Everything is getting more expensive. Especially as a student, it’s hard to cut costs. Save money as a coed student thanks to these tips.
Save money as a coed student: contents
- Renting your student room
- Your food
- Your transportation
- During your studies
- Your free time
- Your finances
- Other
1. Renting your student room
- Consider a student dorm with common areas. If you share the rent with several roommates, you will have relatively lower living expenses (rent, electricity, gas, water).
- Share items with your roommates so you don’t have to buy things like cooking pots, TVs, plates, cutlery, towels twice.
- Negotiate the rent with the landlord, especially if you are renting for a longer period of time. This is not always possible, but try to get a good feel for the landlord during the viewing.
- Save energy and make rules for this if you live with roommates:
- Turn off all lights before you leave.
- Turn on the dishwasher only when it is fully loaded.
- Turn devices off completely instead of on standby.
- Heat only rooms you use and keep the heating low in rooms you don’t use.
2. Your food
- Check weekly all the promotions of the supermarkets in your area before you go shopping.
- Make a weekly plan based on the promotions and buy in so you waste as little food as possible.
- Check thoroughly what’s left in your refrigerator and freezer so you don’t buy things twice.
- Buy mostly private label products. These are often made in the same factories as A-brands and repackaged as white label products. That way you spend much less money for the same product!
- Buy and cook in bulk. Make large portions of meals early in the week, freeze them and thaw them before you want to eat them. This will save you time and money by not having to cook every day as well as possibly getting volume discounts when buying at the store.
- Finish food leftovers in a timely manner so that you have to throw away as little as possible.
- Avoid Takeaway or Home Delivery meals. Cooking your own is almost always cheaper and healthier.
3. Your transportation
- Use a bicycle to get around if possible. A bicycle is an inexpensive and environmentally friendly. You can often find cheap bicycles on 2dehands.be.
- If you need a car, consider sharing the car and associated costs with friends or roommates. Or take advantage of car sharing.
- Consider all types of public transportation season tickets. Depending on how often you will travel to and from home, you will need a different type of season ticket. Calculate and compare prices.
4. During your studies
- Don’t buy textbooks, but borrow them for free from the library. This is not the case everywhere. Be sure to check this in your college or university’s student portal.
- Search online for (almost) free courses and books. Online versions are often free. Through Facebook Marketplace, Facebook groups of your university or college, or your school’s textbook store, you can often purchase cheap used books.
- Use (almost) free programs that you need in your studies. Consider Google Docs instead of Microsoft Office. Also check if your college or university offers software licenses for students in the student portal.
- Reuse printer paper as draft paper.
5. Your free time
- Attend free events. Many cities host free events such as concerts, movie nights and festivals. That way you don’t have to spend money on admission tickets.
- Look out for student discounts. Many stores, cafes, restaurants and museums in college towns offer discounts to students. Don’t forget your student ID when you visit them.
- Invite people to your dorm to spend an evening playing board games or cooking together. That way you won’t have to spend a lot on cocktails, beer or wine when you go out.
- Still going out to a bar or pub? Then drink in beforehand, but make sure you have a BOB then, use a bike or public transportation.
- Consider volunteering at events. Here, you’ll often get free entrance and get to sleep in the cleaner employee campsites without having to pay.
- If you are a parent, skip this tip ;-). If you are a student, occasionally invite your parents to come over for dinner or a day of shopping in your college town. Your mom or dad then often suggests paying for certain things themselves so you don’t have to.
6. Your finances
- Stick to a predetermined monthly budget and avoid impulse purchases. Use your banking app or a dedicated budget app to keep track of your spending.
- Consider a student job or side job. As a student, you pay little taxes on the gross pay you earn. Even up to 2 months after graduation, you can continue working at this advantageous tax rate. Be sure to take advantage of this!
- Need to arrange your own insurance? Then make sure you get the best deal by comparing different insurance policies. Note: According to Flemish rental law, you are normally covered by your parents’ insurance. Be sure to check this out!
- Don’t take out loans too quickly and don’t opt for late payments. Borrowed money should also be returned with an additional sum.
- Put a small sum of money from your current account into the savings account each month. This way you are saving for the future and always have a buffer to fall back on in case of an emergency.
7. Other
- Repair things yourself if something is broken, but be careful not to try to fix anything you are not responsible for. Here’s how to find out when you as a tenant should fix something.
- Your student ID is golden with more agencies than you might think:
- Apple: Discounts on a Mac, iPad and the Apple Care Protection Plans.
- Spotify: Discount on Premium subscription.
- Adobe: Discounts on the Acrobat Pro and Creative Cloud All Apps package.
- Kinepolis: Discounts on movies, snacks, drinks and events.
- Nike: Discounts on select non-reduced items.
- Adidas: Discounts on select non-reduced items.
- …
Would you like to cite this article as a source? Then use:
Stiasteny, L (2024, Aug. 26). Save money as a dorm student: all the tips. Apartment.be. Accessed on (date XX/XX/202X), from https://www.appartement.be/bespaar-geld-als-kotstudent-alle-tips
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