Monday 30 July 2012

Well deserved rest

Good Afternoon Beans,

Well my little Beans, i hope you are well rested after the weekend! I was working! God a 6 day week can be a killer, but at least mums home-cooked meal to come home to cheers me up no end!! My friends forced me to watch Mexican/Spanish horror film KM-13 (which was really just a ghost story that was topped up with Japanese horror staples that fail to scare the shit out of you i.e half dead pale children who laugh like their being tickled by a rapey teddy bear). I did blankly refuse to watch Silent Hill, this is the only version I'd like...
Sorry Jonah

Apart from being bored to sleep by KM-13 I spent the rest of the weekend hanging with the boyfriend, we played Rayman, went on a walk and we were going to go into a lovely town near us called Farnham but we got rained off so ended up making cupcakes instead. I borrowed my mum piping nozzles from when i was a kid and made chrysanthemum flowers. I'll upload the picture later, I do warn they are practise cakes so they wont be perfect, but for my first attempt they were lush! I'm guna get a petal tip next week so then i can make a bouquet of flowers for a friends birthday!

Magic Bean of the day!!

We all know it makes sense to wait to buy those new DVDs until they come down in price. But why don't you make money out of the ones your just plain bored with! Stores like CEX will buy them off you! Check out their website get yourself a quote, if you sell enough you may even have enough store credit to buy that brand new game or box-set you had your eye on!


Happy Bargaining Beans
Don't forget to follow me!
Hannah xxx

Friday 27 July 2012

Payday Budgets!!!

Well hello Beans,

I trust you are enjoying your day I am! I'VE BEEN PAID! Finally got all the money for my deposit and rent for the house massive weight has jsut lifted off my shoulders! Even better i have a little left over for me too.
Out of my gang of friends back home I'm the only one at university. So with them all in full-time jobs and me with my meesly 8hr part-time work its sometimes difficult to keep up. But my word is it do-able! Difficult but do-able. All you need to do is make sure you've got a really good budget in place

Here are my 5 top ten tips for Payday Budgeting

1. Tommorow, tommorow, i'll do it, tommorow!
No you won't. You know how i know that. Cause i wouldn't. You waon't do it the next day or the one after that and then eventually you'll say 'oh, next month'. Despite my continuing attempts to have procrastination named an olympic sport, budgeting is not the appropriate time to divulge in such an activity.
So get to it. Now!!

2. Honesty is always the best policy
Theres no point lying to yourself about your financees (you'll know). Trying to kidd yourself that you don't have an over draf, or that at the end of the month you'll pay this that and the other off isn't going to help. Be realistic with yourself. Work out your figures and write it down in big letters and put them up. Wheather its your phone bill, your water bill or perhaps how much you spent on booze last month. Be realistic.

3. Get Calculating.
Write down every incoming bit of money you have for month on one side of a coloumn and on the other your outgoings you have to buy. Food, rent, bills, phone bill are just a few examples. Be honest with yourself to, if your a smoker budget your smokling but dont be unrealistic and make sweeping statements like im not guina smoke (cause it probably won't happen). Then you can see what your left with. I like to divide that figures into weeks and then i can see how much i have for the whole week.

3. Every penny counts!
This is something i got my friend whos about to be a fresher to do. once you've work out what you've got coming in every month and out every month get yourself some pennies. 1 p for every pound and fill up a jar. Every time you spend a pound you put a penny into the out goings jar. This emans you have a visual representation of your finances. If your not mathmatically minded it really helps to see your earnings too and see when your budgeting how your money divides up. Sometimes you dont realise how much you've spent on absoulte shit!

