The Ultimate Saving Money Guide for Students in London

(and in the UK!)

Hi and thanks for reading our guide! We are Victor Balio and Érica Lima and we are
living in London as scholars since September/2021. As you may know by now, the UK is one
of the most expensive countries to live in, especially with the cost-of-living crisis raging upon
our pockets. But fear not, my dear students! We are here to show you every single trick we
used this year to save as much money as possible!

1. Bank Accounts

Without a doubt, the Digital Banks in the UK are the best options available for
international students. They offer all the essential features you may need 95% of the cases
free of charge. Easy to set up, easier money management, personalised service, and
transparency. After some serious research, we both decided to use Revolut.

Revolut has the best interface and is by far our favorite bank ever, we didn’t have a single
problem with them so far. If you are a traveller, we think this is the best option for you, as
they have free overseas spending and transfers.

This basically means you won’t lose a single penny in conversion fees or aggressive trade
rates when travelling. The last trip we had was to UAE, Dubai. 1£ at the time was worth 4.23
AED, UAE’s currency. The best rate we found in Dubai was 1£ to 3.72 AED, while Revolut gave
us the exact same rate displayed in Google!!! Some serious money saving here.

You can open your account through our referral code:

https://revolut.com/referral/victorrsl7!SEP2-22-AR

2. Delivery Apps
2.1. Groceries

On this topic we will recommend a few groceries and delivery apps that we’ve been
using this year. These referral codes will help you save some money on your first orders
in each app! Perfect for these cold autumn days.
 Note that by using the first order discounts we listed below, you will probably get
prices that can be better than the supermarket prices. Trust us.

2.1.1. Gorillas

Code VB866396 to save £20 on your first 30£ order!

https://app.adjust.com/ujcj3xx?deep_link=gorillas://&label=uzWa4KzQqyLWLFqOscm

2.1.2. GoPuff

Get £10.00 off on your first £20.00+ order. https://gopuff.com/user-

registration?coupon_code=GOXQWNG1JX

2.1.3. Getir

Enjoy £15 off your first order of £18.00+ . Click on the link and use code RDEFMOJ at
the checkout. https://getir.onelink.me/rFzf/gosbhed6

2.1.4. Zapp

Coupon: VBJJZCM (10£ off on 20£ orders)

2.1.5. Ocado Zoom

Try Ocado Zoom for a huge range of groceries delivered in 60 mins (or later the same
day). You’ll get £10 off your first order over £30 too. https://ocadozoom.mention-
me.com/m/wa/af6oy-victor-balio

2.2. Food

2.2.1. Deliveroo

Get £10 off across your first 4 orders (minimum value £20). https://roo.it/victorb-je9g

2.2.2. UberEats
Get £3 off your first Uber Eats order of £20 or more. http://ubr.to/EatsGiveGet
Coupon: eats-rxha8opcxf
 2.2.3. Just Eat
We didn’t find any voucher currently, but it was worth mentioning since they use
restaurant prices on the menus displayed.

3. Mobile Network Plan

VOXI has the one of the best mobile network plans out there. They utilize the
Vodafone network, top level 5G coverage in the UK and in Europe. From the cheapest
plans, VOXI gives you unlimited data for social media, endless calls, texts and a fairly priced
roaming. Their plans start at £10 a month (30gb + those features mentioned.

Every month they give you freebies like t-shirts, hoodies, bucket hats, even Tesco meal
deals! They do this through their VOXI Drop program.

Also, every month they allow you to purchase 2 Vue Cinemas tickets for 7£ pounds for
2 tickets through VOXI Drop! This is the cheapest you will be able

• TOP TIP - Subscribe to VOXI with our referral code

You are entitled to a voucher of up to 40£ on Amazon after paying the first two months!
That basically means the first two months will be free, as you can use the Amazon credit to
buy groceries or anything you’d like. https://join.voxi.co.uk/4YBtwPn

4. Public Transport

As a student in London, you are entitled to buy a Student Oyster. The registration fee is
25£, against 5£ of the blue regular oyster.

The only advantage of the Student Oyster is that you get discounts on the Travelcards.

Travelcards = unlimited public transport tickets. When you buy a Travelcard, you can use
TfL Rail, Buses, Trams, whatever you decide to, during Peak or Off-Peak hours, unlimitedly.

Sounds great, eh?! Well in our opinion, not so much. Travelcards are only worth it if you
regularly travel by TfL Rail (Underground, Overground, DLR, etc) twice (a return journey) more than 4~5
days per week every month. In other words, Travelcards are not worth it if you want to use buses

or cycle around the city from time to time, or if you think that you will travel around the UK
or Europe in a regular basis. On the other hand, if you think that you will be a regular user of
TfL, the Travelcard might be an interest option. In the end, the best thing you can do is take a
time to calculate by yourself.

