Clothes shopping on a student budget is a major itch for any student. When food and nights out are put into consideration, the remaining few coins pressed to the bottom of the purse would leave any fashionista’s eyes trembling. Personally I’ve found it one of my major problems and have already had one New Look and about seven EBay slip ups, which at a side note I don’t regret nearly as much as my empty pockets would want me too.
Get clicking
In desperation, I’ve signed up to every membership shopping site such as NUS extra, Student Hut, Save the Student and UNIdays, all of which are super helpful in cutting back the prices of goods to a friendlier price with their discounts and I even found some cheeky freebies- I got some free crisps. I would highly recommend every student to sign up to these even those who aren’t interested in clothes just as you can get discounted restaurant visits and days out to various interesting looking places.
If you don’t mind waiting a few months, wearing second hand and have an eagle eye you can probably find clothes from these shops on eBay for a fraction of the price. This is where I now limit myself too especially in regards to Urban Outfitters. These shops and their discounts are known to most students, or at least I hope so for I fear for your wardrobe if not. I want to bring around your attention to a few shops on Loughborough High Street in particular where you can make those all-important savings.
Student discounts
The best websites for student discounts are probably Boohoo, Misguided and of course the beloved ASOS. They often have promotion codes on regularly and it pretty simple to find them by just typing in for example ‘boohoo promo codes’ into Google. For ASOS in particular I offer a small gift: join this mailing list http://asos-promo-code.co.uk they send you international codes direct to your email which may not be available to us in the UK. These codes may be a life saver on sales items where I discovered recently your student discount sadly isn’t valid.
Shops wise the entire Arcadia Group, New Look, Office and Urban Outfitters; (which is still ridiculously overpriced but with clothes that make you feel like an edgy, indie, hipster, retro princess) are known to have discounts, sometimes on a good day even go up to 20% discount.
Best beauty buys in Loughborough
For the majority, people tend to flitter between Boots and Superdrug with no real loyalty to either. But a key distributor between the two is that Superdrug accepts student discount with NUS and presumably our Loughborough student cards, whilst Boots does not. That means you could save valuable pennies by buying cosmetics, perfume and other beautifying products from Superdrug over Boots.
With regards to hair products in particular. You can buy good quality shampoos and conditioners and other shower goods in Poundland and the 99p store at a much cheaper price (£1 or 99p to be exact) than compared if you bought the same hair stuff in a supermarket. I’m not talking Aussie or John Frida quality here and if you’re into high quality grooming like that sorry but you’ll still have to spend £5 per bottle. However, you can easily get your hands on Herbal Essences, Pantene Pro V and Schwarzkopf- my bathroom cupboard proves it.
That’s a wrap
Hopefully, I’ve expanded your budgeting knowledge. But if you’re anything like me, this article has made me want to go shopping even more and I’ve had to throw my debit card out of the window whilst typing. However, if it has made you more aware on methods and places where you can save a few pounds: So you don’t feel so guilty and ashamed when you come out of Topshop on a Saturday afternoon, with a pounding hangover from last night’s FND with that top which would just look utterly divine with those shoes you bought a few weeks ago, because you managed to save £10 on that coat from Boohoo with the cute buttons with the code you online from UNIdays, then this article has been a success.
Cat Blyth
