Student Life | Money Matters

Making Money

Students are generally poor. Not all of us can be born Alan Sugars with blood type AB Hustle. However, I'm going to share some simple things you can do to make a few extra pounds.

I know it's hard to part with, but selling your old, unwanted clothes and possessions clears space and makes you money. There are a number of different sites and methods you can use, depending on how much time you want to commit to selling. eBay is of course the online marketplace behemoth, but recently some of the things I've listed that would have been snapped up  before haven't sold at all. Saying that, if you sell something highly desirable (e.g. anything from Topshop), you're going to get a lot of attention. If you have an alternative or vintage wardrobe, you might want to try ASOS Marketplace or Etsy, which attract that kind of audience. Recently I've discovered an app called Vinted, which allows users to swap or sell clothes, and it seems to have a very young and active audience. Try Amazon for your books and DVDs, and gumtree for furniture. The negatives of all these sites are that it is time consuming to photograph, list, and add descriptions to each individual items. Then you've still got to deal with postage and feedback.

Car boot sales offer a way of getting everything off your hands in one morning with no commitments after the sale. Look up boot sales in your local area, pick a day when the weather is clear, and turn up with a boot full of your junk. Unfortunately, this does mean waking up at an unholy hour and standing in a field while strangers rifle through your belongings. Also, you are likely to only make a couple of pounds per item, so the key here is quantity, not quality.

If you're too busy/posh to bother with a boot sale, try using a company that buys your clothes, bags and accessories by the kilogram. I used Return to Earn with all the stuff that didn't sell at a boot sale. Sign up on Facebook (you get 70p per kg instead of 60p for liking their page) and they'll send you a sack. Fill it up and arrange for collection. You can receive your payment via cheque, paypal, or, if you're feeling generous, donate your payment to St Mungos - a charity for the homeless. I got my payment straight into my paypal after a couple of days. Having been through it, I can say it's definitely the most hassle-free method, and after looking at some of the other places that offer the same services, I'm pleased I went with Return to Earn.

Many of you might skip this suggestion, but here goes: crafting. Yeah, you heard me. If you've got a free day why not use up all your scrap paper, card and stickers to make greetings cards. Try covering boring note books in fabric, or turning the dangly earrings you never wear into phone charms (you can buy 20 straps for £1.80 or less on eBay). There are practically infinite options for turning your old junk into stuff people might buy, and you don't have to be an artist to do it.

Saving Money

The sad truth is you'll be poor, but you'll still insist on shopping because your eyes and fingers are conspiring against you, and before you know it you've accidentally filled up a basket and clicked the 'buy now' button. So make the most of this inevitability, and love your points cards.

• Loyalty points cards - get them and make the most of them. For example, you can sign up for a Nectar and use it to do your weekly shopping in Sainsburys, and link it up to your eBay account too! Also, everyone should definitely have a Boots card.
• 16-25 railcard - a definite must have if you're likely to travel (studentbeans offers a discount on the yearly cards), or student oysters for london based uni students. A lot of people don't realise you can link up your Student railcard to your oyster and get discounted off-peak travel. National Express also runs a young persons coachcard
• Unidays - If you shop a lot online, Unidays is a great way of verifying your student status and checking which stores run student discounts. They also have an app for when you're on the high street and have forgotten your student ID. 
• Renting clothes - Do you have a big event coming up that you have have have to wear the most gorgeous and possibly designer dress to? Have you considered renting a dress rather than buying one? If yes, say hello to Girl Meets Dress or Wishwantwear, one hell of a lot cheaper than a designer dress. Let's face it, how often are you really going to wear that full length ball gown? Of course, if you have have friends, try borrowing clothes of them for free.  
• studentbeans.com - I recommend joining Studentbeans for the offers page, it's pretty good and frequently updated. I won free Special K cereal and Palmers moisturiser in the space of a week. Needless to say, it was one of the proudest weeks of my existence. Studentbeans also has some useful hints and tips pages to get you through uni.

Also, uni is full of events with free refreshments and snacks. Stuff your face and gather biscuits like so:

For the culture vultures, don't worry, it's not all about shopping.

• Entry Pass - a scheme run by the National Theatre, allowing students and young people into theatres for just £5.
• Mousetrap Theatre Project - a charitable organisation, offering 19 to 23 year olds the WestEnd 4 £10 scheme. There is a catch though, you need to have attended a non-fee paying, non-selctive school, which, to be honest, is most of us. 
• Timeout - y'all should know what this is already. They keep a good twitter feed. 
• YPlan - a great app for finding stuff on in London and making spontaneous plans