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Search forPolish your bartering skills and go bananas
Friday, July 25, 2008, 23:00
Given the fact that many students will be in debt to the tune of around £25,000 by the time they graduate, every penny counts.
It made sense to the Avenger to get a few tips from them to pass on to you. Age is not necessarily commensurate with experience.
Students' favourites include pasta and tinned foods because they're cheap and they last. Potatoes are filling and versatile and toast is a staple. The rule of thumb is to opt for store-brand value goods, grab special offers and avoid foods that might go off. Markets are the places to get cheap fruit and vegetables.
Shopping in pairs pays dividends when you get to the massive range of buy one, get one free offers. Students find if they buy together and cook en masse, food goes further and costs are shared. But if sharing isn't an option, batch cook. That translates as cook one now, eat one later.
Occasionally, even students like eating out and their favourite haunts are the 'all-you-can-eat' establishments. That's useless if you're on a diet but excellent value for money and fits with the one meal a day scenario. Popular restaurants include Pizza Hut, La Tasca on a Sunday night, and quite a few Chinese restaurants.
Notwithstanding the stated price in shops, it's always worth bartering before buying and asking for a discount. Students are apparently 'bold and shameless' and will often get a 10 per cent discount or more. Checking for marks or scuffs on clothes, shoes and accessories can often be a good starting point.
Now that the phrase 'credit crunch' has crept into the vernacular, plastic should be anathema. But not store cards. A Boots' card gives four points for every pound spent and every point represents one penny of purchasing power.
Tesco, Waterstone's, Debenhams — pick a store and most of them will have their own free loyalty card which will cut the cost of purchases.
Learn to use eBay. Students love the site for the wealth of bargains that can be found including bulk-buy beauty products, new designer clothes at trade price, second-hand electrical goods and DVDs.
For cheap hair cuts, style or colour, get the job done by a trainee. If it's not free, it should be heavily discounted.
Our students' cheapest tip was to advise people to use public loos. It saves on paper. But the quirkiest? Polishing your shoes with banana skins... so we are told.
Student Rosie Taylor polishing her shoes with a banana skin MATT AUSTIN EE240708_MA_03
