Our Guide to Saving Money as a Student Living in Glasgow!
Managing your finances as a student is hard. Most of us have been there at some point and it’s seen as a rite of passage for many! It can be especially hard if you are a student living away from home and haven’t had to think about cost cutting before.
To help, we’ve decided to share six of our favourite tips on how to save money as a student. Some tips will be more relevant to those living within Glasgow; however, all of these tips should be helpful wherever you live.
1. Shopping for Food in the Evenings
If you’ve ever ventured into a supermarket at night, just before they shut, you’ll notice a lot of stock is available at heavily reduced prices. By taking advantage of these prices, you can pick-up a few bargains.
Assuming you don’t want to spend every night in your local supermarket hunting for deals, we recommend choosing anything you can take home and freeze for the week ahead. Meats, ready-meals, bread, or anything else you can find that can be thrown in the freezer for another day.
If you find meat in these sections, prep and cook some meals for the next 2-3 days ahead. This extends the life of the meat, reduces your time in the kitchen, and keeps you from caving-in and buying another takeaway!
2. Have One ‘No-Spend’ Day Each Week
Declaring one day a week where you spend no money is a great way to maintain finances and reduce your weekly spending. In a world of contactless, tap n’ pay, we often don’t realise the amount we’re actually spending.
Choose a day of the week that you know you won’t regularly be expected to spend money. If you choose Friday or Saturday, days in which people tend to spend the most, it will be hard to stay consistent in your ‘no-spend’ task.
We recommend choosing a Tuesday or Wednesday – right in the middle of the week.
3. Buy a Public Transport Travel Pass
Depending on where you live, travelling to-and-from university or college can be a costly activity. Fortunately, buses, trains, and subways operating in Glasgow have great deals for students.
Bus Deals
If you regularly travel via bus, there are a number of offers to take advantage of. First Bus, a carrier with routes connecting most of the city, offer great deals on unlimited student travel tickets. These tickets provide you with unlimited usage of First Buses, to-and-from locations within Glasgow.
Here are their prices:
| Ticket Type | Student Prices |
| Day Ticket | £4.60 |
| Week Ticket | £18.00 |
| 4-Week Ticket | £54.70 |
| 12-Week Ticket | £131.00 |
To be eligible, all you need is a valid student card. Tickets can be purchased on the app or the bus directly. We recommend, especially when purchasing a 4 or 12 week ticket, buying the ticket on the First Bus mobile app, to ensure it’s safe and won’t be easily lost.
Train Deals
Travelling around Glasgow by train is great, but the costs can quickly add up. Thankfully, Scotrail offers a Railcard specifically for travellers aged between 16-25 or studying in full-time education.
By purchasing this Railcard, you can save 1/3 on every Scotrail ticket. With many return tickets within Glasgow now costing upwards of £4.00, you could be saving a great deal of money over time!
Click here to find out more about the Railcard.
Subway Deals
And no, we’re not talking about the sandwiches!
If you’re lucky enough to live near one of Glasgow’s 15 subway stations, you’ll know just how useful it can be to get around the city in a fast and reliable manner.
Although SPT (Glasgow’s subway operator) don’t offer a student discount, an alternative way to save some money is through their Subway Smartcards. Opting for SPT’s Subway Smartcard guarantees you’ll always get the best price.
Click here to learn more about the Smartcard and use their cost-saving calculator.
4. Leave Contactless at Home on Nights Out
We’ve all been there. It’s Thursday night and Bamboo is hosting another night of cheap drinks, exclusively for students. You go out with great intentions of only spending £10-£20, but then realise in the morning you’ve got WAY over budget.
This has become more common due to the rise of contactless payments and the ‘tap and forget’ mindset.
A tried-and-tested method to reduce the likelihood of this happening again is setting a budget with cash only. Leave the debit card at home, remove the contactless feature from your phone, and take a set amount of cash out with you. However, always make sure you have enough to get home safely.
5. Freezing Food Before Leaving for Long Periods of Time
This is a great tip for everyone, not just students. If you’re leaving your home for a period of time, longer than two days – a holiday, visiting family and friends, or anything at all – freeze any unused food.
A perfect example is meat. Unfortunately, meat is becoming more and more expensive and spending £4.70 on three chicken breasts, only to bin them a few days later is a horrible feeling.
We highly recommend going through your fridge and stuffing as much food as you can in your freezer, extending its expiration date and saving some extra cash.
6. Use the Library for Free Books
In our digital age, we often forget libraries exist! However, Glasgow is home to a wide range of them to explore. Whether you’re looking for a book related to your coursework or you’re eager to dive into a fictional world, libraries are a great way to save some money.
Admittedly, you may struggle to find some more recent releases in libraries. However, if you have something in mind, we suggest checking your local library first – it could save you a great deal of money!
If you’ve already checked your University or College’s collection of books, to no avail, here are some popular public libraries that can be found across Glasgow:
- Mitchell Library
- Gallery of Modern Art Library
- Hillhead Library
- Springburn Library
- Dennistoun Library
- Pollockshaws Library
Save Money and Space with GTW Storage!
We’ve given you some handy tips on how to save money as a student living in Glasgow but what about finding some extra storage space?
Luckily, if you choose GTW Storage, we can help you reclaim some much-needed space in your accommodation while saving money with our 20% student discount. For students, our most popular option is pallet storage, which is great if you don’t need regular access to your stuff.
If you’re interested in utilising our secure student storage facilities, click here to learn more.