Best on a Budget

NUS Extra Card

If you don’t have an NUS Extra Card already, visit www.nus.org.uk/en/NUS-Extra for details. The card offers a number of student discounts at a huge variety of outlets including; McDonald's, Amazon, Superdrug, Pizza Hut, The Body Shop, Play.com, Odeon, La Senza, Miss Selfridge, Halfords, Blockbuster, Apple, BSM, Topshop, 3 Mobile and Office.

Loyalty cards

Many shops, such as Boots, offer a free loyalty card to customers. As you shop in the store you collect points, which you can then spend instead of using cash - great for those weeks when you're short on cash but need to go shopping for essentials. Tesco and Sainsbury's offer a similar loyalty card and even allow you to spend the points you collect elsewhere e.g. on cinema tickets!  

Keep an eye out for these but watch out for store credit cards which can be a hassle. Store credit cards allow you to buy items on your store card without paying cash (and usually offer you a discount) but you have to be careful to pay the card balance when it's due or you could end up paying more. Make sure you ask for details if you're offered such a card and then you can decide whether it could save you money.