5. Work hard. Play Harder
What really makes budgeting worth it to me is not have that paniccy feeling at the end of the month thinking where the hell am i guna find money for food or rent. If you can plan your spending, you'll find the more you budget the niftier ways you'll make your money last longer. This means when you do want a little splurdge your able to do it without that guilt hanging over you

Happy Budgeting Beans

Thursday 26 July 2012

Sneaky Beans

Hey Beans,

Feel like I've been living off of beans lately. When I'm really manic they seem the easiest thing to eat in a rush. Like most people in the U.K I seem to be permanently on a diet (the choccy wrappers in my bin are disagreeing) but dieting not only can be a pain in your phat arse but can be really pricey too! So I've been coming up with nifty recipes that are low fat and low carb and really yummy too - and it seems most of them contains beans!! This recipe can be used with quorn mine (even lower in fat than regular mince and nearly half the price) and really gives the quorn some needed flavour!

Ingredients
1. Frozen Quorn Mince packet (£1.89 from tesco)
2. Tin of Beans (possibly two depending on size of the dish, just use common sense)
3. 4 sweet potatoes
4. 30 ml of semi-skimmed milk
5. 100g Primula cheese light OPTIONAL (If your feeling a little naughty)

Recipe

1. Wash and peel the sweet potato and give it a few stabs with a fork. Pop into a microwavable dish and cover - leaving air holes. Cook on 750Watts for 10 minutes

2. Take the mince (don't defrost its a cook from frozen) and put into a large saucepan. Tip in your beans. Heat for ten minutes on the hob, but don't let it boil! Just a nice simmer

3. Using oven gloves! Take the sweet potato out of the microwave and mash drizzling in your milk - if you use a ricer you get a much smoother result. Once smooth add in you primula cheese

4. Tip the quorn mince into an oven bake dish and top with your sweet potato mash

5. You can top this with some greater Cheddar or red Leicester is you like. But if you've got the primula cheese you still get that cheesy taste. Not dieting? crush up some smokey bacon crisps (use mini cheddar smokey BBQ) and chuck on top with the cheese for a nice bit of crunch

6. Brown in the oven for 5-10 minutes

7. Enjoy!

I like to serve this with a bit of broccoli or spinach and peas. You can always hide your veggies in with the mince as well


Leftovers
This makes enough for 4 people so if you have any left overs pop it into some tupper-ware and once cooled pop into the fridge or freezer
If your left with extra sweet potato mix it with your favourite veg - i like broccoli and swede and you can use the next day for bubble and squeak.

Enjoy your munch
Hannah
xxx


Wednesday 25 July 2012

Going for Gold

Hello Beans,

It begins! The official opening ceremony might not be until Friday but today we see the GB Women's football team kick of the Olympics against the New Zealand team. You know what, i kind of don't care. I know i know, these people are amazing athletes and have tried really hard blah blah blah, but this feels a little bit like rubbing our faces in it. Brings back memories of school sports days where we'd just watch the skinnier and more talented people do things we couldn't be arsed to attempt. But it seems this year London 2012 Olympics will be unavoidable for us Brits. Streets are covered in bunting and cars are decorated with flags, switch on the news and Boris Johnson is gabbing on about 'burning flames' and 'olympic spirit'. If you can't beat them, maybe join them... just don't let the buggers make you pay.

1. Wheels on the bikes go round and round
I don't know about you, but how they sold the tickets really bloody confused me. It was a lottery but it wasn't you didn't pick what you were going for - eeehh? If your hoping to go see one of the Olympic events but you either didn't get a ticket or didn't like the price, Then watch for free. Particular outdoor long distance events will be completely free to go see, such as cycling, the triathlon and the marathon. That way you can say you went to see the Olympic games - without paying a penny. I've popped a map in of the cycle race I'm going to see this Saturday!


2. D.I.Y
So you didn't get picked for the GB Team, darn me neither. Prove them wrong! Next week I'm going to be holding my own mini Olympics with table tennis, high-jumping and bobsleigh - no i have not quite figured out how I'm going to do that yet! I'm going to make some gold silver and bronze cup cakes for little prices too!!! Why don't you do the same, with your family and friends, although look away when you 90 great aunt tries to do rhythm gymnastics!

