Tip 3 : Hampden Taxis

The city of Glasgow is mostly accessible by walking, but sometimes you want to travel a little farther away and you have to choose another kind of transport. If you do not have a car four possibilities are available for you:

• Train: interesting for the long journey from one city to another
• Subway: interesting to move from the city center to the west end, but the metro is closed the night
• Buses: serve the entire city for prices generally below 2 pound, do not work all night
• Taxi: Transport available anytime, relatively High Price

The bus remains the most appropriate transport, but do you think it is the cheapest?

When you are a group of friends I recommend you to use the taxi: 3 or 4 bus tickets are as expensive as a taxi divide by the number of passengers. The advantage is that it will take you wherever you want and you don’t have to walk after.The taxi is more profitable when you are a lot of person.

Here's my tip to spend less by taxi:  The free application for smartphone,  Hampden cars


This application permit you to order a taxi with your smartphone, these taxis are cheaper than the taxi you can find in the street!

How to use it?

First you have to register and give user details: First name, Surname, Telephone number and e-mail address
Once registered you can book a taxi simply and quickly.

How to order a taxi, step by step:

1. Open the application

2. Click on “Start booking “

3. Enter the pickup address: click on “Search” and write the correct address or the name of the place you are (It could be a house, a street, a restaurant, a nightclub etc.). The application will display some suggestion select the good one.

4. Enter the drop-off address (The same as the pickup address)

5. Choose your ASAP : pickup date and time

6.Book

7. Check the status of your booking :

        - Confirmed : your booking has been made you have to wait for someone to take charge of it

        - Accepted : the taxi should be on its way, you have to wait

        - Cancelled : your booking can’t be supported, you have to try again later

During this time you will receive a message on your phone and/or an e-mail, two kinds of possibility:

        -  “The car is on its way” You booking just be accepted, you will find in the message the model and colour of the car, with the license plate.

      -    “We are sorry, we have no car available …” your booking just be cancelled you have to find another solution or wait.

8.You can track your taxi and follow his route until it arrives

9.The taxi is here, the driver just check your name , and go

Advantages:

-         The application is very easy to use.

-         The booking is made very simply and quickly.

-         Taxis arrive very quickly: if you ask them to come now they generally arrive 5 minutes after your booking.

-         It’s always the same kind of taxi, they are easy to recognize.

-         The driver know already where he has to go , no need to speak with him and explain him

-         Cheaper than ordinary taxis

Disadvantages:

-         Limited availability on Friday and Saturday night

-         Sometimes the application will not work correctly so it is impossible to use

http://hampdencars.co.uk/

Tel : 332 5050

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Tip 2 : Order online

Order online is not only a solution for the most lazy of us, it also permits to save money! Yes I guarantee you!  And yes even with the delivery charges! First it's true that it greatly facilitates life, no more need to move and carry a bag bigger than us and too much heavy! This is not the only benefit!

Do shopping online allows firstly to compare prices from one brand to another and see which brand is cheaper! On shopping websites it is generally possible to display the list of products by classifying the cheapest to the most expensive! But beware it is also important to look at the quantity to check profitability. If a product is cheaper than another, but in smaller quantities it is not always profitable!

An example? A 500g pack of pasta 50p is less profitable than 1kg pack of pasta at 90p. Be careful! 

With online shopping: impossible to miss a promotion! They are everywhere and if you miss one, a notification is sure to remind you!

The advantage you have now with ordering online is that the quantity is no longer an obstacle that prevents you from taken advantage of promotions! What you buy will be delivered directly in your kitchen, no need to carry everything, so now you can afford to buy these 6 bottles of juice you are offering of price of 4! And you would have noticed than more you buy in large quantities cheaper it is! This is ideal for products that can be stored such as drinks, pasta, rice, cans or frozen product!

Here are some websites to order online I have ever tried :

http://www.asda.com/

+  Profitable : the lowest price in relation to the quantities

-  Delivery men come to the building but not to the flat

Restricted choice

 2 hours delivery slot

http://www.tesco.com/

+  1 hours delivery slots

Tesco compare your basket with other website supermarket and if It’s cheaper there they give you the difference for your next purchase!

 -        more expensive than Asda in comparaison to the quantity

Other website :

http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/

http://www.morrisons.com/

Deliveries are generally made from 8AM to 11PM and enable you to save time by addition to save you money!

The good deal !

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Tip 1 : Sharing !

Hey :)  Today I will share with you my first tip to help you to save your money! This one is not feasible only in Glasgow, it could be used everywhere !

Most of you leave in flat or in student accommodation with friends or flatmates. The solution to save money is to share everyday things with other persons!

Share your meal :

When you leave alone you don’t really want to cook  just for one person or cook in large quantity and after waste.  You generally finish eating a sandwich or using the backup solution:   pasta or tin can but this become quickly wearisome. I have the solution for you to wake up the little chef in you and make you enjoy recipes that reminds you "Mom and Dad’s meals» without spending more! To be honest you will spend even less because you will waste less and you will buy less ready meals which are expensive! The solution is to share meals with others persons like roommates, friends, etc. the ideal is that everyone brings something, e.g. an ingredient and then everybody participates to cook! And you'll be able to eat a complete meal cooked, using only one of your ingredient! In this way you will be able to avoid wastage and you will spend time with friends or even better meet new people! You will notice that it is much more pleasant to cook for many people rather than yourself.

Share washing machines with your friends when you use the laundry:

It can be difficult to share your machine with your own clothes in the situation where you don’t really know the person. But sometimes make a machine for two can reduce cost by half (plus we don't have to forget that we will use less water and electricity and it helps the environment) I take the example of the white clothes that wash separately.  Usually we have very little white clothes and we can’t mix them with other colours! Instead of running a half empty machine or heaping white clothes in a corner of your room to avoid washing, you can bring yours with those of a friend to make a machine for two. In the short term you will not gain a lot, but in the long term you'll quickly see it could be are big savings!

Share shopping :

Share shopping can also be a way of saving money :  Buying large quantities is cheaper, but when you're alone you're afraid to waste. The solution is to share with a roommate or friend who lives near you!

For example, if there's a promotion: two packages of meat purchased, the third offered. Take the three will make you save money, but the expiration date does not allow you to eat them all? If you share with a friend, the problem is solved!

The only disadvantage of this tip is to do the accounts and that it may take some time and be a little complicated, but again we observe savings in the long term!

An advice:  don’t accumulate debts, make the repayment of both quickly to avoid complexity

Share delivery :

One more thing that may be useful to share: deliveries, we usually have to pay for this. Just group your purchase with a friend and share the costs of delivery! This joins the last previous trick with shopping in group when you order online for example!

I will explain the advantage of online shopping on my next article.

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Purpose of this blog

Student life is not always easy. We all like to go out, eat well and have fun but one of our main obstacle is money.

Life is expensive and you have the impression of never having money? 

Do not worry we all are in the same situation. This is even more complicated if you are like me a foreign student. Between rent, food, transports, leisure and travel it’s difficult to save money. 

• First because you are for the first time an independant person and you have to manage yourself your money
• Secondly because there is a lot of temptation everywhere around you 

Moreover arriving in a foreign country also encourages us to travel and visit to discover the country it could be expensive and it would be a pity to go through this because we manage our money badly.

If you are tired to say “no” when a friend asks you to go to restaurant or cinema because you have no money anymore, this blog is for you: you will find simples and effectives tips to help you to save your money through the city of Glasgow!

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