I’m Lara Barusso, a BA Computer Animation Art and Design student from Italy, and I have some top student shopping tips to share with you all! As a student, I definitely don’t have much money, so I try my best to save what I can, and during my time here I have found a few useful tricks for how to do this.

Student discounts

Let’s start with student discounts! With your university ID card (or a TOTUM / NUS card or UNiDAYS) you can get lots of discounts locally and online on all sorts of things, from food, clothes, cosmetics, to house products, cinema tickets and much more. These cards can give you 10% – 25% discounts on a huge range of products. Remembering to use your student discount can save you lots of money, and they can even be used in restaurants.

Apps

There are so many apps that can help you save money in different ways. For example, there are apps for coffee shops located on campus that can give you a free coffee for every nine coffees you get. You also get points every time you make a purchase and you can use those to get free food or drinks. There are also some good apps for grocery shopping, and many supermarkets deliver fast, and at an affordable price for students. Also, English banks offer cashback when you buy in certain places, if you keep an eye when you buy anything you want, from food to tickets you can have some money off, there are also some good cashback apps.

Charity shops

What I’ve found particularly interesting in England are charity shops. Everything is really cheap, and you can find clothes, shoes, ornaments, games, and basically a bit of everything. These are second hands shops, but the quality is really good, and also it’s great because your money is going to a good cause. I’ve bought dresses, presents and books, and I’ve always been satisfied with the quality, and the prices. These shops are really worth a look before going to any other places.

Shopping

If you can’t find anything you like in the charity shops, then you can go to places like Poundland for homeware and other things, or to Primark for clothes. These places are very cheap, and sometimes the quality isn’t the best, but it will do the job. If you want something a bit better, you can always go to TK Maxx in town. TK Maxx is an outlet store and stocks many different famous brands at very reduced prices. They are usually the last pieces of a collections, or from the previous season. Strangely enough, they also have a huge variety of food here too, and sometimes I’ve found lots of original Italian food!

Food

If you look carefully, there are lots of discounts to be found in grocery shops and supermarkets. If you do your shopping in the evening, you can find lots of food at reduced prices because it needs to be sold that day. This is a great way to save a lot, as the food is normally still really good, and you can always freeze whatever you don’t eat. For fresh fruit and vegetables, it’s always worth taking a look in smaller local shops. Personally I do that and I have found a shop where the food is less expensive but also fresher and better quality.