Just because it’s not the best season to do things outside with friends, you can still bring the friend gathering indoors.

• Netflix marathon with friends

• At-home potluck style dinners

• Board games night

• Study nights in

This one isn’t just a winter tip but for some reason the thought of cosying up in a cinema to watch a movie feels more appealing when it’s raining and cold in winter. Plus, students get cheap movie night deals!

Village Cinemas and Palace Cinemas has cheap movie nights on Wednesdays and Hoyts has a Student Edge program that gives students discounted tickets¹.

We can be a little spoilt in Melbourne with the huge range of museums and galleries available to us and especially free ones! Take the colder season as an opportunity to explore some of the free galleries and museums available²:

• NGV International

• ACMI

• Art and Heritage Collection Tour

• Australian Music Vault

• City Gallery

• Science Gallery Melbourne

• Australian Centre for Contemporary Art

If you are lucky enough to have a heater installed in your home, it can be so tempting to crank that heating up and set the temperature to a toasty 25 degrees. After all, it’s freezing! Try setting the heater temp between 18-20 degrees. This temperature range is ideal to keep your house warm but also helps keep your bills down.

When you are using a heater, keep the doors shut of the room you are heating up. This stops the heat leaking out into areas of the house you aren’t using.

Another great way to keep your electricity or gas bill down in winter is to limit the use of your heater in general. Try layering up inside with blankets (electric or not), Oodies and Uggs and reserve using the heater for those extra chilly days.

We know, the feeling of a hot shower is second to none especially in the winter. However, heating up water is expensive in winter and as tempting as the long hot showers are, try keeping your showers short and sweet.

It’s so easy to fall into the “I can’t be bothered cooking, I’m getting UberEats” trap. We know, we have all been there and sometimes it is just too cold, too hot or you’re too tired to cook.

Rather than ordering from UberEats or other third-party delivery apps, try ordering takeaway direct from a restaurant. It’s normally cheaper and you don’t have those extra service charges.

Sometimes takeaway is necessary, however, it is very easy to go from the occasional takeaway meal to the routine takeaway meal, which will eat into your savings more.

Pick a monthly or fortnightly limit for how much takeaway you’ll get and stick to it. With a limit, you can budget for it accordingly and not overspend on takeaway food.

All those red standby lights are adding to your electricity bill. Switch off your non-essential devices (e.g. TVs, laptops chargers, speakers etc) at the power outlet to save some money on your bills.

We’re with you! Compare specials between grocery stores before you buy. Something that is full price at one store may be 50% off at another.

Also, shop your groceries in the evening. Lots of grocery stores put specials on in the evening for items that must sell that day. Just keep an eye on the expiry date.