The Freshers’ Guide: getting things for free

St Andrews’ Freshers’ Week starts today! Students have been known to spend their entire loan within this period and it can be difficult to recover financially. Luckily, and just for you, we’ve got a list of the top six ways to get things for free!

1. Ebay

One person’s junk is another’s treasure. If you have rubbish lying around, put it up for sale online! You’d be surprised how much money things like second hand clothes go for. Those rips? – ‘vintage’. Shrunk in the wash? – ‘slim fit’. Just use your imagination in the descriptions. If you want to take it a step further then why not use your profits to rifle through the charity shops of St Andrews (there’s a brand new Salvation Army). We’ve heard of canny students in London clearing up to £200 a week in profit by doing this. Show those schmucks on the Apprentice how its it’s done. Lord Sugar/Donald Trump would be proud.

2. Enter Competitions

There are competitions for students everywhere. Universities and companies are tripping over themselves to give away money and opportunities, seize the chance to do something you’ve never done before and do it for free. A Scottish anthropology student recently found that he could enter a film competition run by Lenovo. Most assumed it was for only American Film Students but he applied and got given a £1500 production budget to make the following amazing film:

The winning prize? $15,000! 

3. Vouchers, vouchers, vouchers

Often overlooked vouchers can save you up hundreds of pounds per year! St Andrews’ very own KeyCard is offering amazing student discounts and pretty much every shop in St Andrews (get your KeyCard ASAP!). You can also go directly through retailers. If you take a little time to shop around you can get CRAZY discounts: at the time of writing, Tesco has up to 80%-off discounts– making Market Street that little bit more bearable.

4. Become a Promoter

We’ve all heard that cliché about ‘party for a living’ but if you are smart, even in a small town like St Andrews – you can have fun doing the job you love. St Andrews is a small town but most events still need promoters. If all else fails, head to the clubs in Dundee. The guys behind ‘Headphone Disco’ in St Andrews told us that they used to earn up to £1500 a month because they saw how successful the night was in other student towns, approached the company and persuading them to put up the cash up-front in return for marketing the night – they were soon laughing all the way to the bank.

5.  Free Condoms

Let’s admit it, Fresher’s Week is famous for its frivolous nature. But you’re a responsible and mature student right? You’ll be using condoms, and to get these for free, you should head straight to your university’s health clinic. Every university has one, and there on the reception counter you will find a bowl full of free condoms. It’s a bit embarrassing to walk in and take a fist full – how many are too many? – but hey, can you ever have too many?

6. Become a Student Brand Manager

Big corporations and charities like TeachFirst pay students to represent them at University events. For example, many investment banks pay students a thousand pounds or more to create a stand at recruitment fairs and promote them to others. Accountancy firms PwC and Deloitte do the same.  It’s also a fantastic thing to put on your CV, if you’re applying to the same company it shows a certain loyalty. So, take a look at the companies you might be interested in getting a job with after University and find out if they have a student representative scheme.

Do you have any other suggestions on how to get stuff for free, to earn lots of money, or to buy at a steep discount? Let us know in the comments below! 

Images: Howard Chu; novelty-outlet.com