Hannah the Money Saving Guru

Broke but never bummy: how to stretch your coin under Capitalism 🤑

Hey there! 👋🏾 I’ve curated a list of handy money saving tips, to keep you all looking and feeling bad and bougie, on a budget. Here’s what I’ve discovered so far that you may not already be aware of:

Search on eBay or Depop before buying from the high street or designer! I love thrifting and saving money buying second hand, but even if you’re averse to second hand clothing, you’ll often find brand new items going on sale for cheaper than the RRP. I bought a pair of Nike 97 silver bullets for £55, worm twice. When I received the shoes they basically looked brand new, and I saved myself about £100 off the RRP, and even more off the resell price as these are deadstock (dead stock), so people often try to get more. Side note: eBay is usually cheaper than Depop, however Depop has more range and clothes targeted at 18-30 year olds.

Always search for discount codes for online stores before purchasing, more often than not there will be a free delivery code or a 10-30% off code lurking somewhere in the internet, even if it hasn’t been displayed on the website.

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A lot of sites give special discounts or new customers, or free trials for their devices. Make multiple email addresses to sign up in order to receive a discount or free trial every time.

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Always search on Groupon before booking your next beauty appointment. Bikini waxes can be as little as £8, and gel manicures can also start from £8, instead of the usually £20+. Groupon usually has a special discount for new customers, normally 15%, you can use multiple email addresses to make new accounts each time you want to purchase (if you can be bothered).

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Use voucher codes when you go out to eat or do an activity like going to the cinema/ theme parks or the zoo. Most theme parks offer 2 for 1 or 3 for 2 voucher codes (google is your friend) during certain periods of the year. Furthermore, Vue cinema used to give out a voucher for free regular sized popcorn, upon completion of a 10 minute survey The reward for completion is now a free regular popcorn *with the purchase of a drink.

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Check for birthday discounts/ freebies. Most online stores will offer you something like a 15-25% discount code or £5 voucher on your birthday. Krispy Kreme will offer you a free original doughnut. One time when i was hungry i made another account with my birthday as that day’s date so that I’d get a free doughnut, LOL.

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Most cosmetic and skincare stores, such as Bodyshop, Boots (at the makeup counter), LUSH, Fenwicks, will offer free samples of an item before you try it. Many don’t openly advertise this though, so make sure you ask!! I’ve been using the Estée Lauder double wear foundation for nearly two years now, and I have never spent a single penny on it. I just get free samples. Granted I use the foundation as a concealer rather than all over my face, but this is still easily doable if you want to wear a full face. I’ve also used numerous LUSH products without ever actually buying them, in the form of free samples.

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You can exchange items at (most) high street stores without a receipt/ when the receipt is past the stated returns period.

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You can also return a skin or hair care products, if you feel like it doesn’t work for you, even after already using it. This has been tried and tested at LUSH and the Body Shop.

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Haggle with your tailor! It’s best to take multiples pieces of clothing to your tailor at a time when you want to get something altered, so that you have wiggle room to haggle down the price. Usually they’re more than willing to negotiate, seeing as you’re giving them more revenue.

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You can use your student discount for as long as you want, even after graduating. The way to get around this is to enrol onto a cheap (and I mean cheap,under £10/£15) online course, which therefore qualifies you as a student. You can then purchase an NUS card that is valid for the duration of your course, even if you’re not as an actual College or University, just make sure you get the card delivered to your home address. You really can be a student for life. I found out about this hack here.

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Alternatively, if that sounds like too much hassle for you, you can buy a 3 year NUS card while you’re still in your final year, which will entitle you to 3 years worth of student discounts even after graduating. Make sure to sign up before your University email address expires though!

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Your 16-25 railcard doesn’t have to end once you turn 25, if you purchase a 3 year railcard until the day before your 24th birthday, meaning that it will be valid until the day before you turn 27. Alternatively, you can purchase a 1 year railcard upto and including your 26th birthday, making you also 27 by the time it expires. With the latter option, NUS also run a 12% off discount for 1 year railcard purchased, saving you even more money!

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If your public transport has been delayed, causing you to miss your train or coach, you can claim compensation if it’s due to timetable delays.

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Buy a PLUSBUS ticket with your train ticket, to save on inner city travel. It usually costs £2 for a whole day of travel, bought alongside your train ticket. Not applicable in London.

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Buy your travel as far in advance as possible for the cheapest deal (having said that, most times between 1-3 weeks in advance the train or coach ticket will be the same price, but it’s still always worth booking as early as possible).

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Split your train tickets! Enter your train journey details into a split ticket calculator and it will give you the cheapest route free of charge (if you want to then book your journey through the split ticket website then there will usually be an additional £1 processing or booking fee, however you can just copy the journey details into a normal train ticket site to avoid the extra cost). I saved £20 on a single trip to Nottingham from Newcastle by purchasing a train ticket from Newcastle to York, then York to Nottingham, rather than Newcastle straight to Nottingham. I even got to depart later and arrive earlier than I would have done on the direct ticket too!

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I hope this list helps you in saving money and living your best broke life 🤪. Thanks for reading xxx

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