Two medium take-away pizzas (from a well known high street brand) per week cost £26; over a year this costs £1,352.

You could y to Dubai, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Melbourne, Auckland, LA or New York for less than the cost of these two pizzas over the year.

A medium cappuccino costs £2.55 on average: If you were to buy this every few days you would spend£318.75 on coff ee per year.

A 75cl bottle of water bought each working day costsapproximately 80p; over the year that water costsyou £208. Instead, buy a reusable bottle and refill at home.

A lunch time meal deal costs you £3.99 per day for a sandwich, drinks and a snack; over a month that is just under £100. Over a year this lunch is costing just under £1,200 (an entire term of student funding).Make your lunch at home or use dinner’s leftovers and reheat in the Union Southampton microwave.

Food for thought www.southampton.ac.uk/studentservices

Student Services CentreStudent money matters help guide

We realise that going to university is a significant investment, so our Financial Information and Assistance team will be happy to give you advice and information on budgeting to help you stay in control of your money.

Here are some top tips to help you manage your nances.

Don’t forget to include birthdays, Christmas and other special occasions. Use a budget planner to help you keep track of your spending.

A 16-25 railcard costs just £30. A travel card to London from Southampton costs £37.50. With a 16-25 railcard it’s just £24.75. Three trips in a year and you’ve already saved.

Many discounts and off ers are available in shops, restaurants and bars. Get 10% off at Co-op for example, or £50 off your next trip with STA Travel.

Use the library. If you do buy the text books, you can re-sell them. There are several websites that off er this service as well as having a great range of used books for sale.

A large number of free alternatives to the often required, extremely expensive software packages available, like Photoshop and Microsoft Offi ce. GIMP is a great one for photo editing and VLC player is a great free media player. Also search for free anti-virus and Offi ce software through Google.

To access a budget planner or to download an app, visit

Visit these sites for more useful information on how to save money

- Over 50 great tips for saving

- Categorised money saving advice

- The Independent’s top 10 tips

- A list of fantastic student off ers...

Please be aware, we do not endorse these websites. They are provided for information purposes only. Many other websites are also available with similar information

Here are some money saving tips from our students who attended our National Student Money Week event held on campus

Cook in bulk and freeze for future meals

Buy food with friends or bulk buy

Cook with your housemates - one person cooks each night, saving on washing up and water

Visit discount stores such as Lidl, Aldi

Make a shopping list before you go

Bake your own sweets

Buy frozen veg – there’s less to waste because they last longer

Make a meal plan so you only buy what you need for that week

Go shopping with an open mind – buy what’s on off er

Buy meat from a butcher directly, it’s much cheaper than the supermarket

Put a jumper on rather than the heating

Switch off lights in rooms not occupied to reduce your electricity bill

Set your water and heating to be on at times when you are at home

Apply for scholarships; you never know what you can get

Keep track of your spending on a spreadsheet

Use loyalty cards in supermarkets

Wash clothes on a lower temperature

Keep showers as short as possible – i.e. four minutes

Megabus tickets are from £1 a seat if booked a month in advance

Don’t use electric heaters, as they cost more to run.

visit www.nasma.org.uk/Events/

Money saving tips

* Figures are an average estimation based on six people sharing a private rented property, based on costs during summer 2015/16

Rent £

Gas £2.70

Electricity £2.10

Water £2.51

Average household costs (per week, per person) for the Southampton area