3. The bigger the better
The BBC have set up 22 different big screens all around the country for us to see the Olympics on, if its a nice sunny day like today it will be much better to be sat in a lush field watching than stuck on your sofa!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bigscreens/locations/?source_url=/bigscreens/locations

4. Doing your bit
One way to try and see the Olympics for free would be stewarding but its a little to late for that!! But remember the paralympics begins on the 28th August and you still have time to volunteer! Looks on websites like Vinspired and Jobmonkey and you may be in luck. But be speedy!!

5. The Olympic Drinking Game -MY FAVOURITE!
Drinking, a sport taken part in by many athletes, typically students; despite the danger, of vomiting, embarrassment and of course the whole liver cancer in later life thing. This drinking game we came up with at the last Olympics when i was 16 and still sipping bit of WKD to get WASTED!!!

1. Fill a hat or bag with slips of paper with all the different events on
2. Someone picks out a sport and has to name the countries that won medals
3.For everyone country they name incorrectly they take a shot (max 3 guesses)
4. If they can not only guess the countries but also say what medals they got they can give away that shot to someone else around the circle
5. Keep going round until your suitably hammered.


Hope you enjoyed my student Olympics special
Till tomorrow
Hannah
xxx

Tuesday 24 July 2012

Keep your cool

Dear Boiling Beans,

We've been moaning for weeks that there has been no sunshine for weeks and now we've been overloaded. I've practical turned to God since they've fixed my offices air-con system! If you've not got air-con, don't panic, no need jumping into your neighbours paddling pool just yet. 
Here are my 5 top tips for keeping your cool without baking all your dough (wow, my jokes are worst than my fathers)

1. Pistols at the ready
This is probably my favourite way to keep cool with my mates. Water fight. No planning necessary, not even water guns, regularly i begin mine with a bucket of water to my boyfriends face! You can get 100 water bombs from the pound shop - you'd never guess there a pound - and they sell loads of cheap toys as well. Just remember to be safe, even have some spare old goggles lying around, this will make it easier for you to see and to win as well!! If you have any reluctant members of your group make it a bit of a competition, whether its a water fight for the last cider. Or winner gets to pick their favourite Ice lolly

2. I'll take you to the candy shop...
Yes 50 Cent, lick it like a lollipop. But please i beg of you, don't be buying from the ice-cream vans or stalls! Whatever Ice-lolly you like from calypsosos to crunchie blasts, always buy the the multi-pack. Its simple math! your saving at least 50p an ice ceream, which over a long summer adds up. That goes for ice-cream too; for a scoop of Kelly's Cornish Ice-cream your looking at £1.50, a litre tub at tesco costs £2!! Save your sprinkles and wait till you get home! You'll save a lot of wonga.

3. Its going to be Intents
Tempted to get away for a weekend, maybe book a B&B for the night. Stop right there. A travel lodge will cost you £40-60 for a night, why waste all your pounds on a roof over your head when you can make a whole weekend from £50. I don't mean Girl guide camping or Scouting and i certainly don't mean when your Dad drags you to a nearby forest for a family holiday. I mean BBQ, booze and ghost stories! Me and my friends love road-tripping, bundling into one car with the music really loud to some random destination - just remember to split the petrol cost!!!

4. Cool as a cucumber
This is an absolutely crazy trick that i actually got from a pet book. Cucumber ice-lollies. I used to freeze half sticks of cucumber for my rabbits and my old school friend was dumb enough to try and eat some. After a long time of convincing me i tried it to and was very pleasantly surprised. Its really healthy for you and helps keep you hydrated. This frozen cucumber also makes a great addition into a jug of Pimms.

5. Always use protection
Shes about to nag, run away.... Thought i would offer the obvious tip, use sun cream!!! I burn so easily so I've always got a little travel sized bottle with me. It doesn't need to be anything fancy. Super markets own are normally great, just perhaps have some baby wipes to hand to get any grease off. Don't spend silly money on an after sun either, just as you leave the house in the morning, for the beach or wherever, pop your favourite moisturiser in the fridge. Feels great when it goes on and you've saved a little bit cash for a souvenir post card and keyring.

