As a student there are lots of discount providers out there that you should take advantage of to make your money go further.
TOTUM
TOTUM, the new name for the NUS extra card, brings you over 200 UK student discounts and comes with 1-year FREE ISIC unlocking over 42,000 international discounts. Choose from a 1-year card for just £14.99, a 2-year card for £24.99 or a 3-year card for only £34.99. Many discounts are online only so you can’t get them without your TOTUM card. Buy here
UniDays
Whether you’re in college or university (or even sixth form in the UK) you can get more while spending less on everything from fashion and food to music and tech. UNiDAYS is a Student Affinity Network. That means we’re all about making student life more rewarding, whether that’s saving on the latest must-have gear. Free to sign up to. Register here
Loyalty Cards
An essential cost for all of us is food shopping, and if you don’t have the loyalty card for your go to shops then you are missing out on free money. Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s two of the big 4 supermarkets both have points based loyalty cards, and many people can rack up enough points throughout the year for a cheeky treat at Christmas or a free weeks shopping when you really need it. The local coop is often a go to for students, as they tend to be conveniently placed and open until that little bit later. The coop can be a little pricier that than the big 4 but that said they have some great reductions and you also get 10% off when you present your NUS Card, combine that with your coop loyalty card and they will give you 5% back on any own brand products, whilst also donating to a local cause.
Cashback
Moving away from food shopping and talking about shopping more generally cashback is a really easy way to get money for free. There are 2 main sites, quidco and topcashback. You register with them and then search their database for the shop you intend to use – so for example if you’re going bowling. Plug in Tenpin bowling and get yourself some cashback, sometimes it may only be 5% other times though it can be 20% or more.
Eating out v’s Eating in
It’s a fact of student life that you are going to eat out and order takeaways. Make sure you do it as cheap as you can.
Voucher cloud is a popular app that once installed on your phone, tells you useful information such as Nandos currently has a 20% off code or that there is a free cup of coffee from Nero if you pay with Mastercard.
If you have an TOTUM card then it is always worth asking, what is the worst they can say – No!! On the other hand pizza express may well give you up to 40% off on certain nights of the week.
Ordering Takeaways through Just Eat can also take some of the sting off of a takeaway, particularly through the cashback sites, as depending on the offer that the time these can provide you with £10 or £20 off codes.
Last Update March 2022