ING Direct have carried out some research which shows that people budget £45 for a night out but overspend by 100%! They also plan to spend £40 on a first date but overspend by £28 (70%)! Men are also more likely than women to overspend on nights out.

To help young people replenish their savings after such a spending shock ING Direct is asking people to recreate their own “airbag moment” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvFo0rMu5ZA) on MSN.com for their chance to win a cash prize of £1,000. I’m sure this is something a number of your community can relate to and £1,000 in the back pocket is always nice and will help with that next big night out or (for the more sensible) clearing that student debt. The comp is online here http://uk.msn.com/

I found the website Crashpadder.com which is great for those who want to find a room for a bargain price in 774 cities and 54 countries! The rooms tend to be spare rooms in other peoples’ houses so they are not hotels geared to rip you off… however, be careful you don’t find that the house owner is some nutcase!

Also, for those with a spare room, it’s a chance to earn some spare cash..

Check out the site, once again www.crashpadder.com

As a student in this day and age, you need to be careful of ensuring that you select the correct insurance specialist for your needs. If you’re someone below 25, you’ll find that you’re going to have to pay more. Why that number? Who knows.. I guess some statistician has looked at figures to work out that it is statistically more likely for some below 25 years to drive like a maniac!

I’ve been researching on the web on how you can get cheaper insurance as a student, they include:

• Getting good grades – shows that you take yourself seriously and therefore take responsibility… making you a better driver!
• Be more careful- if you have a record for good driving you will find that your insurance premiums go down each year
• Go on your parents insurance (if possible) – you’ll need your parents consent but if your parents are good drivers and have not had any accidents and they also trust you, they maybe able to put you down as a named driver. However, if you do have an accident, your parents insurance premium will go up (that won’t please them!)
• Extra driving lessons – you can take extra driving lessons – they are called defensive driving lessons or community driving and by passing these, the insurance companies will probably be happy to lower your costs.
• Choice of car – a less attractive car (to deter would-be thieves) and a smaller engine will also decrease the cost of your car insurance

www.mysupermarket.co.uk

www.moneysavingexpert.com

www.readitswapit.co.uk

www.homeexchangenow.co.uk

www.myvouchercodes.co.uk

www.petrolprices.com.uk

www.quidco.com

www.fatfingers.co.uk

www.liftshare.com

www.skyscanner.net

To read the original article:

http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article6390176.ece

My cousin told me that per quarter, his roomates and him pay £200 each. Thats a rip off!!!! So I wrote to the Energy Saving Trust for some ideas for him and got these:

* Turn your thermostat by 1 degree. This could cut your heating bills by 10% and save you around £40 a year.

* Is your water too hot? Make sure the boiler thermostat is set to no higher than 60 degrees.

* Close your curtains at dusk to stop heat escaping through the windows.

* Always turn off lights when you leave room.

* Dont leave electrical appliances on standby or on charge unnecessarily.I’m actually guilty of leaving my cellphone on recharge overnight so this should help.

* Wash your clothes at 30 degrees. Washing at 30 degrees rather than higher temperature means you use 40% less electricity.

* Only boil as much water as you need.

* Use energy saving lightbulbs. Just one can save you £100 over lifetime of the bulb and they last upto 12 times over an ordinary bulb.

If you can show that you’re responsible you can pay next to nothing (or nothing) for accomodation. When people go on holidays or extended leave, they will need people to look after their property and/or pets who live there too.
You can apply to become a housesitter, use the facilities of the home that you’re at (with permission of course) and get paid. The length of time varies from place to place depending on the circumstances. Of course, you’re going to have to build the trust you have with the homeowner but once you have done this, you maybe call regularly when they are visiting.
There are all sorts of companies out there which offer house sitting facilities and through these sites you can apply to become one… just type in ‘house sitter’ in Google or other searche engines.
The ones which came up when I searched online are:
http://www.mindmyhouse.com/

http://www.g-angels.co.uk

http://www.homesitters.co.uk

Selling your hair

I don’t know if it’s because more and more people are going bald (probably all the dissolved chemicals in tap water) but wigs, hair extensions and hairpieces are popular again. The best of these are made of real hair and of course, it’s got to come from somewhere. Typically, you need to have hair longer than 6 inches, it needs to be clean with no colouring or other treatment. Banbury Postiche are a major wig make and will pay you about £3 per ounce of hair that is 6-12 inches long and £5 per ounce for anything longer than 12 inches. Visit http://www.banburypostiche.co.uk for more information

Sperm and Egg donation

As a student I frequently saw adverts for sperm donation but the thought of having an untold child freaked me out so I never thought to do this. However, the money wasn’t bad,  you can get paid up to £40 for a.. er, deposit! If you want to go down this route, then go and visit your fertility centre or hospital. As a female, egg donation however involves being given drugs to regulate your menstrual cycle and then a 10 minute operation to remove them.. I would think carefully about donating your eggs as a female however. So, a relatively easy way for a man (if you have good sperm count) but perhaps not so easy for a woman.

