Ways to Save Money in London!

Hi guys,

So given the current pandemic and whatnot, I'm not sure who will be moving down to London to study next month. I'm a 3rd-year student studying in London and I moved from a little village where everything was pretty cheap so going to the city...you can say it kind of broke my bank account a little bit.

But, there are a lot of ways to save money even in London!

1) Accommodation accommodation accommodation


Rent is obviously the most daunting part of your expenses. Try to find a place/room that includes bills and don't be afraid of negotiating your rent price as well. Typically, if you are renting a whole property, the landlord/lady might give you a reduction in the overall price if you rent for over a year as they don't want to pay agency fees again in finding new tenants.

If your place does include bills...find cheap providers! That's all I can say. If the house you live in can have a smart meter then add it!

2) Grocery wise: y e l l o w s t i c k e r s !

Life-changing honestly, I usually shop on Sunday evenings when they want to throw stuff out and it saves me so much money! When I can't find food that I want from Lidl, I usually go to the supermarkets and search for the reduced items. Keep in mind that you can freeze produce as well.

An app that is really useful is TooGoodToGo, a lot of the restaurants and cafes around London use this app too to reduce their food waste. Food is actually really decent because usually, it's just leftovers from breakfast or lunch before they change their menu to the evening menu. Check the app more than once a day though, as it can update quite frequently.

3) Scavenge for furniture!

If you are missing anything in your room or want more furniture, there are a lot of apps or websites where you can get it for free.

Swapabee is a free online platform where you can swap items you don't need for something else. As they say, "where one man's rubbish may be another man’s treasure" haha. It's a great app because there's literally everything you could possibly imagine. Clothes, DVD's, game consoles, furniture etc etc. Check it out, it's a free app!

https://swapabee.co.uk/referal/7508

4) Get a railcard discount on your oyster card

If you have a student oyster card, apply your railcard onto it and you can get a further discount when travelling. Just pop into any underground station and ask one of the operators or staff to attach your railcard discount to your oyster card You can get up to 1/3 off during off-peak times!

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I'm sure there's more but this is all I can think of from the top of my head so far, let me know if you want any more tips about living and studying in London I will be glad to reply back to those who are coming in September

This is really good advice.

I would add :

1. Learn to shop of which reduced items is part of it.
2. Learn to budget.
3. Learn to cook. That doesnt have to be batch cooking as you dont always have the space.
4. Take advantage of student discounts such as Unidays or sometimes NUS TOTUM.

Yes! Unidays and NUS are so handy in stores sometimes. Superdrug accepts NUS only I believe? However, ofc these costs a bit of money but you have the card for a year or two

Oh and don't be afraid to wave around your student card at stores sometimes! I am proud to say that I shamelessly ask if places have student discounts

do you give them your railcard and oyster at the station or can you buy the railcard from the station ?

Be prepared to walk on occasions and not use public transport, and save some money.

Unidays is free. Only buy totum if you see an exclusive offer where you can get most of your money back. You can use totum at the Co op.