Before going to university, while mostly under the financial protection of good ol’ bank of mum and dad, there is something you need to know; university is expensive. I am not talking about the high course fees we’re seeing in the last few years, I’m talking more about the sheer amount of stuff you end up doing and needing to get.
But, if you play it right, dressing up twice a week for socials can be as cheap or expensive as you choose it to be (if you want to really appreciate the creativity of students, then look out for their fancy dress in a university town on a Wednesday night!).
As well as creativity, the art of freebie-ing is also an essential skill for cutting costs while at university. The ability to score as much free swag as possible will save you loads over the course of your stay. Here are a few ways to get some free stuff:
Email Subscriptions and Social Media Following:
This is one of the easiest ways to be notified when freebies are available. Tons of companies across Britain do giveaways and due to the sheer number, there is always something being given away. You should also follow your favourite brands on Facebook and Twitter, as this is the place that they mostly announce free giveaways.
As well as signing up to the sites directly, you can also sign up to student specific websites, such as Student Money Saver, WowFreeStuff and StudentBeans to nab some goodies.
Campus Representatives:
This is a stuff-hackm, which you don’t have to do anything for, apart from be at university. Companies like Red Bull often send ‘Brand Ambassadors’ in their strange little Mini Coopers, with the weird humungous can on the back, to the areas surrounding libraries to dish out their latest can of caffeinated focus juice. When this happens, grab one, its free energy!
Top Tip: If you’re extra kind and chatty you can often ask for more than one. Worse comes to worst, say you want one for your friend. They won’t mind, they’re job is it get rid of the cans.
Fresher’s week:
This is the World Cup, Super Bowl, Wimbledon, Oscars and Eurovision Song Contest of freebies. For the entire week of fresher’s you will be the target of every company and society within range. The primary goal of all these people who litter the streets selling their brands and clubs is to get you to commit to their particular passion, in the hope that more sign-ups gets more funding. They lure you in with free pizza, 20% off vouchers (which with your new found student discount you get anyway) and small samples. While not all the freebies are the best (except pizza, that’s amazing!), you can get some really decent bundles if you play it smart.
You can easily get your first weeks’ worth of sweets, discounts and kitchen essentials just from fresher’s week. Since this is such a freebie hotspot I’ll give you two top tips. Top Tip 1: Be vigilant. The glorified salesmen will push you to jot down your email, whilst stressing that there is ‘no commitment’, but there is. If you sign up make sure you don’t mind getting their emails religiously every few days for three years. Our advice would be; unless you are genuinely interested in a bombardment of emails from this club or society, then use an email address that you have set up especially to receive spam Top Tip 2: Make sure you go to refreshers in the second term of every year, it won’t be as big as the initial event, but there are still plenty of freebies to be had, and you are more likely to get to the front of the queue.
Always Check Voucher Sites for Promo Codes
You might not be able to get free stuff this way, but it will definitely cut the cost of any purchase you make. Every time you purchase anything on the internet, always go to Hot UK Deals, which aggregates voucher codes, in order to check whether you can get a discount off your products.
