Lifestyle: 5 Student Money Saving Tips

So it's the time of year where you loan has just come in and you feel the urge to treat yourself. Well when you're first years you've probably never had so much money before but if you're living away from home you need to make it last. You need to buy all your food, transport, clothes, books, printing, etc and christmas presents with that money and believe me it's not enough to last you. When you get to third year and if you're studying a course which consumes so much of your time that you can't really have a part time job at the same time as it will effect your studies (like me) you start finding other ways you can save money. My mum will probably laugh reading this as she thinks I'm a bit of spendaholic and I suppose when I have been working I have been, but at the moment I'm trying to stick to a budget and save money where ever I can. So I've teamed up with TSB who offer great rates on there student accounts page and  put together a post about some of my tips to save money. 1. When you're having to buy books for University use the Library or use the 'used books' on Amazon instead of buying the book brand new.
At easily £20/£30 a book, buying books for your university course can become seriously expensive. If you're like me and you like to highlight things in books, use bookmarks to save the pages you probably find it easier buying the book but don't forget the university library! I'm lucky enough to go to a university where they have an absolutely humungous library and they have about 3 or 4 copies of each book and so when possible I'll loan out a book and if I really like the book and use it a lot i'll search for it in the Amazon 'used' section. Sometimes the top book when you click on the used section is brand new and cheaper then the Amazon price! 2. Time your supermarket shopping just right and go in the evenings once they reduce food! 
If you're lucky enough to live next to a supermarket as university you'll probably know that the best time to go food shopping is in the evenings about 5.30pm. That's when they reduce food and you can always grab a bargain! One thing I love doing is heading to my local M&S food around 5pm (It shuts at 5.30) and picking up a M&S healthy ready meal on the cheap. Remember if you want something which is reduced but don't want to eat it that day check if it's freezable and save it for another day. 3. If you have a savings account, once a week or every few days transfer money into it. For instance say you had £454.87 in your bank account, transfer the 0.87p into your savings to save money.
This is a tip I learnt off another blogger (sorry I can't remember who) but if you're saving for something and you feel like it's beyond your means this is a great way to save money. I do this when I can at the moment and it's already made a difference to my savings account (When I say difference I mean it's only up to about £20 at the moment from doing this trick!) 4.  Cook your food in bulk and never throw what could be a full meals worth away.
So you're cooking pasta for your dinner for just yourself, who actually manages to cook the right amount of pasta? I swear it's virtually impossible. Save your plastic boxes (you know the ones you get from curry and chinese places) and with any spare food from a meal put it into a box in the fridge for the next day or freeze it for another day when you don't have as much time to cook. This not only saves time but it saves money as you don't have to worry about having no food in. 5. Make the most of your student discount and points cards.
One thing I've noticed that a lot of my friends do is they don't have loyalty cards. My boyfriend for instance doesn't have a Boots card I'm like WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE WITHOUT A BOOTS CARD?! (This means more Boots points for me though!) You'll be surprised how quickly the points on loyalty cards add up. With offers delivered through your post box every month or so from loyalty cards like Tesco Clubcard, Sainsburys Nectar Card and Superdrug Beauty Card you'll be saving money off your food, make-up, petrol in no time. Another thing I don't think enough student do is join UNIDAYS. You can download the app on your phone and use the site online to get discounts off all your favourite stores and all you have to do is use your student email to prove you are a student.  I really hope some of these tips help you!  Have you got any money saving tips? Let me know in the comment! Twitter//Instagram//Facebook This post is in collaboration with TSB*