Anyway, if you decide to not buy a Student Oyster and the Student Travelcard, here's our
best tips to save money while commuting around London:

4.1. When using the TfL Rail Network, travel during off-peak hours

Fares are cheaper during off-peak hours on the TfL rail network (Underground,
Overground, DLR, etc). Peak hour fares apply from Monday to Friday (excluding public
holidays) between 06:30 and 09:30, and between 16:00 and 19:00. All other hours (including
weekends and late-night hours) are considered off-peak.

When using the buses, the price is always the same, 1.65£ for each journey. So, during
peak times, why don’t you take a double-decker and enjoy some views of the city? 😉

4.2. Try to take advantage on the daily fare cap

You may be worried about how your travel costs would quickly add up, given how
expensive each trip can be. The good news is there’s a daily fare cap when you use your Oyster
Card across various modes of transport, depending on the number of Zones you travel in a
day.

The buses fare daily cap is 4.95£ and you can travel between as many zones as you wish.
In contrast, the TFL Rail Network daily cap between Zone 1 and 2 is 7.70£, and it can increase
up to 20£ a day (!!!) when traveling between Zones 1 and 9. But let’s be honest, you will
probably never do that.

• TOP TIP – GET A RAILCARD AND LINK IT WITH YOUR OYSTER

Seriously, this is the Best. Thing. Ever.

A “Railcard” saves you money on almost every journey you take in the UK. It gives you a 1/3
discount on (almost) every Train fare inside the UK, including the TfL Rail services in London if you link
it to your Oyster Card (Blue Oyster, Student Oyster. Any Oyster.)

If you're eligible for a Railcard - either 16-25 or 26-30 - you can make serious savings by
linking it with your Oyster. This way you'll get a 33 per cent discount whenever you tap in or
out during off-peak times (the “Pay as You Go” fares). By the time this guide was written,
students of any age range could get the 26-30 railcard through the app Trainline.

IRL situation: Usually, without the railcard, you would pay 2.60£ to travel from the Zone
2 to Zone 1 during off-peak times (From Mile End to Paddington, in this example). With the
Railcard linked to your Oyster, you would pay only 1.70£, and the daily cap, which normally
would be 7.70£, decreases to around 5.15£.

This means a return journey from Zone 2 to Zone 1 would cost you 3.40£ if you are
travelling during off-peak times. In contrast, as we told you before, the Monthly Travelcard
between Zones 2 and 1 would cost you 103£ a month, which means 3.43£ a day. In other
words, you are paying 3.43£ every day even if you are not commuting on that day.

IRL situation 2: Let’s suppose in November you decide to pay 103£ for the monthly student
travelcard, but it’s f*cking cold outside and you go out only when you must. Instead of
travelling every day during the month, you travelled only during weekdays, make one return
journey a day, for 20 days then. That basically means you would’ve paid 5.15£ per day to
travel during November, instead of the 3.40£ Pay-as-you-go.

• TOP TIP 2 – GET A SANTANDER CYCLES ANNUAL STUDENT SUBSCRIPTION

In our opinion, cycle through London is the best way to get to places. It’s cheap, you
get to see many beautiful places in the City that you wouldn’t see otherwise, and it’s
environment friendly. Trust us, our relationship with the city changed completely.1

You can buy your own bike a locker if you feel it’s the best option. We think that it’s
not worth the risk, as bike robbery probably is the most common crime in the city.

1
Sometimes it feels overwhelming to live in huge city like London, where so many things are
happening at the same time. Cycling around definitely helps you to connect with the city. In our daily
route, we get to see almost every day the Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the Saint Paul’s
Cathedral and many other astonishing buildings, landmarks, pubs, graffiti, etc. We swear, every day
you will notice something different.
 You can Hire a Santander Cycle in London from £1.65 per 30 minutes journey. In this
case, the best option is to download the Santander Cycles app. If you are not a tech
person, just go to your nearest docking station with your bank card.

We strongly recommend you try the Santander Cycles before buying a bicycle or any
travelcard. If you become regular user of Santander Cycles, you can buy a monthly
membership for just £20 a month or an annual member for £120. These subscriptions
give you unlimited 60-minute rides for no extra fee. In other words: ride for 60 minutes,
stop at a docking station and start another 60-minute ride for free!

