Student discounts are your friends.
Thanks to them you sometimes get to eat free, get some nice cheap clothes and from time to time some free money. Exactly what students need.
And yet most students aren’t aware of those discounts! Some actually pay the full price of clothing or actually pay the Spotify membership in full! Crazy!
If you want to save some proper money, I recommend following the steps in this post to find the best student discounts. We start off with the right cards to get and finish with the best websites to keep up to date – the amount you’ll save will blow your mind.
Here we go:
1. Cards
Get these cards and use them. You’ll be surprised at how many places will offer you discounts if you parade your NUS or uni card in front of them. These cards can be used for clothes, food, bars, transport, etc. To make sure you’re never missing out on a discount, you can show these cards to anyone and ask. I tell you: worth it.
The National Union of Students offer the latest NUS Extra card that will give you some sweet discounts in many of the major high street shops. It costs £12 for one year, and apparently you save an average of £500 a year using it!! Very cool.
University student card
Yep, your own university will help you out. Thanks to that little card, I’ve had a ton of discounts in bars, restaurants and random places like zoos. Whip it out, show it and you get a discount.
This one is an app and you can also get the card. All you have to do is show your profile on the app while checking out in a retail shop and you can receive 10-50% discount! There’s no shame in asking around – we’re all trying to survive her. This applies for both restaurants and retailers.
As the name says itself, great for anyone aged 16-25 who takes the train a lot. Thanks to this little card you can get 1/3 off any train fares. You do have to pay £30 a year though.
The benefits a student debit card has are pretty amazing. First you need to go open a student bank account at the bank that offers the best benefits (you can compare here). Some offer some cool benefits such as a free £80 gift card, 1 year of Amazon Prime and some great overdrafts. You get those the minute you sign up and will get more if you graduate with the same bank.
2. Specific discounts
So you’ve now got your cards. Now it’s time to look into stuff a bit more specifically to gather even more discounts. They may take a bit more time to use or research, but most are totally worth it.
For most of them you’ll need a NUS card or UNiDAYS. Which is why I’m making sure you’ve got those before getting more.
Clothing
All items here range from 10-20% off.
Food
Always great to get cheaper food! Discounts here range from 10% to 40% off!
- ASK Italian – 40%!!
- Dominos Pizza
- Giraffe
- Gourmet Burger Kitchen
- Krispy Kreme – 20%
- McDonalds
- The Cooperative
- Yo! Sushi
Entertainment
Amazing discounts here for cinema and music lovers.
- Spotify Premium – 50% off!
- The Guardian – 80% off!
- Odeon Cinemas
- Cineworld
Stuff
Whether it’s school stuff or just stuff you need, Amazon and others have pretty amazing discounts.
- Amazon.co.uk – An amazing 6 months free and then half-price. If you want an entire year free open a student bank account with HSBC
- Waterstones – 10%
- Paperchase – 10%
Technology
For all those hours you spend on a laptop. Here are some top quality deals:
- Adobe Creative Cloud – 60%
- Apple for education – 10%
- HP – 30%
- Microsoft Office – 10%, plus 4 year Microsoft Office subscription for £59.99.
- Norton Security – £46 off
- Software4Students – Tons of more student deals.
3. Websites
Now you’re a proper discount pro. You’ve got the cards, you know which specific discounts you want to use and you’re saving a lot of money. The next step is to keep up to date. Student deals and offers are constantly changing and adjusting to seasons, so it’s good to keep up to date and see what else is happening. To do this I recommend signing up to newsletters (actually checking those emails!) and regularly checking the websites. You can also download the app if they offer it (like UNiDAYS).
Here are some top websites for student deals:
- Save the student
- Student Beans
- NUS website
- UNiDAYS
- Student Money Saver
- STA Travel
- Student Universe (cheap student flights!)
4. How others do it
I’m always asking how other students survive and take advantage of discounts. You can check this awesome previous case study with Victoria where she explains exactly how she budgets and does all the rest.
What she says: walk around. As you’re walking to uni, or going to the gym, take a look around you and look for discounts. Look at where they’re advertised on windows and what kind of deals they offer. You really do find the best ones there.
Every Thursday I will also be posting student case studies, so make sure to follow those if you want to find cool new discounts and offers!
Others: I’ve asked around on reddit and even Tumblr and people mostly follow the method described above. You don’t need to go all out coupon clipping and doing everything you can just to save £2, but from time to time it’s definitely worth it. Just show your NUS/university card and ask if they do discounts – you’ll be surprised at how many you can find.
So what do I do with all this money I save? Something you’re probably asking yourself. And I will tell you: Pay Yourself. Apply the 15% rule and use that money for yourself. Every time you get your income, take out 15% and put it in a separate savings account. This will literally change your life. And here’s a guide to getting started: Why The 15% is Your Key to Freedom.