Money Week 2020

Coming soon – ‘Spend healthy – live healthy: sustainable money’

Every year, the Financial Guidance team hosts National Student Money Week (NSMW) to highlight the financial support and guidance available at the University of Northampton. This year’s theme is ‘Spend healthy – live healthy: sustainable money’, and we will focus on how to make changes to be a happier, healthier, and more sustainable spender. 

Our Money Week runs from 10 – 14 February – we’ll be available on the ground floor of the Learning Hub on Tuesday 11 February and Thursday 13 February from 10am – 3pm with competitions, freebies, information, etc, and more.

If you love cooking and sharing photos of your creations, we have two exciting competitions just for you:

‘Meal in a jar’ competition

We’re giving away 12oz (340g) glass food jars from the Money Week desk – glass is so much more attractive and more sustainable than plastic!

Using one of the jars, we would like you to make a quick, tasty meal that can be eaten on the go, or stored in the fridge for a long study session – this can be a fruity overnight breakfast, a colourful layered salad, or even a decadent dessert. Share it with us to enter our ‘Meal in a Jar’ competition to win a fitness tracker.

Simply collect your free jar, create a meal in the jar, send us a photo with your recipe on either our new Student Services Facebook or Instagram accounts using #uonjarcomp – and you’ll be entered into our competition (for further information, see our Terms and Conditions.)

If you’d like some inspiration, see our How to make a salad in a jar guide.

‘Fakeaways’ competition

It can be so tempting to order takeaway food after the end of a long day of lectures or studying in the library, but if you’re trying to cut down on your spending, you can save both pounds and pennies by making your own instead – spending £20 on takeaways per week adds up to £700 per year! (based on 35 weeks)

What’s a ‘fakeaway’? See our Cooking vs Takeaways and Save The Student to find out more!

Making your own ‘fakeaway’ is often a lot easier than you think; it’s not only cheaper, but often healthier, and you’ll be cutting down on that ever-frustrating delivery time too!

Whether you love Chinese or Indian food, or popping to your local chippy for a kebab, we want to know your favourite ‘fakeaway’ recipe – and you could win £100! To enter, share your recipe and photo on Facebook and Instagram using #uonfakeaways (you must also be following either the new Student Services Facebook page or Instagram account) before the closing date at the end of February. 

For further information, see our Terms and Conditions.

Freebies

It wouldn’t be Money Week without freebies; this year, as well as our lovely glass jars, these include branded lunch bags, and the return of our ever-popular squeezy pigs.

Did you know that you can save up to £770 per year by making your own lunch? (based on an average of £4.40 per day, for 5 days per week over 35 weeks).

To claim your free lunch bag, come along to the Money Week desk and tell us your top money-saving tip.

There are plenty of ideas online for cheap, tasty and healthy food to fill your new lunchbag; here are some of the links we liked: BBC Good Food healthy packed-lunch and lunchbox, Student Eats, Save The Student, Cooking on a Bootstrap.

Information

We’ll also have lots of information available about our Funds (including the Financial Assistance Fund and EU Hardship Fund), and ways in which you can save money.

If you can’t wait till Money Week and would like tips on sustainable spending now, see our blog on how to go green and save money, and our Money Week page.