Through Student Beans, a (free) student discount portal we will discuss further, you
get a 25% discount in the year subscription. That means you would pay £93 for unlimited
60-minute cycle rides in a year! You can redeem your discount code below:

https://www.studentbeans.com/student-discount/uk/tfl-santander-cycles/0-
student-discount-tfl-santander-cycles-online?source=brand_page

4.3. On-demand Rides and Taxi Apps

If you are rich in need of a ride in a rainy day, coming back from a late-night party or got
stuck on a tube strike and will probably run late, you can always rely on Uber, Taxis, and
similar apps. Here’s a few discounts codes for these apps:

Free Now – 10£ off in your first trip – J7BE51948

Wheely2 - 20% off in your first trip - TVGUM

Gett – 3£ off in the first three trips - GTBVWHL

Uber – 5£ off in your first trip – AFFUKSEP15 (non-referral)

Bolt – 5£ off in your first trip - BQG72Y (non-referral)

5. Supermarket

2
Ok, this one is the fancy one. They only allow drivers with Mercedes Benz Class C and S. Naturally, it’s the
most expensive one. We never used it to be honest, but we decided to include it on the list for those
interested in having a fancy night in London and save a few pounds.
 The cheapest supermarkets are Aldi, Lidl and Asda.

From our experience, Lidl is the best one. They offer a decent range of products and the
“Lidl branded” products have a fairly good quality. Here’s a chart of an average 15 day
groceries shopping in a few different supermarkets in the UK:

• TOP TIP - Tesco: has the cheapest meal deal!

As soon as you can, join the Tesco Club Card app because they offer great discounts.
Usually, a Meal Deal costs around 3.50~4.00£ in every grocery store, but with the Tesco Club
Card you can grab one for 3.00£ in any Tesco. Trust us, you will probably rely a lot on these
Meal Deals through the year.

• TOP TIP 2 – free shipping when buying online in some supermarkets

Some of these supermarkets offer free shipping when you make orders above X amount.
Some of them offer monthly subscriptions where you pay a fair rate to get free shipping on
the orders you make. You can share a subscription with a friend and split the price. This way
you won’t have to worry about going out to do the shopping, which sometimes can be
annoying, especially when you are far away from the cheapest supermarkets.

6. Student Discounts

Save the Student (STS) is a website which reunites all discount on every platform possible.
They even have their own Telegram channel if you are a telegram user, where they post offers
in real time so you can grab them quickly. It’s a great feature as sometimes the best offers are
very limited, especially train and flight tickets promos.
https://www.savethestudent.org/student-discounts/takeaways-restaurants-pub

There are some other websites that YOU MUST subscribe to. They will give you tons of
discounts on everything, from food to duvets, plates, whatever you need. Sometimes, one of
this websites will serve to prove your student condition, such as when registering in Amazon
UK, where you are entitled to 6 months of free student prime membership.3

Totum: https://www.totum.com/

Student Beans: https://www.studentbeans.com/

Unidays: https://www.myunidays.com/

Another great tip is the student discount program of the Pharmacy chain “Boots”. From
meal deals to skincare, the boots student discount program is free and a must. It gives you
10% discount on every purchase and every dime you spend is worth points which
automatically becomes credit to buy things on the store.

Food and Fastfood Chains: You can always check the Save the Student website as this is
something that is always changing, but our highlight is:

McDonalds: Students can enjoy free food at McDonald’s – grab a free Cheeseburger,
Mayo Chicken, or McFlurry when you buy any McDonald’s extra-value or wrap meal (those
are the Sandwich + Fries + Beverage combo).

All you need to do is show your student ID when you order (you need to buy it on the
cash desk because you need to present you student id). If you’re ordering via the My
McDonald’s app, or McDelivery, you can still get the discount via Student Beans.

KFC: offer students a free Mini Fillet Burger when they spend 1£ (yes, you read right.
One pound!). Make sure to add your Student Beans code to your KFC account first, by
download the KFC app.

Also worth checking: Time Out guides and restaurants discounts, Groupon discounts
and the First Table.

• TOP TIPS

➢ The cheapest extra-value / wrap meal in the McDonalds is the Wrap of the Day Meal.
It usually costs 3.49£. So, with the student ID, you will pay 3.49£ for the Wrap of the
Day Meal + a free cheeseburger, mayo chicken or mcflurry! Believe us, you won’t get
any cheaper than this!

3
(https://www.myunidays.com/GB/en-GB/partners/amazon/view)
 ➢ On KFC you can make multiple orders of 1£ or more. On every order you make, you
will get the free Mini Fillet Burger! For example, 2 chicken wings costs 1.19£. You can
order 2 chicken wings 3 times on separate orders and earn one Mini Fillet on each
order! That gives you 6 wings and 3 Mini Fillet Burgers for 3.57£!

