OU staff and students share their best money tips

It can be difficult to talk about money. That’s why during the first week of November, the Money and Pension Service encourages everyone to have more open conversations about their personal finance. Talk Money Week is a great chance to kickstart money conversations with your fellow students, your colleagues as well as your family and friends.

Discussing money in our everyday lives can help us build the financial confidence and resilience needed to face whatever the future has in store for us.

This year’s Talk Money Week theme is ‘do one thing’. What one thing could you do to improve your financial wellbeing? Our OU staff and students in Wales have some ideas to get you started:

Sign up to the Money Saving Expert Newsletter. It’s a game changer. I also recommend MSE’s Academy of Money, a free course from The Open University and Money Saving Expert (available in both English and Welsh.)

Look out for charities and trusts that can offer grant money for people facing hardships. See Family Action and Turn2us.”

Look out for free or cheap food apps such as Olio and Too good to go.

Money Helper has great calculators and other tools that could help you get to grips with common money problems or situations.

Martin Lewis on MSE’s Academy of Money on OpenLearn

It’s worth buying pet food in bulk as it saves in the long run. If you’re really struggling, there are pet food banks too.

I write down all my outgoings and essential bills and have these payments leave my account when I get paid so that I know how much I'm left with for the rest of the month.

Buy large multipacks of food you can chop up and freeze in portions which can be defrosted when needed (or cook from frozen for veg). The best ingredients are those that go across a range of recipes such as onions, peppers, mushrooms, chicken, spinach and leeks! This helps save money and reduce waste by only using what you need as you need it. See this guide to freezing food from BBC Good Food.

If you struggle with saving or don’t know where to start, autosaving apps may be a good tool for you. See this article from Money Saving Expert for a rundown of how they work and which ones to go with.

Let's Talk About Uni podcast, Episode 4: Can I afford to go to university?

Children grow out of clothes so quickly, so buy second hand. There are lots of websites and apps like Vinted where you can buy kids clothes bundles. Saves a fortune. Also check if your children's school or PTA does a uniform swap shop.

Making your own pizza dough is really easy and one bag of strong flour can make eight pizzas!

I find it useful to have different 'accounts' or 'pots' for different which can really help keep track of spending on things like food and petrol.

Plan your meals for the week and make a shopping list before you go to the shop and try and keep to the list.

Are you an OU student or thinking about becoming one?

Our Senior Manager for Fees and Funding in Wales, Einir England, has six things that could help you with your financial wellbeing.

1. Make sure you apply for all the funding you’re entitled to.: If you’re a student living in Wales before you started your first module of your qualification, you could be eligible for funding from Student Finance Wales towards your fees and living costs. There’s also additional support for students with dependants.
2. If you have a disability, apply for Disabled Student Allowance (DSA).: DSA is extra support from Student Finance Wales on top of your other student finance and can be used to pay for study-related costs like equipment, non-medical help and photocopying and printing.
3. Make the most of your student discounts.: Always check if you get a discount by being a student. More discounts are available by having a TOTUM card or by signing up to UNIdays and Student Beans.
4. Take advantage of free resources available at The Open University.: For example, why not enrol on our Money Saving Expert’s Academy of Money course on OpenLearn as mentioned above or discover other free courses such as Managing my money for young adults.
5. Talk to someone.: Money worries can have a significant impact on our mental health and overall wellbeing. Feeling low can make it harder to manage your finances. Mind offers some practical tips on managing your money and improving your mental health.
6. Get in touch if your money worries are having an impact on your studies.: Contact our Student Recruitment and Support Team to discuss you study options if you have financial concerns.

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