Happy Baking Beans
Hannah
xxx

Monday 23 July 2012

Bad Bean

Good morning Beans,

Let me begin this blog with my sincerest apologies. My mission to save us beans one dot at a time perhaps slipped my mind for a moment as the boyfriend and myself played host to some of our besties for a bbq! Om nomnomnomnom I hear you say!
Of course our bbq was done budget style! BYOM (Bring your own meat) on the invite and i made some fantastic barbecued choccy bananas for after! Just nipped down to our off licence for some beer and some fizzy drink, raided the freezer for meat to defrost and found some packets of crisps left over from x-mas (still in date) and we were off.  Really wishing id got a picture of the bananas... looks like im just guna have to make some more this week. Of course all for the sake of the blog!!

Some in Lew of my post yesterday I'm going to give you my five top ten tips for the perfect summer bbq that wont burn a hole in your wallet

1. The BBQ Bucket
No im not suggesting you nip down to KFC! The BBQ Bucket is a new nifty BBQ that's great for at home, while camping and out on the beach. The one i brought the boyfriend was about as deep as a can of beer and as wide as a Frisbee, no need to raise it on blocks or rocks the bucket does that for you and it comes in lots of nifty colours too. So don't keep buying disposable bbq at £4 a pop. Spend a tenner on this BBQ Bucket and it will last you a few years too!

2. BYOM
You heard of Bring Your Own Booze? While i make most my BBQ Bring Your Own Meat. Now a days everyone has different food requirements allergies, vegetarians and some of us who want to loose a few pounds (of weight that is)! Meat can get mighty expensive so i personally like to make some veggie kebabs with Everyday Value mini chicken breast £2 at tesco. Last night cost me £4 for me and the boyfriend and i even had some left over to pop with some couscous for work today.
You could always take a leaf out of Mama Beans book. My mum makes BBQ Potluck, everyone picks out the hat and brings something, then she bulk buys all the meat and rolls!

3. Your bit on the side
I love a bit of potato salad or egg kedgeree on the side of my burger. But don't go and buy those ready made ones from the supermarkets. Save some beans and make them at home. Try some boiled new potato's with some chopped hard boiled egg and some salad veggies of your choosing, all mixed with a little mayonnaise and your sorted! If you want a healthier side make coleslaw from shredded cabbage and carrot with a bit of Greek yogurt

4. Poor me Poor me Pour me a drink
When i think of A BBQ two things come to mind. My boyfriend accidentally burning down the house. It will happen one day! And i also think of Pimms! Out in the sun, with all your mates, glass of cool pimms in your hand, sorted. But its a little less relaxing once you see the price tag. Why don't you try going for the smaller brands; sainsburys has pitchers, asda has players. These tend to be half the price of regular pimms and i know i cant tast the difference.
You can make non-alcoholic pimms to at a fraction of a price to! Before you recoil in horror at the ingredients let me finish the whole recipe first the lids worth of good luxury balsamic vinegar, diet lemonade and a sprig of mint. Chuck in a punch fruit and your ready to go. Even the guests with the most delicate of palettes wouldn't guess the difference

5. Play the game
With the Olympics right around the corner, living in the host country everyone is getting major excited! Why don't you make your BBQ different by doing an Olympic theme! You could try Olympic rings; Pick up some cheap donuts from a supermarket and ice them different colours to look like the rings, or use pepper rings for something a little healthier! Last Olympics me and my dad created an obstacle course with all my old toys from the shed and got a pack of ten cheap medals for £1 in tesco, and we made a winners burger topped of with extra cheese, sauce and salad. Just adds a little extra to the party and gives the boys an excuse to be watching beach volleyball in the background

Another week of work ahead and I'm already yawning. Really starting to miss term time, sleeping all day, becoming addicted to BBC Iplayer and becoming so lazy i once left the washing up for 3 days waiting for the boyfriend to come visit!

See you later my BBQ Beans

Sunday 22 July 2012

Wipe the slate clean

Good Morning Beans,

Hope you are all having a lovely weekend!
Tonight i'll be doing a photo tutorial on dotty Manicures, saving you all that cash at the salon!$-)
Thought I'd drop this magic bean on you now!!!

