Freshers’ week has been and gone, and we hope you had an incredible time! As fun as freshers’ week is, the downside is it can be quite expensive – booze isn’t cheap after all! So, you may now find yourself with a significantly lighter wallet and the realisation that it’s time to tighten your belt. Don’t panic – that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on all the fun stuff! In fact, we’ve got some simple ways that will help you get your funds back to a better place in no time.

Assess your spending

The best way to start saving money is to have a think about how you spend currently spend it. Do you usually go to a pricy hairdresser? Do you do insist on buying branded food items? Do you tend to go a little spend-crazy whenever you visit Trinity? Figuring out how you spend your money will help you see where you can make cuts. In an ideal world, we’d buy what we want, but when you’re tight on cash you need to be a bit stricter and maybe explore alternatives.

Start budgeting

Creating a budget is a great way to keep track of your money and help you save faster. See how much money you have for the term and break it down into a weekly budget. You don’t have to budget to the nearest 10p, just give yourself an approximate figure to spend per week and stick to it. Saving money doesn’t mean you can’t have any treats – just make sure you budget for them.

Head to the reduced section

There’s a set time every night that shops and supermarkets move items to the reduced section – and finding out what time this happens at your local store will change your life! You’ll be amazed by just how cheap things are. You can buy items like fish or meat for next to nothing and just freeze them. Sandwiches and veg usually last a day or two after the expiry date as well, so buying from the reduced section will save you pounds.

Know your discounts

Some stores have huge signs advertising student discounts, but some offer it and barely say a word about it. For this reason, when you’re buying items in stores, or online, it’s important to check whether they offer a student discount. If they don’t, and you’re shopping online, Google search discount codes for that particular website and sometimes you’ll find codes that people have come across and uploaded for others to use. Something as small as this can lead to big savings!

Think communal

They say that more hands make light work, and it’s the same concept with money! If you’re living with housemates, sharing things out can mean you all pay less overall. Netflix? Get a house account and all contribute a pound a month. Dinner? Make a house meal together so you don’t have to buy all the ingredients yourself. Doing and buying things together as a house is a great way to save money – and it keeps you sociable, of course! Saving money as a student doesn’t need to be as hard as you might think. All these little tips are very easy to do, so try them out, and soon enough your post-freshers money struggles will be a distant memory!