New Year: New Finances!

This post was written by the Advice and Counselling Service at Queen Mary. 

Here are our 10 easy tips for improving your finances in 2023:

1. Save on energy bills with MoneySaving Expert’s Energy saving tips, Energy Mythbusters and Heat the Human not the Home. Share these tips with your friends and family to help them through the high energy period, and ensure you close windows and turn your room radiator / heater down when you aren’t in your room to save energy and money for the University.
2. Use our online spreadsheets (see ‘How to plan your budget’) or a budgeting app to plan your personal budget, so you are in control of your finances.
3. Apply online to the Financial Assistance Fund for a grant, if you are in financial hardship.
4. Check out Queen Mary’s cost of living support such as free campus facilities.
5. Try walking or cycling instead of public transport to save money and get fit.
6. Save money on your food shopping with tips from SavetheStudent. Sign up to Olio where people give away food to their neighbours. Find simple recipes to cook healthy meals at www.studentcook.co.uk. Freeze food if you cannot use it by its use-by date rather than let it go to waste.
7. Check out the Student Room’s and SavetheStudent’s money saving tips, sign up to their newsletter to get deals sent to your inbox and use loyalty cards to earn points and enjoy discounts at shops you use regularly.
8. Save 30% on travelcards with the 18+ Student Oyster photocard and a third off rail travel with a 16-25 railcard (also available to mature students).
9. Get discounts with your NUS Totum card (from £14.99 a year) and subscribe to Save the Student for regular emails about student discounts.
10. Buy second-hand or pre-loved on apps like Vinted and Preloved, or freecycle for things you need using Gumtree  Freebies, Freecycle.org, and Olio.

We offer confidential money advice to all Queen Mary students. You can find all our money guidance on our website. If you’d like 1:1 advice from a Welfare Adviser, why not book an appointment using our contact form.

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