saturday. The second cheapest pint in town is at Howl at the Moon, where you can buy a beer for €2.50 on Wednesday and Thursday.
However, for both these clubs there is a €5.00 entrance fee to pay after 10 pm. The best value for money is offered by the Pavillion Bar, at Trinity College. A Guinness costs €4.10 and a cider €2.90. Moreover, all the profits go to local sports club, so you will be entitled to feel good drinking alcohol for the first time in your life.
Get The Best Out Of The City As A Student
To obtain student meal deals in Dublin, but also any other kind of discount, you should try to get as many students cards as possible. Here are five cards offering great value that are worth five minutes of your time to read about:
ISIC, the International Student Identity Card, is the most student-friendly. As there is a non-profit organisation behind, it provides access to products, services and experiences that are really relevant to students. From software licenses and cinema access, to bookstores, public transport, cafés and eateries, you can find deals covering all aspects of student life.
Unidays offers discounts in restaurants, take-away, Deliveroo, health clubs, clothing and even hotels and it’s completely free to sign up.
NUS, the National Union of Students card costs €14.00 per year but comes with free ISIC and it’s valid in 130 countries.
StudentBeans, a Student Loyalty Network providing access to discounts from the biggest brands, is mainly focused on fashion and shopping in general.
Student Leap Card is Ireland’s national student travel and discount card. You can get up to 66% off public transports and a few retail discounts like Boots Pharmacies and McDonald’s.
Student Guide To Cinema Deals In Dublin
Sometimes you might also want to give a break to Kickass Torrent and to your stinginess and enjoy a movie at the cinema. There are some pretty good deals on weekdays around the city.
At The Savoy, in O’Connel Street, student tickets are €5.00 in Tuesdays and €5.50 on Thursdays if you book online.
Omniplex, Rathmines, sells half-price tickets on Tuesdays and the IFI has a 2 for 1 tickets deal for students on Mondays.
As you can see, going to the cinema and disturbing the whole audience munching popcorn is still affordable for students and young couples in search for a quiet place to kiss.
The Cheapest Student House In Dublin
According to a recent survey, students spend on average between €10,000 and €15,000 per year on accommodation only. Going to college has become a privilege that not everybody can afford, especially if you have to move out from your parents house.
When you live alone, you find yourself surviving in living conditions you would have never thought possible: using the same soap for the body and the dishes, wearing the same clothes for weeks but in different combinations so that nobody notices it or, again, amass a wall of garbage in your doorway until it blocks the way out and you’re doomed to live in that house forever, a bit like the Sleeping Beauty but more like the Sleeping Garbage.
As we’ve all been students ourselves and know what it means to be always broke and hardly make it to the end of the month, we decided not to raise the rent price this year. Hazelwood Student Village is officially the cheapest student accommodation in Dublin.
Because we want you to afford both shampoo and washing liquid. Because we believe that the university years should be an album of wonderful memories. Because student lives matter to us.