Stocking up can be  great way of saving money. Whenever i see a great deal in the shops i fill my cupboard. 
These baby wipe had 60% of! Down to 95p each. They make great face wipes and they're always good for sensitive skin. Johnson's are my favorite although boot own are good when there are no offers about. Huggies have a bit of a weird smell and i feel like im walking around smelling like baby butt all day!

So I've saved myself £15 this week, what bargains did you get?
Email me any great bargains you spot
-    livingonbeans@gmail.com

Have a good bargain hunt!

Mrs Clean Bean
xxxx






Friday 20 July 2012

Working 9 to 5

Good Morning Beans,

So yesterday we banished away our summer boredom on a non-existent budget! But what if you need a bit of extra dough. Maybe for your rent over the summer, a new wardrobe, or you just want a booze fund by the time you get back, you need a summer job. Easier said than done.The job market is not fab at the moment, we all know that, but there are opportunities out there for us students looking for some extra beans.

Here's my top 5 tips for bringing home the bacon

1. Pain is temporary, and so are jobs
Temping, office Temps to be precise. Whether you know what you want to go into to or not after uni. Basic admin skills will always put you in good stead. Temps jobs are a fantastic bit of experience in a wide range of careers. I've been a receptionist, a data cleanser, a scanner, a tea maker and I've even been a Financial Crime Associate. Some positions are just a week, others 3 months, but they normally pay pretty well it averages at about £7 an hour. To get these fab jobs I'd advise going through an agency. Have a bit of a mooch on the web and in your local newspaper but agencies are great for handling the headaches of paperwork and tax stuff and they do the searching for you. I work for a fantastic agency called Tulip recruitment, based in Basingstoke, but national groups like Reed and Pertemps are good to. Give an agency a call email your C.V and then become the ultimate black and white Forest animal. The badger, remind them how fab you are!!! If you don't hear from them in a fortnight then you've probably fallen into the circular filing cabinet, the bin. Don't Panic though i still have 4 more tips to get you the perfect summer job

2. How do you look in a red coat?
Holiday parks can't afford to hire staff all your round, what would be the point. But over their very busy summer period these places are desperate for staff from cleaning chalets, to entertaining kids seasonal workers are hired to make their customers trip as magic as possible. Don't panic if you live really far away either. Some of these places will often chalet accommodation for you at a very small price. If your paying for accommodation the money isn't great your probably talking about £4 an hour 'after expences', but your getting a free holiday too. Its not just in the UK too, you have programmes like PGL, were you work abroad!You cant beat the atmosphere in these places and i guarantee you'll have a summer you will never forget!!
Check their individual websites for more detail or have a look at PGL, I've chucked a link here for you
http://www.pgl.co.uk/pglweb/recruitment/
P.S stick away from camp you have to pay for!!! Camp America you pay them £500 to work for them!!

3. There's no place like home
Remember when you were a kid and you used to tidy your room for pocket money? Well think bigger. If your parents work all day perhaps suggest you'll get some of the DIY or big cleaning jobs done for them. You could ask your neighbours and relatives to! My brother last year spent 3 days repainting our hallway to pay for a festival ticket, while I tended to the veggie patch for a little spare cash. Your parents will be grateful, you've not had to pay any transport to get to work. And you can flop straight down on the sofa when your done and watch telly!

4. Set Sale
Summer sales, no i have not lost my way and started spending all my well earned beans!! I'm searching for jobs!!! Sales can be manic for retail stores are quite regularly they'll bring on some temporary staff just for 2-3 weeks, this could be you! Take a wodge of C.V with blank cover letters, take them into to town with you and find all the shops with Hiring signs! If you've got the time give these places a call before, then you can be super prepared (try and get the manager name, so you can address a cover letter to them) I've worked in retail for 4 years in various different stores and I love it. Its fun your kept busy and even if your colleagues are unfriendly you have tonnes of customer to have a natter with. Just cause your not sticking around though doesn't mean you can slack. Work extra hard and perhaps when it get Christmas time they'll have you back again to work for them!!

