Like most postgrads I am totally poor, travelling to university and my horse take all of my money and I don't get paid nearly enough for the sort of job I do. I am looking for a job with a better wage and looking into doing some private tutoring with GCSE/A-level exams coming up. Thinking of getting a sharer for the horse as well but I think that will be more trouble than its worth.

Any good money saving tips would be appreciated though - might be useful to share them :-)

Natassia x

hi Natassia
Its nice to know at least you have a horse :-) I don't so there is no horse-feed or horse-upkeep...
its true that if you share your horse, it might be more troublesome :-)
here are some tips:
1. Only buy groceries when necessary
2. Absolute control when shopping; if not necessary, don't go :-)
3. Don't even window shop
3. Stay home more often (going out means spending £££)
4. Every month set a target to put aside (and see how it goes)
5. Keep a comfortable distance from shopper-friends :-)
6. Have your meals at your mum's (go home more often if its not too taxing on the horse)

at first it will be quite difficult, but after one month, two months, three months, when you see your bank account getting bigger, you will feel better :-)
satchi x

Hi Natassia

I've been really enjoying spending less money lately and it hasn't been at all bleak. And this is coming from someone who earned quite well until I gave up full-time work for my MSc!

I was really inspired by a book by Kath Kelly called 'How I lived a year on a pound a day'. You can prob get it second-hand off Amazon for a snip. What was different about reading this book from just being handed a load of money-off coupons for the local supermarket? Well, in the book you get a real feeling for how you can have a happy life while spending very little just by being resourceful... it almost becomes like a game and you start thinking of people that are spending a lot as real suckers.

Admittedly, very few of us could spend as little as Kath Kelly... she seems to be utterly happy to attend ANY free public lecture where there are wine and nibbles, whereas I'd rather concentrate my time on stuff that I really really am interested in. I am in no way aiming to only live on a quid a day, but I am aiming to avoid paying out when I don't have to.

What happens when you start spending less is that it then becomes part of your everyday mindset in a nice way... for instance, one evening last week I decided I had to have some green olives with my dinner. So I went to our local Turkish grocer.... but I only had a pound on me, so I decided I couldn't spend more than that. Turned out the jars of green olives were all £1.29... curses. But my mindset of "I'm not paying that" meant that I just kept picking up different jars hopefully. As luck would have it, one of the jars had an older price-tag on it which hadn't been updated... 89p! Obviously this is a ridiculous example, but without my new determination to spend less I would never have persisted for long enough to find the cheap jar.

I also get certain toiletries in Poundland... e.g. Neutrogena and Herbal Essences shampoos. Well known brands. Living more cheaply doesn't mean giving up all little luxuries, it just means that you channel your resources towards stuff that really does make you happy (e.g. your horse) while economising on all the nondescript stuff that doesn't really matter.

Oh - a good recipe book with quite a lot of delicious yet frugal meals is by Lindsey Bareham... old title is A Wolf In the Kitchen. Think it's got a new title but I can't remember what it is. Probably available second-hand on Amazon.

Car boot sales! If you have clothes, books, DVDs, anything that you don't really need or use then why not do a car boot sale with a friend and MAKE some extra money? This can be hilarious! You can get a wallpaper table from Argos for a tenner for your 'stall', and away you go....

Also, enter free ticket giveaways in newspapers... I got 2 free tickets recently to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo... completely free!

Oh, and above all, try to avoid being lonely. I know academic life can mean we spend a lot of time alone, but I find I spend more money when I'm lonely to cheer myself up. If you can befriend other people with frugal but interesting lifestyles, like other students or artistic people or whoever, then there's not that sense of having to keep up with the Joneses that you get when hanging round with wealthy friends.

Apologies for the long post, but I have been pondering on this lots lately. Good Luck!

Thanks Satchi and Ogriv - to be honest I am quite careful with my money as I simply don't have much of it, it all goes on my horse's upkeep and petrol to get to university! I do think spending less money has actually been very good for me; I'm certainly not as frivolous with my spending as I was, and I don't throw my clothes out as readily. I guess I am more resourceful, but I do want to get into more creative ways of updating my wardrobe cheaply.

I have to spend some money on cosmetics and things like that as I have to wear quite a lot of makeup for work, it is part of the dress
code. I'm lucky that I get my hair cut and coloured for free though! I didn't know you could get well known brands in pound shops so will have a look! I don't really get that lonely because I have a part time job and the horse, they are both sociable environments so although I may not be seeing my closest friends as often as I'd like to, I don't really get lonely.

The target setting idea is good, I do think I need to monitor my spending more closely, even if I don't think I am spending that much I always have a shock when I check my account online.

Thanks again, Natassia x

1. Vegetarianism.

2. Cook meals from scratch.

2. Walk everywhere that is within an hour or so to walk.

3. Abstain from drinking alcohol.

Oh dear I sound so boring....

I think I've become very boring as well, I hardly ever drink any more as I don't generally sit down with a glass of wine in the evenings as my evenings are spent working, I only really drink when I go out with friends and that isn't very often any more as I'm so busy...I think I'm more 42 than 22! I've been a vegetarian for 15+ years so saving some money there...should really cook more from scratch though.

I agree with most of the posts here - great tips everyone!
But another resource that I find helpful is Martin Lewis's Moneysaving Expert website. There are loads of tips and detailed forums there - even a student thread ( although is mostly undergrads)
He sends out a weekly e-mail with loads of tips and discount vouchers. When I started using it it litterally saved me hundreds of pounds.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

I also watched the 'Economy Gastronomy' programme that was on the BBC a while back which advocated batch cooking / making a 'bedrock' receipe and 'tumbledown' meals from that throughout the week. The website still has their stuff on - I think they also did a book.
We invested in a slow cooker...and we also spend Sunday afternoons cooking up stuff to put in the freezer. ( We have homemade pizza bases ready to make fresh pizza / little lasagnes and cottage pies.) It takes a little bit of thinking and planning a menu for the week, but makes for an easier week of study/work because we know what we will be eating and don't expend time and energy on doing it during the week ( when, lets be honest, exhaustion kicks in and a takeaway start to look appealing!)

Hi Natassia, something that's struck me about this thread is that socialising is so much harder when we are skit PhDs, but we need the social life more because of the solitary nature of what we do...

I'm going to join a knitting and crochet circle! It's free and really sociable, they make joint projects for local art exhibitions, and the girls who run it look very young to me, earl 20s, so it's not just a granny thing. Although, from the photos on their website there are a good range of ages involved.

Most of the year, I live off very little money, walk everywhere, live off lentils buy very few new clothes etc, but I can't add anything else to what has already been said. My flat is very cheap to heat, which helps, it's very well insulated, south facing and has huge bay windows in the main rooms, so it operates like a greenhouse of there is the slightest bit of sunshine.

I have started this lately - try to get involved and steward events at theatres, arts centres, galleries etc. That way you can sometimes end up being paid to watch on event and work at the same time.

That way I have seen arts and film events for free.

When the BBC came to town with a orchestra and Blue Planet film show - I stewarded the event and thus got paid to watch the (very expensive and impressive) show.

also when buying groceries, go late at night to get the reduced stuff in sainsburys etc, and M&S has some really good deals on food sometimes, for those occasions when you want to treat yourself! :-)