Living on a student budget

My name is Patrycja Rogozinska and I am studying Economics and Business Administration in my 6th semester.

In this blogpost I will give you my best advice for living on a student budget as a student in Aarhus. It really does not have to be so expensive as a student in Denmark :-)

6 tips how to live on student budget

Maybe you know the saying "you can’t have it all". I disagree. Being a student doesn’t have to equal eating pasta with tomato sauce 7 days a week. It can be so much more interesting, even if you don’t like cooking.

Of course, it’s best to cook yourself, but it might be difficult because of many reasons starting from being busy to not liking it. There are some shortcuts to having a healthy, varied and balanced diet. Of course, if you make good choices.

Here are my tips for how to enjoy your life to the fullest and still be on a budget.

1.     Check the "tilbudsavis" 

It sounds obvious, but buying what is discounted in a current week, can save you lots of money.

2.     Go shopping in the morning

Hunting good discounts is not only rewarding for your wallet but also your mood. It feels good to buy great products at attractive prices. Recently supermarkets try to limit food waste and discount products with a short expiry date. Usually, in each shop, there is an area where you can find those products, but also if you shop in the morning you can find even more discounted products. For example, last week I bought 15 organic bananas for 10 kr and fresh-looking ready-to-eat salad for 15 kr (-70%).

3.     Download the Too-Good-To-Go app

It is an amazing initiative that aims to reduce food waste. You can reserve a meal or collect last the pieces of food from a restaurant or a bakery. I used to use it but since I stopped eating meat and fish it became very difficult for me to find exciting options, especially that you never know what will be in your goodie bag! In Denmark, we can see a rapid change into eating more veggies and offering more and more vegetarian/vegan options, but meat/fish-eaters will have a slightly wider range to choose from.

4.     Follow @SmagAarhus on facebook

They post about the best discounts for take-away food.

5.     Don’t be afraid to visit ‘expensive’ shops

When I first arrived in Aarhus, I was intimidated to visit Magasin, one of two shopping malls, because I knew they sell only premium products. However, when I get myself together to visit this place, I was shocked to see that they offer big discounts. I ended up buying a couple of high-end products with -60% each. Pretty nice shot. Also, usually, you can download an app and enjoy even more discounts.

6.     Get Studenterlauget’s membership card

If you are a student at Aarhus BSS, definitely sign up there, a membership is cheap, but you get many discounts, visit this website for more info.

I hope it helps you and shows that as much as living in Denmark might be more expensive than your home country, there are some ways to enjoy it all and be on a budget.

Do you have some other tips or tricks about living on a student budget?

Let me know and if you have any questions regarding life as a student at Aarhus BSS, how to stay on a budget. or how I found housing, please feel free to reach out to me by e-mail.