The Grim Problem of Existence

In my second and third year I had my own shower and it was well within my means with my grant. First year I had to share one. That wasn't a problem so much than we had our own sinks in our room but a shared toilet with the shower. Which meant you had you buckle your belt, unlock the door and get back into your room just to wash your hands. Kinda gross until you learned to button your fly using only your wrists.

Well la-di-dah, Mr. Grant.

Also, look out for those raptors.

If you're feeling unorthodox, you can try these options to live below your means. They won't solve your money woes but it may help significantly if you're prepared to sacrifice comfort and convenience:

1) If you aren't fussy, supermarkets throw out a lot of perfectly edible food just because their "best before" dates have expired (but be weary of "use by" dates on some foods, learn the difference). Often they throw packets of sealed food together in white plastic sacks.

If their skips aren't locked, consider sneaking behind supermarkets after they close and retrieving as many of these white sacks as you're prepared to carry back to your apartment and sort through.

Sure, you'll probably have to throw most of the contents away, but you'll also be able to salvage many free meals from these sacks depending on what you find. You'll still need to buy food, but not as much as you normally would have to. Trust your sense of smell, sight, and common sense. Be extra careful with dairy, fish and meat products, and you also shouldn't trust anything that isn't sealed in its own container or bag.

2) Invest in warm thermal clothes, a hot water bottle and thick blankets for winter. You can keep your heating off some days, especially during mild periods. Wrap yourself up warm in the blankets if you spend your evenings in front of your PC, get decent fingerless or technical gloves. It may be hard sometimes, but you can always turn the heating back on if the cold becomes unbearable. It'll save money if you can stand it, though.

3) Don't want to share a shower? Stand on a thick towel, then use a bucket of warm water and a car-washing sponge for a body wash. Hold your head over your kitchen sink and gently pour water over your head to wash your hair, maybe use a small child's watering can for this that you can fill from the bucket. Worked for me once and was almost as effective as a shower - Definitely better than nothing.

4) Consider cycling everywhere instead of taking public transport, depending on feasibility and distances. With fare prices so high, the initial cost of a bike can really pay for itself after a couple of years. Keeps you fit too.

However, it can be dangerous: Be sure your road sense is up to scratch, don't go up the left hand-side of lorries where the drivers can't see you, obey the road laws, don't hug the curb, control your road space, and try not to take insults from motorists personally. Keep off the roads where you can. Also remember that cycle paths in this country suck and can mislead you into a false sense of security, especially those thin ones painted onto the sides of roads - You have a right to not use them if they feel they put you in danger.

Maybe this'll help, maybe not. I've done/still do some of these.

The cycling thing is my intention, I love riding my bike around and it's an ideal way to spend a summer afternoon to me.

A lot of the other tips will help, maybe not the food from the skips thing, but mainly because I'm a germaphobe/pussy.

I can vouch for the saving on heating tip. Use two blankets for your bed and you'll be fine at night too.

Though that's something you should only need worry about when you get your own place, as utilities should be provided for you as standard for student apartments.

Yeah I think that's the case for the first year, but then you have to move out from the 2nd year on of course. We only have half the house heated here right now, half the house is from the 1950s and the other half was built in...2001 or something. I'm perfectly used to wrapping up warm in my bedroom, the technical gloves are a good shout though, even now they'd be better than the fingerless ones I use. I hate all the cold!