Part 2. Top 10 money saving tips for uni

Hello everyone! I hope you've all had a lovely weekend. I am going back to uni in about 3 weeks now eek, I really cant wait to get back into a routine again after a 4 month summer! Anyway, if you read my blog you will have seen my first of a series of university posts on my guide to surviving freshers week. Now i am sharing with you my top 10 money savings tips for uni,read on if you have an expensive beauty,clothes and shoes habit...or if you just like spending money!

1. Loyalty cards! So many places do loyalty cards these days, they enable you to gain points on each purchase,then the more points you build up the better the rewards are,it tends to vary from store to store. The best loyalty card for me is boots,especially if your'e a beauty addict,they are the best of the bunch at 4 points for every pound spent,also look out for their special events in stores and coupons in the post where you can get double points and extra points on certain products. What i do throughout the summer is save all of my points up and then when i'm at uni and if i want to treat myself or cant afford something one week i just use my points to purchase the item.Sorted.

2. Don't immediately go to boots for all of your beauty needs, the places that do the best savings on decent hair care brands/toiletries are actually Wilkinson's, savers and poundland, you can usually end up getting good quality products for little more than a pound. But if you cant bear to shop anywhere other than  boots then look out for the 3 for 2 offers.

3. The Vouchercloud and vouchercodes apps are lifesavers,just because you're at uni it doesn't mean you cant go out for nice meals. With these apps that i have on my Iphone i have saved so much money, you can get 20% vouchers for restaurants, buy one get one free, the list goes on,its definitely worth a download.

4. Save up your pennies! Its crazy how much you end up having if you save your pennies for a while, before i go back to uni i always stash my pennies and any odd cash lying around and before i'm due to go back i go to my local Morrisons where you can change your pennies into a credit receipt that you can spend in store on that day, and i use it to buy some of my toiletries with, saving me a little bit of money!

5. Magic freebies UK is an amazing website that lists the most recent offerings of free samples and competitions. I have got so many free samples from this website, i then save them all up and take them to uni with me. Here are just a few of what I've collected below..

6. One of the well known reasons people go to uni is the nightlife. Yes its fun,but it costs an absolute fortune if you go out a lot(especially freshers week). This is a well known tip, but pre drink before you go out meaning you don't need to keep buying drinks when you're in the club,and believe it or not you can have fun without drinking as well! Add your names to the guest list of the club beforehand and you can usually make quite big savings with free entry before midnight etc.

7. Student discount, Carry your student ID everywhere,so many shops offer student discount now and also sign up to Unidays. They offer such great discounts across a wide variety of shops. People ask whether its best to get an NUS card too but you really don't, as most shops just ask for a valid student id nowadays.

8. Student railcard, if you're living away from home you really should buy a student railcard. They cost £30 BUT you save a 1/3 off all train fares and that totals up to a lot in the long run, i dread to think how much i would have spent without this beauty!

9. Funding that expensive clothes habit is hard, i should know! Use your student id to get discounts as mentioned before,also try looking on eBay for cheaper alternatives and look out for student lock ins which are usually held at shopping malls, these events entitle students to an evening where everything is so much percentage off,so look out for these(not all shops participate)!

10. And finally, cutting open what you think are empty bottles. This may sound straight forward but a lot of people don't do it! When your toiletries and makeup get low,for example creams,foundation cut the tube open and you will be surprised just how much of the item you have left, decant the remains into a spare bottle or wrap cling film around it to stop it drying out!

I hope you enjoyed reading my tips and i hope they help some of you! Do you have any other money savings tips? Do you already use these tips?

Part 1. My Guide to surviving freshers week

Its nearly that time of the year again when all of the fresh faced first years will be starting university,to say i'm sad that i'm going into my third year is a massive understatement. But with basically two years spent being a fresher, once in Southampton and then again on my exchange year in Finland i've experienced and learned a lot as well as having had a huge heap of fun! My short guide here is me telling you what i wish i knew before i went to university,in the hope to help you survive the craziest and funnest week of your life!

Here are some of my top tips;

-As soon as you arrive and have unpacked/settled in make an effort to get to know your housemates, leave your door open so people can come in and chat, try and get involved with some of the events going on and befriend people on your uni course, i was unfortunate to be put with some people in my house that didn't really make an effort but because i had made friends with my course friends i always had that group of people to do things with! 

-Make sure you find out when your freshers fair is on and go there early! I got soo much free stuff,including food, cooking stuff,vouchers,sweets,discount codes,free entry to clubs as well as hearing about any exciting events that were going on that week,i recommend going down early because the stuff goes fast and most people who went towards the afternoon went away empty handed!

-Sadly the myth about freshers 8 pounds (where you gain 8 pounds in this crazy week) during freshers week/fortnight is true to some extent(not everyone)!Before i went away i was naive and knew that someone as fit and healthy as me wouldn't gain weight . Well i did. I drank more than i ever had before, i actually ate takeaways and could have as much pic n mix where and when i wanted(sweet deprived child), had many late nights, never exercised and i wasn't really looking after myself! You want to enjoy your freshers week but don't drink to excess and know your limits as no one likes to be the embarrassed housemate on the first night,yeh, I've been there!

Don't be this person in freshers week

-Be careful on nights out and stick together in a group, to me its strange that its your first few days in a strange place yet you allow yourself to become drunk in this group of people you don't know very well,so be careful on the first week,never leave your drink alone,leave the club with someone else and if in doubt get a taxi home!

-BUDGET! So many people i know didn't budget and blew all of their money in the first week partying, every year i save up before i go back so i know i have that to fall back on if needed. I also budgeted for each month on food,mobile contract,gym memberships,alcohol.... and then the rest definitely goes on clothes and makeup,boring but its best to know where you stand with money.

So skint he resulted to drinking alcohol spilled on the floor..

-However hungover you are, don't stay in bed all day! Have a look around the place and get your bearings, i spent so many nights out getting lost! Make sure you know how to get to all the uni campuses(if more than one),register with the local doctors, know where the hospital and police station is and the nearest food shops,takeaways and night clubs!! It it is worth knowing where the hospital is just in case you or someone else needs it! Also make sure you have a local taxi number saved to your phone,some taxi companies even offer discount to students.

-Do dress up! I took so many fancy dress costumes to uni and used the majority whether it it is for the notorious Carnage bar crawl(my fav) where there is a different theme each time, Halloween or a birthday occasion.Plan outfits to take so you don't end up spending more money while you are away.

So do dress up and look more orange than the entire cast of towie,geordie shore etc you get the idea..

-Lastly have fun!! That's what freshers week (fortnight) is all about and i had the best time ever and wish i could relive it all again!!! Be safe,take care,make friends and don't exceed your limits and you'll have the best time!

I hope these tips are helpful and if you have any other questions about university life please leave a comment below i would be more than happy to answer it for you! Is anyone going to either of the Southampton unis?