Wednesday 05-12-2018 - 13:46

Hi my name’s Codie, and I love a good bargain. Where possible, I will not pay full price for anything, even if it means scouring the internet for a good discount code. So, a few months ago, my husband and I decided we would go on a date evening, and I set myself a challenge to see how much money I could save, just using my TOTUM card.

 

The card costs £12 for a year, so as long as you are saving at least £1 a month, you’re making a saving - bare in mind that at McDonald’s, if you have a TOTUM card, you can get a free cheeseburger, hamburger, or McFlurry which are worth around £1 so you’re already saving!

 

 

So, we got the train into Manchester, and I used my railcard, which saves me ⅓ off the prices anyway, but I bought the pass for 12% off thanks to my student discount card. BOOM. So, my usual train ticket costs £12.60, but with the 16-25 railcard it’s only £8.30 for a return. I can’t quite work out how to calculate the saving here, as the railcard cost me £26.40 with my discount, so let’s just chalk this one up to a bonus.

 

 

We started off with a little bit of retail therapy, you know, for science. I’m currently hugely pregnant, so I wanted to pop into H&M and grab some maternity clothes that actually fit me. I got a cute jumper, some stretchy pants (think Phoebe Buffay’s maternity trousers!), 2 shirts and a dress.

 

My 20% discount saved me £14.59!

 

I also popped into Superdrug for various ‘essentials’. I bought a few makeup bits, cotton wool, and a new toothbrush.

 

This time I saved £11.86!

 

All the shopping had built up quite an appetite, so it was off to one of my favourite restaurants. I absolutely LOVE PizzaExpress, and the 30% discount on all food and drink Sunday - Thursday helps sweeten the deal! I love that you only need one card for every 6 people, so you can feel like a VIP.

 

We started with the Doppio Dough Balls (man, I love dough balls!), and the Garlic Bread with Mozzarella. Steven got the crispy-based Margherita and I got the Leggera Peperonata, I got a Coke and a Belvoir Light Elderflower Pressé (it makes me feel fancy!) and he got a San Pellegrino Limonata and a water because he is far healthier than me.

 

Pre-discount it came to £45.50 and after 30% off it was £31.85. A delicious saving of £13.65! (that’s enough for one whole pizza OR two lots of dough balls!)

 

Finally, we decided to head to the cinema. I love that the TOTUM discount is 25% off on top of the usual student price. So, in this case, a student ticket was £10, but with my TOTUM card, I only had to pay £7.50

That’s a saving of £2.50 (on top of the usual saving of £2) which paid for some snacks (from Poundland, not the cinema - I’m a bargain hunter remember!).

 

Overall, in just one evening, my little pink £12 card saved me a whopping £42.60! A few weeks later I did have to buy a new Macbook and managed to save £250(!) using my TOTUM card which is far more impressive, but that’s not something I do regularly, so it doesn’t really count.

 

My point is, for just £12 for a year, you can get a TOTUM card and make some serious savings. If you pop into the SU Reception, you can walk out with your card and start using it immediately, which is ideal if you need to get some Christmas shopping done! And the best part (well, aside from getting a sweet discount on pizza!) is that the money you spend on paying for the card goes straight back into your SU and allows us to run important campaigns and events, sports teams and societies.

 

So really, by going shopping, you’re helping fellow students - do you need any more of an excuse?!