The art of bargain hunting and getting bang for your buck

You'd be surprised by the amount of cash you can save if you know the tricks of the trade and as a student, you have even more discounts/offers/freebies at your disposal! 

With the cost of living crisis not going away anytime soon, students are being hit hard so it's more important than ever to try to save when you can.

Easy-to-miss discounts

Before purchasing ANYTHING, check for deals first! You will honestly save so much money by doing a simple search either online or asking a staff member in the store. It's not always obvious that there is a deal, especially at an online checkout (as they don't usually want you to save money!). Use Honey as a free browser extension that will automatically search for deals on whatever site you're browsing, or sign up for Unidays and Student Beans for all the student-specific deals you could dream of.

In a physical store, just ask! A tonne of shops do student discounts as long as you can flash your ID card or deals on bulk buying of one item. Don't be afraid to haggle with independent stores as well, they would rather they had a sale than no purchase at all!

• Cinema tickets - If you can, go to the cinemas on Tuesdays and Wednesdays as you have the chance to get 241 cinema tickets through Compare the Meerkat. All you have to do is get insurance through their services and you'll have access to 241 tickets for one whole year! Even if you don't technically need insurance right now, you could just buy really cheap holiday insurance to get access to the offer (for example, pay as little as £2 on insurance to Ireland to get access to the offer). Some cinemas also offer discounted student tickets so you could double up on the offers to maximise the savings!
• Clothes - Lots of clothing brands sell clothes at a discounted price if you're a student but if you're shopping online then try ASOS as they have a no-mess 10% discount code that's valid until you graduate just by signing up with your uni email. If you plan on shopping with ASOS frequently, sign up for their premier service that gives you free next-day deliveries for a year (costs £11.95 to sign up but pays for itself within two orders). For more tips on being thrifty with clothing check out the best shopping tips for clothes.
• Food and drink - For a full list of brands that do (and don't) offer student discounts, Save the Student has you covered and you can search for specific stores too. On top of that, if you find yourself going for the same food all the time you should join their loyalty/stamp card programme. You will get freebies and discounts after so many meals so it's worth remembering to scan the code and be able to stuff your face with more food!

Student freebies

FREE is everyone's new favourite word and you can be using it a lot more with these tips:

• It's your birthday! - That means you have the chance for a lot of freebies, from food to clothing and everything in between. If you've signed up online then check your emails on the date as they will usually send some sort of code or offer. In a restaurant, just tell the person serving you and they will usually treat you to a free dessert!
• Newsletters and surveys can be your friend - We tend to skip over these and treat them like spam, but a lot of time you will be rewarded through engagement and feedback with a retailer. Have a quick look and you should be able to tell whether they're offering any freebies or not. Also we'd recommend creating an email specifically for signing up for these things so your normal inbox isn't stuffed with annoying emails from various companies.
• Enter competitions, it's easy - Though it may seem like a long shot, there's still a chance you could win something quite substantial just by entering a few details (this is where your dump email comes in handy too). The more you enter, the bigger the chance you will win something!

There are also a lot of time-sensitive freebies/offers available but it can be sometimes hard to find these. Save the Student has collected all of these together and the list is updated regularly!

For more tips related to money management/saving where you can, check our student loan management guide.