21 student life advice in England

Post dedicated to my great friend, Christabelle

1. Invest in a good pair of waterproof boots (or boots with spray on waterproof substance for my case, the rain here is ruthless)
2. Give airbnb a go (All 11 of my stays were great experiences, you get to meet such lovely hosts too)
3. Trainline.com makes life a little less irritating
4. Get a 16-25 railcard (Very common advice but it does saves you a whole lot of pounds which means more money to spend on impulse purchases)
5. Always, always ask for student discount at the till, you're paying thousands for university, you ought to use your privileges to full use.
6 Asos.com (they have pretty much everything, shipping is free and they make returns so easy, just drop it at any collect+ location plus it's also free)

7. Register for Unidays, you pretty much get half price off Netflix and Spotify
8. Attend events in the Student Union, you're bound to get a free pen, sandwich, cup of tea or even a tote bag. They're always giving free stuff.
9. Instead of paying fees for societies that you only attend once or complain how they only drink in bars (their form of a 'social'), do volunteering instead. I cannot emphasis enough how many treasured friendships I've made through volunteering (I can write a whole post about volunteering, which I will do in the near future).
10. Go to the movies on Tuesdays, it's student night, usually half price. I'm not a frequent clubber so I'm afraid I can't help in the aspect of which clubs have the cheapest drinks, sorry!
11. I don't recommend to shop on Student Night, that's the one night every city prepare in malls (usually after freshers' week) for students to take advantage of the discounted items. Here's the trick, they mark up the prices way higher than usual with a major discount tag slapped onto it, this gives you the illusion of actually saving more by purchasing an item at a lower price when it's actually not at all.
12. Tap water is drinkable in England, however, it never hurts to have it filtered just to be safe. (Get one of those Brita fliter jugs on amazon)
13. Always check the expire dates on items in chinese supermarkets, they tend to still sell stuff past the expire dates for a cheaper price (the nearer to the till, the more expired it is).

14. Shop on depop, though it's secondhand, sometimes items are brand new, never used but cheaper on the site
15. Sell your preloved stuff on depop, just a way of getting extra cash instead of trashing or donating them

16. Go that extra mile and recycle, though you think it's such a small act, it does make a difference. They make it so convenient and easy in England unlike countries like Malaysia where you don't have a recycling bin provided at every home. (Olio is an app you can share your unwanted food that are still in good condition for others or get food from places with surplus of food, it's just a brilliant way of decreasing food waste)
17. Smile and say your please and thank yous to bus drivers, cashiers, waiters and strangers.
18. Go out of your way to help someone, whether it's helping an elderly grab something from a tall shelf or helping someone pick up something they dropped or supporting a friend in their social enterprise in helping the poor and needy.
19. Always search the web for vouchers before purchasing something at full price (especially domino's)
20. You can only bring one hand luggage for a budget airline, that includes your backpack, even my little longchamp backpack had to be stuffed into my hand luggage before I was allowed to board the plane.
21. For someone who has never stayed in a student accommodation, I can truly say you save a sum from renting a flat or house from a landlord. Although, you have to go through the hassle of actually looking for the perfect place, I, for one, never regret the places I called home during my university time. You just ought to be smart in searching for somewhere close to the city (so you don't have to pay for public transport), cheap (always try your luck in bargaining for cheaper rent) and cosy (add a few plants, fairy lights, photos on the wall and you got yourself a place you can call home). Disclaimer, this might only be comfy for an introvert like me who don't go out very frequent and keep my social events at a bare minimum.