Although there are often offers on newspapers at student unions, with one simple tip you can read all of today’s newspapers (well almost) for free.

Simply type ‘TODAY’s NEWSPAPERS’ into Google and you have access to pretty much everything that was in print in the UK and US on a given day and much more. There is of course the exception of subscription news websites such as the Times and the FT, however most people can get their fill of news without them.

This tip was submitted to MSS by John Vincent – thanks John! If you have any money saving tips, please submit them to us by going to the MSS contact page.

© 2009 Money Saving Student

Simply Drop by the Royal Mail is an excellent website that gives you money for recycling your old mp3 players, mobile phones and digital cameras.

How Does it Work?

You simply register the items that you wish to recycle and the Royal Mail will send you a free postage bag.  You then send off your items and they will send you your reward via PayPal or Postal Order and you can even donate the money to charity.

How Much Could I Make?

This varies depending on the age of your goods, however for an average mp3 player such as a 3rd generation iPod Nano, you would get £10. This isn’t much, but it’s probably better than leaving it lying around gathering dust.

Summary

Simply Drop is a good and easy way to make some quick cash and recycle your old unwanted goods. However, be sure to check other sites such as ebay to see how much your stuff is worth, as you may get a higher price if you sell them yourself.

Link: Simply Drop

© 2009 Money Saving Student

Photo by dickuhne

Pizza Express are currently offering an excellent half price on all of their pizzas. Find out how you can take advantage of this offer below.

The Conditions

You can use this offer at any time of the day, any day and for any pizza. The offer can be used for up to six people.

Expiry Date

This offer expires on the 31st January 2010.

How to Get the Voucher

All you have to do is visit the Pizza Express Offers website, fill in a quick form, print off the voucher and present it when ordering.

Enjoy your pizza!

Link: Pizza Express Voucher

© 2009 Money Saving Student

If you own an iPod you probaly only use iTunes to purchase your MP3s, however there are many other websites out there that sell MP3s (often at better prices), including amazon and HMV.  TuneChecker.com aims to find you the best price by searching these and other sites.

Who is Behind TuneChecker.com?

The team behind the site is the same as MoneySavingExpert.com. Thus, this site makes money in the same way as it’s parent site by having affiliated link ads.

How Does it Work?

You simply type in the album or single you want to purchase and the site compares the prices of 10 leading online music suppliers to find you the best price for your music.

How Much Could I Save?

This varies depending on the music.  A search for ‘Michael Jackson: The Ultimate Collection’ on the site found a price of £4.99 on TuneTribe and a staggering £29.99 on iTunes. Therefore, you could save a considerable amount of money by using this service.

Limitations

While the idea is excellent in principle, TuneChecker.com does have a few limitations.  Although you can search for most mainstream music, you will struggle to find more obscure music.  Also, in order to get the best price, you may have to sign up to a lot of websites, which can be a bit annoying and time consuming.

Summary

TuneChecker.com provides a good way to find the best price for your music and can save you money. However, it is a bit of a hassle if you use it for every music purchase you make and if you listen to music outside of the mainstream, you will struggle to find what you are looking for.

Link: TuneChecker.com

© 2009 Money Saving Student

The excellent music service Spotify was first mentioned on MSS a year ago and since then it has become a phenomenon. Unfortunately although it was free for everyone,  you now need an invite to enjoy the service. But do not fret, MSS is giving away invites to three lucky people. Find out you could get your hands on one below.

How to Get a Free Spotify Invite

MSS is giving away three invites to the first three commenters below. Invites will be sent to the email address that you comment with and if you do not what an invite then please state in your comment.

Good luck!

Link: Spotify

Update: Congratulations to Ankur, Richard and Arne, your invitations are on there way.

© 2009 Money Saving Student

Student favourite YO! Sushi are currently offering an excellent 40% off.

Conditions

This offer is only valid for up to ten plates and it doesn’t cover miso, drinks, takeaway or delivery.

How to get this offer

Simply register on their website and print out your voucher.

Valid until

This offer is valid until 28 January 2010.

Link: Register for offer and see full terms and conditions

© 2009 Money Saving Student

GIMP

Although GIMP may sound a bit dodgy, it is in fact an excellent free piece of image editing software that is available for all operating systems. It has a large section of features, however it is a little buggy and takes some getting used too. But if you have the time for it, it can be an excellent alternative to Photoshop.

Link: GIMP

Pixelmator

If you are lucky enough to own a mac, then you should have a look at Pixelmator. It contains many of the same features as Photoshop at a fraction of the price and it certainly fulfils it’s objective of being “image editing for the rest of us”. It can even handles Photoshop files.

Link: Pixelmator

Paint.NET

If you are a PC user and you don’t quite need all the features of Photoshop and you can’t get used to GIMP then the free Paint.NET may be for you. Like all of the other programmes mentioned in this article, it contains layers and it also has many special effects such as noise and distortion.

Link: Paint.NET

Free Image Editing Websites

There are a number of free image editing websites out there at the moment, which have many of the same features as full applications. Two of the best are Sumo Paint and Pixlr. Both of these excellent websites feature intermediate features such as layers and even have some more advanced features. They are definitely worth a look if you want to do some quick free image editing and have access to the internet.

Links: Sumo Paint & Pixlr

Still Can’t Live Without Photoshop?

Finally, if you must buy Photoshop, you should check out Software4Students. This site, which has featured on MSS before, has excellent discounts on Adobe software. Photoshop CS4 will still set you back £147.99, but this well below the £603.97 that Amazon are currently asking for it.

Link: Software4Students

© 2009 Money Saving Student

The Student Loans Company (SLC) have announced on their website that from 1 September 2009 to 31 August 2010 there will be 0% interest payable on student loans.

This is 1.5% lower than the interest rate for the previous period and reflects the low base rate set by Bank of England, which is currently just 0.5%.

Link: Student Loans Company Interest Rates

© 2009 Money Saving Student

You will soon be able to watch every episode of certain Channel 4 programmes, like Father Ted, for free online.

Currently viewers can watch most programmes for 30 days after they have been aired.  PC uses have also had access to some extra content through the downloadable 4OD application.

From July Channel 4 will be making available more than 4,000 hours of archived content on its 4OD catch-up service.  This content will be made available to PC, Mac and Linux users.

However, some of Channel 4′s content will not be made available online because of rights issues.  For example, American shows like Friends will not be included.  But who hasn’t seen every episode a million times anyway.

The full service is expected to be launched on the 3rd of July.

Also, watch out for Hulu, the excellent US video site, which may be coming out in the UK later in the year.

Remember!

You do not need a TV license to use this service, but if you watch live TV you do!

Link: Channel 4 Catch-Up

© 2009 Money Saving Student

MSS users can now get 5% off at 118 Menu by entering a simple voucher code.

About 118 Menu

118 Menu allows users to order their takeaway online, with over 250+ takeaways to choose from.

How To Get The Discount

Simply type in mss at the checkout to get 5% off your takeaway order.

Link: 118 Menu

© 2009 Money Saving Student