Photo credit: ccarlstead

It wasn’t that long ago that I was a student, and I was using green ideas as a simple way of saving money. As a student, money is really tight, so you need to be economical in order to survive with the smallest amount of debt. So here are my top ideas that I used when I was at University.

Make your own meals in bulk
If you can learn how to cook easy meals such as Spaghetti Bolognese, Chill Con Carne, Chicken Curry, Beef Stew, you can make them in bulk and freeze the leftovers. I found that I could make at least 4 portions per meal, sometimes as many as 8. These meals typically scale very well. So when you make the meal, you get a fresh meal that evening and freeze the rest. When you’re feeling lazy, you just need to re-heat one of your frozen left-over meals. You just need to cook the pasta or rice to go with the meal!

You save money by buying the ingredients in bulk as well as saving packaging that you would otherwise get from microwave meals. I still use this tip to this day, giving myself a nice cooked lunch for work.

Don’t buy textbooks
Textbooks are very expensive in the UK, costing around £20 to £50 each ($40 to $100!). Therefore you can save a fortune by buying books with friends or borrowing books from your library. If you go to a library, remember to get there fast, before the other students borrow the books first!

Don’t have a car
Cars are costly things anyway, with fuel, tax, insurance and maintenance costs, they can be very pricey. Get used to using buses, trains, bicycles and walking. You’ll get to know the area better as well as saving money and the environment. Some of the best conversations I’ve ever had have been with people I’ve met on the bus or train!

Switch stuff off and use energy saving lightbulbs
Bills can be quite frightening when in a student house. Living with 5 other people, I found that electricity bills were sky high. Thankfully I managed to convince them to switch stuff off where possible and they were happy to use energy saving light bulbs.