7. Cheap Food on The Way!

➢ ITSU and a few WASABI stores: they are both Japanese chains with stores all over the
UK! Half an hour before closing, all sushi, gyoza and salad are available at half price.
It is great to give you little treat at the end of the day.
➢ Pret: Sign up to enjoy five Barista-made drinks (organic coffees, teas, frappes, hot
chocolates and more) a day, for just £25 a month and get your first month half price.
That’s just £12.50 for up to 150 Barista-made drinks on the first month!
➢ Too good to go: customers choose a restaurant or store on the app, order a “surprise
bag” of surplus food at a reduced price and then collect it from the store during a pre-
set collection window. It has a large variety – from starbucks to a random shop around
you, and the prices are a bargain.

8. FREE THINGS (yep, FREE things)

➢ Olio: from furniture to food, Olio is the place. Everything is free, people are always
donating good things! You can also become an OLIO FOOD HERO and rescue food that
would go to waste on groceries stores near you (you need to enroll on the app), and
you can keep some -or all- and donate what you are not interested.
➢ Freecycle Trash Nothing: same as Olio, full of good stuffs, but doesn’t have the food
area as Olio has.

With these both apps you can refurbish you place! Particularly, we got a lot of nice
stuffs to our place! E.g: chairs, studying table, boarding games, decorative items for
house and parties…

9. Cheap Clothes

London’s fashion scene is a big deal. You know this. But there’s more to it than
catwalks, streetwear influencers and designer boutiques. Shopping second-hand is a
fantastic way to start living more sustainably. Not only are the clothes reasonably priced,
but they’re also far more eco-friendly. The only catch is that it takes dedication, stamina,
and a keen eye to rummage through all of those rails. But don’t lose heart, we’ve saved
you some time by rounding up the best thrift stores in London.
 Usually, thrift stores have many branches spread around the city and the UK.
Just use Google Maps to find the closest one to your place.

➢ TRAID
➢ Oxfam
➢ Crisis
➢ Royal Trinity Shop
➢ Beyond Retro
➢ Rokit
➢ Atika
➢ Picknweight
➢ Mary’s Living and Giving Shop
➢ Camden Market

• TOP TIP – From time to time, TRAID offers crazy discount weeks, where they charge
only £1.50 for EVERYTHING. One pound and fifty pence. We bought ourselves leather
jackets, Vans shoes, and even a vintage radio, among other cool stuff.
• TOP TIP 2 – Usually, the people who donate clothes to the thrift shops are the people
that live in that neighbour. Check their style while walking on the streets. Hackney, Brick
Lane, Shoreditch and Dalston stores were our favourites.

10. Travels, Cheap Trains and Flight Tickets

10.1. Useful apps

Omio – compare train, bus and plane prices (we advise you not to buy through their App
because usually they charge fees. Just use them to make a comparison and then buy directly
from the company). There is even a small cashback when buying through Revolut at Omio –
usually not worth it because of the fees.

Skyscanner - best site/app of our life! The feature we use the most is to insert the city I'm
flying from with destination "anywhere". You can put the specific date, or the whole month
to see the cheapest day, and there is even the option to select the "cheapest month". We
can't live without it.

Voopter - site for air travel where you put 4 departure dates + 4 return dates and it tells
you which combination of these dates is cheaper.
 Ryanair – you can register to their newsletter, but it is always worth checking their
website from time to time to see what's good in the discount tabs.

Wizz Air – their website is a bit messy and does not have a tab with discounted
destinations such as Ryanair’s. Nevertheless, they have many destinations in Eastern Europe
(and even exotic places such as Iceland and UAE!). If you travel a lot, it might be worth joining
the Wizz Discount Club subscription to get discounts.

EasyJet – usually, it’s the most expensive low cost, but sometimes they have good prices
to fly from the UK to France, Italy and Portugal.

Flixbus - Another passion. Sometimes they make crazy promos offering return tickets for
2 pounds. We went from London to Cardiff, Wales, for 1 pound in November/2021. Sadly,
they are quite mysterious. You have to log in often and test random destinations. They don't
disclose which destinations are on promotion and their newsletter is quite lazy.

National Express - best option for the UK and to get to the airports, especially in London.
If you intend to travel a lot between cities and to catch flights, we strongly advise you to
purchase their "coach card", which gives you 33% discount in their buses fares. Also, when
getting tickets there, always remember to check-out the purchase using Amazon Pay to get
another 15% discount in the final price4.