5. Do you want fries with that?
I know I know I know! Maccy D's is not the dream place to work. But don't put your nose up to fast food chains. They're constantly recruiting, and they're not too fussy. If you haven't had a job before they're a very good jumping of point. The will fully train you, its not to shabby pay and hey a job is a job! No excuses here are one of the bad boys in nearly every town best thing is when your strapped for cash at uni (because you've not been following my tips!) just apply to your local branch and I'm sure they would gladly have you. No it is not the most glamorous job, and you will go home smelling of chip fat oil and despair, but its work. Someone has to do it

From the Mac Daddy of student spending
Hannah

Thursday 19 July 2012

Relax, dont do it

Good Morning Students,

Whether your just waking up or perhaps even just getting in; there's one thing we have in common. All us lucky students are in the midst of a 3 month long summer holiday. Some of you freshers-to-be will be eagerly awaiting you A-Level results, and the rest of us are just making sure we've passed the year at uni! Luckily my wait was over a fortnight a go and i happy to be able to publish to the blogsphere that i will officially be returning to the University of Winchester in September 2012.
But it can get really difficult to fill our summer months, of course theres the initial post uni catch up with all those old school acquaintances that you never really missed 'OMG, hows uni' 'OMG, Its great' 'OMG blah blah blah blah blah'. If your like me you'll have had a big spring clean because you realise you must cram your university hall room back into your box of a bedroom back home. And i expect some of you freshers will be tralling wilkinsons and tescos for saucepans and cutlery and contemplating stocking up on loo roll for the year (well if mum and dad paying for it!!! XD). Unfortunatly not all of us can afford a girly holiday to Shagaluf or A boys banging bonanza in Benidorm, and all those trips you hyperthetically planned over email with your besties just havent materialised into actual days out. But when those purse string are tight it can seem pretty tricky to keep ones-self busy

So lets banish the boredom!!!!
Here are my five easy tips to keep yourself entertain this summer. And they all cost less than a tin of beans

1. On your bike.
Remember when you were a kid an you went exploring, made little hide out dens and pissed of old negihbours play knock down ginger and your only transport was your trusty two wheel friend. Well dust of those wheels, dig out your helmet and get peddling. Whether your cycling for an adventure, going to see a friend, or maybe saving yourself some bus fare, go and feel the wind through your hair. All those little journeys you'd hop into your little 1 litre car for, cycle instead. Think of all the petrol money you can save!
Not a biker? Dig out the rest of the crap in your shed, never know you may still fit your roller blades!!!

2. Playtime
Here's one the boys will like, although ive quite enjoyed having a go myself. Remember all those videogames you had as a kid; Mario, Spyro, Crash Bandycote. Well dig out your old consoles and give yourself a reminder. Me and the boyfriend have been trying re-complete Rayman now for two months, i cant get past the 3rd level without his help!!! Maybe challenge your friends to a gaming night, or have a race to see who can finish the game first. If you've got a playstation 3 your PS1 games will still work in the game, just give them a good dust of first, and this does mean you still get quite good graphic for such old technology. Some of you may have heard of Sims Social too. Im not really much of a gamer, but i loved sims as a pre-teen. If you cant reload your old discs, dont going buying the new ones. Just upload sims social on facebook. Its free, its fun, and now you can intarct with your friends on it. So dont go an buy the latest game when you've £50 worth of gamin hiding in the loft

