The Summer Student

1. Instead of always going for ridiculously expensive beauty products or treatments, experiment with making your own from household items. Do not fret. I am not insane. Try cracking an egg into a bowl, slathering the white on your face, waiting for it to set on your skin, then washing it off. I kid you not, the proteins will soak into your skin making it silky smooth. It was a trick I learned from my Mum when I was really small; I used to get eczema on my hands and no joke, a few eggy treatments cleared it up in no time. Avocados, bananas and olive oil are all also rather fantabulous for the skin, and rubbing coffee grains into problem areas can help reduce stubborn cellulite. I read that somewhere, it could be a lie… let me know if it works for you. 
2. DO NOT throw something out because it’s broken, or because you don’t like it anymore. Clothes, shoes, accessories, stuffed toys, whatever the hell it is; set up a jumble sale and get rid of your crap that way. Or sell your stuff to a second hand shop. Put it on e-bay. I don’t care WHAT the arse you do with it, but by sending all that shit to a landfill you are slowly murdering our planet and also cheating yourself out of what could be a good few bob.
3. Instead of buying books and DVD’s, get yourself to a library or rental store. In the long run this will save you a lot of money. You can broaden your horizons for next to nothing, and broaden the horizons of others in turn. I had this one friend who used to return library books with little notes hidden within the pages for the next borrower to read. Cute.
4. Never underestimate the amount of stuff you can get on the cheap if you look in the right places. One of my friends got his bike from a dump. Initiative is priceless.
5. If you find a penny, pick it up. Put it in a jar, save it for a rainy day. Sounds like the opening to a cheesy song, but works like a charm. Soon you could have a jar FULL of pennies  
6. Try not to invest in a contract phone. You go so much as 3 seconds over your call limit and you’re a quarter into your overdraft. That’s where they get you. Stay with a pay as you go deal and give yourself a certain amount to stick to per week. Organising your finances in the smallest ways will make a difference. 

My my my, it’s nearly 3am. I should probably get some sleep.