Megabus – They are not as good as the others, but worth checking if you have a specific
destination in mind and need another comparison.

Trainline – a great app to buy train tickets and to purchase your Railcard5. It is useful for
any kind of travel within the UK and to go to London airports.

• TOP TIPS

Bus: take the last row of the bus with 1 other person and sit at the ends, because if
the bus is relatively empty no one will want to sit at the back to be in the middle, and then
you and the other person can sleep lying down on the bus seat! It's great for long journeys at
night (London-Edinburgh is a hit!) Even though the UK is not in continental Europe, it IS close
to many countries, and you can go by bus, taking around 6h from London (eg: France, Belgium,
Netherlands, Germany…). It might be worth it to check it out as well!

Low-cost flights: do not forget to check in at least 3 hours prior to the flight (check on
the company because it may vary), because if you forget you’ll be charged something like 50
pounds to do it at the airport!

4
If you have Amazon Prime, which, of course, you do have, as we already told you
how to get 6 months free.
5
Buy. One. Railcard.
 Travel in general: if you want to get somewhere and it's expensive leaving from where
you are, and you have enough time to travel, it might be worth testing leaving from other
cities. Example: London Amsterdam is expensive, so you can test London Everywhere - select
the city that is cheap and see if from there to the destination you want is cheap / or see the
destination you want to go, but put it as if you were leaving from there, example: Amsterdam
- Everywhere (so you see the destinations that are usually cheap leaving/arriving there). Then
you see if the place you are flying from to that destination is also cheap, and then use that
destination as the middle of the road to reach your destination (eg: London – Brussels –
Amsterdam).

11. Concert Info and Tickets

➢ Use apps/sites like Songkick to track your favourite artists

Also, sign up to your favourite band/singer’s mailing list and follow them on social media.
Tours are usually announced directly via websites and social channels. Some acts also offer
pre-sales to those on their mailing list so make sure you don’t miss out. You want every
opportunity to purchase tickets.

➢ Follow the ticket agencies twitter accounts

The biggest ticket agencies often tweet the latest ticket status, so you’ll know if tickets
are still available or if they are sold out. They’ll announce any extra dates too so turn those
notifications on.

➢ Sign up to your local venue’s mailing list

Join the mailing list of your local venue (or the venue you want to see the show at). They
usually send out ticket alerts and sometimes offer pre-sales. Some of the venues we’ve been
are the O2 Arena, O2 Academy Brixton, Electric Brixton, The Roundhouse, Troxy, Heaven,
among others.

➢ Register with the big ticket agencies – and join their mailing lists and ticket alerts

These days there are a lot of pre-sales before the official on-sale date. Make sure you are
in with a chance to get a pre-sale offer by signing up to as many ticket agencies as you can.
Ticketmaster, AXS and See Tickets are the big players. Other agencies to consider are The
Ticket Factory, Gigs and Tours and Eventim.

➢ Oh no! You didn’t get the tickets and they sold out?

KEEP CHECKING! Everyday. Check often with the ticket agencies websites. More tickets
usually become available in the run-up to a show. You just need to keep checking. Daily.

➢ Set up a ticket alert with Twickets and Ticketswap

Twickets and Ticketswap are face value (or less) resale platform. You can set up alerts for
shows you are interested in and get a notification when any tickets are put up for sale. Be
warned though you have to move quickly. For popular tours, tickets don’t hang around for
long. If you have spare tickets or can no longer make the show you can sell them on Twickets
safe in the knowledge that you are selling to a fellow fan. Don’t use Viagogo, unless is the only
option available. Viagogo is mainly used by ticket resellers, those who do that for a living. So
usually the tickets there are way more expensive then in other marketplaces.

➢ Check again on the day of show

If your nerves can take it, you can pick up last minute great seats on the day of the show.
Just keep checking throughout the day. They usually stop selling online around 6pm.

If you think this guide was useful to you and your friends in any sense, you can
retribute by using the referral codes we have indicated through the guide. Or just come and
say hello to us in our Instagram profiles! We’d love to meet you! Our users are
@ericaazevedolima and @victorbalio! We are also available to help if you have any doubts.

Remember, of course it’s important to have great grades and read every single text
you have too, but this experience can be so much more than this. Enjoy the city you are in,
take your time when you need too, go to museums, concerts, plays. The UK has many
beautiful and historical cities. Flight tickets to Europe are super cheap. Treat yourself from
time to time!

We hope you have a wonderful time here!

With love,

Vitu & Kika