Medical Experiments

A lot of students I knew did this when I was a student but being a human guinea pig, you just don’t know what sort of risks are involved. You may experience nothing and find it a very lucrative way to earn some pocket money but then again, what if something goes wrong? Visit http://www.biotrax.com who list all the medical trials which are currently available. A lot of people earn thousands doing this type of stuff but just remember that you never quite know the short term, let along long term affects it may have on you.

Psychological Research

This is relatively easy work and the pay can be quite good. You will be recruited for memory tests, brain imaging and other brain studies. You will get paid in cash for your time and travel expenses. You can get paid up to £60 for a session.

Police Line-up

Just visit your local police station and they will pay you about £10 for your picture which they will use for line-ups… let just hope you don’t get picked mistakenly for something you didn’t do!

Life Modelling

All you need to do is to sit still and be ok with people drawing/sculpting you. Contact the local art schools and adult education centres. You can also put up adverts in local arts schools or newspapers. Each session can last up to 3 hours and you can get paid upto £10 ($20 USD) per hour clothed and up to £15 ($30 USD) unclothed.

Film/TV extra

I have always wanted to do this but I never got picked. Would it be great to see yourself in the background of the new Harry Potter film? Anyway, you can earn up to £70 ($150 USD) a day for just a few hours work… more if you have your own props. All you have to do is to find a casting agency but be aware of the ones which as for an upfront fee.

Whether you’re a student or not, it doesn’t really matter but if you are a student with a car, you probably don’t mind the extra money…. if you’re a working professional, you’ll still qualify but I don’t know if you’ll be happy for someone to put adverts all over it!

Yes, this is a great concept… Adsoncars.com will pay you to put adverts on your car… apparently, it can be anything from £70 – £200 but I don’t know if your grannies banger will qualify.

Once you sign up, just wait for them to contact you. If they accept your application, you’ll be matched up to an advertiser in your area and then your car will go in to their garages to have the adverts placed. The adverts are decals and wont damage the paintwork so at a later date can be removed.

It’s a very easy way to make extra money (if you don’t mind how your car is going to look) and the money will more than pay for your petrol and probably deter thieves!

I hear good things about a company called Cash Crate who pull together surveys, offers and other stuff through their website and you get paid to complete their offers.

Their website at http://www.cashcrate.com/ says that companies are paying top-dollar to have users try their products and services for free. Cash crate pull together all these type of companies and pay you 75% of the referral fees.

I have just signed up myself to see what it’s all about. It’s free to join and so far, in my account there are a list of surveys which I can fill in to make money on my account.. see below:

(click on picture for better view)

Ok, you don’t get much for filling in each survey but you it is free and easy money. I have filled in a few surveys and they don’t take too long to get through… there were a few which just required an email address.

There are also discounts if you buy online in places like iTunes, Disney Store, Reebok, Wallmart etc.

I can’t see where I can try products for free but I guess those ones get snapped up extremely quickly… from other forums, things are added all the time so you have to check back on it quite frequently to ensure you get the best deals. Anyway, I think it’s worth a try, I’ve signed up and give you an update how I got on especially as I am seeing a lot of people reporting earnings over $1000 a month!

http://www.cashcrate.com

Anyway, some sites which have shown Cash Crate in a positive light and even have pictures of the cheques they have received:

http://moneymakinghobby.com/category/cashcrate-monthly-earnings/

http://www.mydebtfreegoal.com/2007/05/all-about-cashcrate.html

Unfortunately, a true bargain on Ebay is much more difficult to come across than it used to… in fact, it’s not always cheaper to buy on ebay.

Anyway, there are a few things which I do to ensure that I get a better than average chance than getting a great bargain on Ebay.

1. Firstly check on price comparison sites like PriceRunner, Froogle, Kelkoo etc to see how much you can get your item for. Note that it is not always cheaper on Ebay so ensure that you are never bidding more than what you see on the price comparison sites.

2. Then go to Auction Bloopers and type in your search criteria. Auction Bloopers help you find money by finding the misspelled items on Ebay with the idea that the misspellings will be missed by the most buyers.

3. Of the ones you find, see if you can find those auctions which finish in the awkward hours in the morning.. ie 4am, 5am when people are fast asleep… ie less competition for you when you’re bidding. However, for those of you that are reading this and ‘awake’ you’ll be wondering if you’re going to be have to be around to bid..  well, you can if you want to, but what I do is to use Auction Sniper. Auction Sniper allows you to bid on your item right at the very last moment (I usually set it to bid at 5 seconds before the auctions end to not give enough time for others to counter you)… and you can be fast asleep when this happens!