Under a tenner – going out

Going out will most likely be the biggest consumer of your money in freshers’ term. It’s going to be that way regardless of how frugal you are; all you can do is try your hardest to limit the damage to your overdraft by keeping costs as low as possible. In this guide I’ll show you, step by step, how to keep spending on a night out to £10 or less.

1. Pre-drinks

Cost: Under £4

To channel a certain slick-talking prime minister: ask me my three best ways to save money on a night out, and I tell you, pre-drinking, pre-drinking and pre-drinking. For a majority of new students, the only experience with pre-drinks will have come in the form of a sneakily pocketed beer or two on the way out of the house, before going on to spend a small fortune on drinks in town. No longer is this the case, though, because you’re now in a place where getting drunk as quickly and cheaply as possible is not only acceptable, but a much-admired skill if done right.

Onto that ‘cheaply as possible’ bit. There are a few ways to go about it, but the safest route is cider. Think Strongbow’s a bit scummy? You’re about to get scummier. Most supermarkets, Costcutter included, stock a two-litre bottle of strong cider for a little more than £3. This is perfect. If you’re feeling brave, and have already made a good impression on your flatmates, you could go for White Strike, or its many variants.

You may find that the alcohol mentioned above has a common theme running through it – it all tastes disgusting. No matter, because adding a splash of blackcurrant squash to your bottle is the student’s alchemy; you have turned what could have passed for battery acid into a very drinkable beverage.

If you feel that you just can’t settle for cheapy cider, sharing a £10 bottle of Kommissar vodka with a few flatmates gives you about the same bang for buck. I’d advise against buying alcohol with the intention of spreading it over two or three nights: after a quarter of a litre of vodka, moderation will not come easy to you, and the idea of drinking even more will be a tempting one.

Over-drinking is the quickest way to burn a hole in your pocket – as well as the unplanned alcohol being wasted, you’re much more likely to overspend in a club if you’re too drunk to worry about your finances. On the other hand, if you know that you’ll feel uncomfortable in a club without having had a certain amount, it’s best to drink that before you go out, or you’ll spend the night at the bar trying to catch up with your friends. If you don’t know your limits by now, spend some time figuring them out. A good knowledge of how much alcohol is needed for you to enjoy yourself is key to saving money on a night out.

2. Transport

Price: Free/£3-4

So you’ve had a few drinks, everyone’s feeling merry, and the night’s about to begin. At this point, suggest to the group that you forget the taxis and walk into town. There’s no real excuse not to – it’s only a half-hour walk from the main campus – and in freshers’ fortnight especially, walking in is a good excuse to get to know your flatmates some more (you’re hardly going to chat in a club). Obviously it’s a bad idea to walk into or out of town by yourself, and an even worse one if you’re female, so make sure you have at least one other person with you. If you want to leave early, don’t be afraid to ask a flatmate to accompany you, because the chances are you’ll be returning the favour soon.

If you feel you absolutely must get a taxi, always ask for a student discount (politely!) and always have the right change for your share – try never to be the one who hands over a note to the driver in the hope that you’ll get some change from your fellow passengers. You won’t. At best you’ll get maybe a few silvers, a euro, and a lot of “I’ll buy you a drink”s which never really materialise, not because your friends are duplicitous, but because they’re drunk.

3. Bars

Price: £3-4

There are some good bars in York offering cheap, potent drinks; the best of these – Lowther, Stone Roses and Nag’s Head – you’ll probably experience during your first couple of weeks. The trouble is, it doesn’t matter how incredible it seems that you’re only paying three pounds and something for a triple with mixer, that’s three pounds and something that you could do without spending – it could pay for your pre-drinking tomorrow night, for example. My advice: steer clear of the bars.

4. Clubs

Price: Free-£3

As long as you keep to the YUSU-mandated club nights, and you don’t try and get into places too late in the night, you should never pay more than £3 to get into a club at York. Make sure you don’t piss off the bouncers – they’re about as irritable as bouncers can get – or you’ll be going home early, and that would really be a waste of your money.

If done right, you should now have £3-4 pounds left. This’ll pay for two strategic VKs throughout the night – although, if you do feel yourself sobering up at any point, you should take pretty immediate action and buy a drink there and then, because sobering up in a York club is a surreal and uncomfortable experience that you should try your hardest to avoid.

5. Post night-out snacks

Price: £2-3

In the unlikely event that there’s still change in your pocket and you think something from Salt & Pepper’s sounds like a great idea, go for something carby, like chips. They’re cheaper, they’ll fill you up and ideally they’ll soak up a bit of the booze. I’d advise against buying a burger, because, well, if you were the owner of a fast-food takeaway whose sole demographic was drunk students with alcohol-numbed taste buds, how much care would you take making sure your meat was as meticulously prepared and cooked as it should be?

You should be flexible with how you spend your £10. Pre-drinks and club entry will account for about half of your tenner – the rest is yours to spend on either taxis, drinks in bars or food afterwards. Choose wisely!

 

Tips & Tricks

Leave your debit card at home. There’s nothing more important than this. Take out £20, buy your pre-drinks, leave £10 with a trusted friend (for emergencies) and use the other £10 for the night

Carrying on your night at Willow – a Chinese-restaurant-turned-nightclub, for the uninitiated – is a time-honoured tradition, but it’s also usually a spontaneous decision made only when they start playing Grease numbers in Tokyo. Try to ascertain a bit earlier in the night if Willow is on the cards, because to pay for your entrance (to a Chinese restaurant!) you may well have to sacrifice another expense.

Don’t skip dinner to get drunk quicker. You’ll just get really, really drunk, and as I’ve said above, extreme drunkenness and frugality are not friends. Eat what you normally would, but have dinner a bit later so that you don’t get too hungry in the early hours.

Forget what everyone’s told you about Costcutter being a rip-off – the one thing they sell cheaply is alcohol (and chocolate biscuits – they know their target audience). There’s always some kind of deal on, and although the vodka from Aldi may well be £2 cheaper, Costcutter’s cheapest brand probably has less turpentine in it.

For those who don’t need to drink much, or at all, to enjoy themselves on a night out – count yourself lucky. You’ve got £10 to spend on takeaway food. (Wait, forget what I said about ‘lucky’).

Vision encourages all students to drink responsibly.