3. Skillage
Whatever your feeling are towards video sharing social networking site youtube, whether you hate it for rocketing Justin Beiber to super stardom or love it for numerous videos of adorable cats doing adorable things, you have to admit it is an excellent time waister!! It should receive an award for its services to procrastinaters around the world, with Twitter coming a close second. However this master of distraction is hiding a peice of gold from us super skrimping students, video tutorials. If you can for one moment draw yourself away from watching The Duck Song for the millionth time just try to typing How To... in your search bar.
Here is where tip no 3 comes in. Learn a new skill. Theres so many you could try. You can find turtorials from how to knit, how to fix, how to morris dance. The list is endless. Try and go for something you dont need equipment for. My housemate and I found ourself in a very uncomfortable position learning the basics of yoga in the comfort of our living room; no gym fee, no snotty yummy mummys glaring the shit out of us, and the trainers were great, even when you nipped out for a fag halfway through she say your doing great. Okay so perhaps thats not the best example of commitment, but set yourself a challenge, and give yourself a deadline. I'm learning how to do the perfect manicures, my friends learning to sew and my boyfriends learning how to fit a new gadget to his little peugot 106.
Learn a new skill. Keeping entertained. Saving Money - i beleive thats a hattrick! Perhaps i should learn some football terminology to?

4. Swap it
Remember all those fab skills you've just learnt? Well lets put them to good use! I really wanted some new cusion covers to decorate my house. Knowing what a fabuolous sewer my bestie now is I called her for a little favour. In return for some gorgeous pillow covers i painted her nails in a funky dotty design. So your skills not just saving you money but your friends to, and your getting a helping hand in return!


5. Book some time at the library
Remember those last days at university before you left, think really hard and you may vaguely remember your teachers mentioning something about a READINGLIST! It depends on your course but most of us will have been given a list of maybe 5-6 books - if your lucky (i have 22) to read over the summer. These books probably wont be in a public library, and if you find a substitute its probably not to the right academic standard you need. Dont fret, if you didnt have a chance to pick up your books before you left, there's a free alternative!!! Dont scourer amazon for all your books, contact your university for a Sconel Card. Think of this card like VIP Entry. It gets you accsess into most other university librarys in the country. You can start your revision and dont have to to trek back to where your studying! These are great, not just for studying but for finding other resources. Wana make your essays really sparkle. Perhaps make a visit back home and have nosy though there books, and maybe you'll find something new to make your essay really stick out (hopefully for good reasons).

To get a Sconal card you will have to be registered with the university and therefore Freshers cant get one. Some Universitys will let you in the library as a visitor, i've done this at Reading University before (which has a fantastic library). However dont fret, most the books on your reading list are the basics, books you may need to buy for the whole course. If they are then pop onto some second hand bank websites, my favourite is http://www.sellstudentstuff.com/ and have a look there. Just make sure its the right edition your buy. Books get updated all the time, dont payout for a book that outdated! If that doesnt work and scouring amazonn has left you short, try and contact the university, most have bookshops already on campus selling used books, or they will know somewhere that will. Try and contact your faculty, they'll have the best idea for your subject.

Happy Saving
Hannah

Got any tips, post a comment!



Wednesday 18 July 2012

Dear Students

Dear Students,

When you're a student living within your means is really important. But no where near as important as Booze, Jeremy Kyle, and lie-ins! Do be Serious! By the end of the year half  my housemates found themselves living on beans. Beans on toast, beans on potato, even beans straight out the tin. My names Hannah, I'm studying Drama at The University of Winchester, just about to go into my second year and I'm determined not to repeat some of my rookie mistakes of my freshers year.
Your first year at university is many things, exciting, scary, hazy (depending on the amount of alcohol you've consumed'). There's one thing it ain't.... cheap. Whether you have a loan, a job or just rely on the bank of mum and Dad, us students are constantly finding our wallets empty and our purse strings tied very tight. Alongside studying, making friends and missing our parents (we all do just a bit) this is the first time most of us Young Adults have been in charge of our own finances. Tuition fees have risen and some students beginning their course this year will finish university with debts of over £25,000! That's just on tuition , you still have to pay for the roof over your head and the food in your belly, nevermind books, supplies, even booze.
I'd like to change that. Everyone these days seems to budgeting, yummy mummies, old grannies, even our politicians, and know its time us students do the same. Living within your means doesn't have to mean living on beans though. I'm guna share with you lot my attempt to be a student on a budget.
New students, old students, and whoever else has the Internet; Living on Beans.

Hannah