10 best money saving tips for an overseas student
There’s a misconception that studying abroad is really expensive, and only certain people can afford it. However, my own experience is evidence to how affordable it can be! The life in Australia is not hard as you think if you plan with care. There are a lot of easy ways to save money as a student in Australia.
1. Cook:
When I moved to Australia, I had zero cooking skills (being a girl) and do not know how many times I remembered my mom. We know Moms are always the best cooks!
As a student, I was not in a position to afford to eat out every day and at the same time I was not used to restaurant food. I had to cook, initially my roommates helped me, but later on learnt slowly to cook.
This really helped me in many ways, cooking myself saved a lot of money and made me stay healthy. Being very busy with studies and job, I know it is hard sometimes, but if you really organise time, I think it is not that hard to make it.
You can cook for a week well in advance; this really helps, when you do not have time. This has become a habit for me now; I cook over the weekends for the rest of the week. This makes my life easy and can concentrate my time on more important things.
You can reduce grocery bill by signing up cashrewards. To know more details read my article here
2. Share Accommodation and Bills:
This is another important cost to consider. Sydney ranks the first for ‘high’ rent. So I suggest you to share with your university friends.
It is very helpful for you in other ways as well, whether it is studying together or writing assignments or brainstorming for a presentation.. I used to share with my university friends and we helped each other a lot.
At the same time, it helps to save major part of our earnings. Do not forget, try to pick roommates of your nature.
3. Avoid expensive trips/entertainment:
I was committed to complete my studies and never thought much about trips or movies. In other ways, this saved me some money too. Just keep an eye on your entertainment expenses, allocate some budget and stick to it. If you think you are going over your budget, cut down wherever you can.
4. Borrow books from Library:
Books are other huge expenses for a student. Try to borrow books from library and make notes of them. I used to borrow books and make photocopy of the important notes. Some books are available from local libraries as well. Keep an eye on them and you can keep on renewing until you finish your semester exams (not much competition outside Uni.J).
5. Keep low balance in your daily user account:
Avoid using credit card and keep very low balance in your debit card account. Transfer all your income into savings account as soon as you receive your wages. Always keep budget for your weekly expenses; if you exceed them for that week; stop buying anything for the remaining week. This habit makes you budget appropriately and save more money.
6. Student Discounts:
There are many places students can get discounts. It can be from haircuts, clothes to movies. So avail them wherever you can. As a student, I came to know about this very lately, so I used this opportunity for haircut and also for movies.
7. Bargain Buy:
Always look for bargain sales. From my experience, we should never ever make some purchases full price in Australia. I was not a conscious buyer; I used to buy things with full prices. Lately, I understood most products go on sale and it is not worth buying full price when you can get the same product for cheaper price. This involves bit of planning; but planning does not cost you a cent. So I have started planning now more than before; already see results in savings.
Sometimes time also matters, I know we are all busy bees; hard to see all offers at one place: I have found the below websites that offer sales at one place. You can view them online before going to a shop:
8. Opshops:
Have a look in these shops, you may find some important stuff for cheap price. You can consider for books, decorative items, furniture and house hold items
9. Meal Deals:
If you want to go out for dinner or lunch, plan in advance. Always look for meal deals; there are many places that offer meal deals these days. You can get certain % discount or 2 for 1 meal deals. As a student, I used to use coupons published in the local newspaper at McDonalds, Oporto or other fast food centres. This saves 50% of your food bill.
You can see some offers in
Hotels/pubs in your suburb,
Restaurants that offer buffet services under $15; this can be available in Facebook groups.
10. Basic phone packages: Have you every thought of the phone bills you pay? Just analyse how much you are paying and how much you are using your phone for. If there is a balance, then it is a good bargain. Sometimes, we do not use number of minutes or data given in the package, so it is a mere waste of money. So select your phone package wisely; do not go for latest version mobile if you really want to save money. As a student, I had very basic model for $29 a month and that was enough for my usage.
Did I miss any saving tip for a student to consider? Let me know in comments.
