Parents of students can save money shopping online

Nearly one third of parents are expecting to spend more than their monthly disposable income to kit out their child’s university room, according to research from Savebuckets.com – and this is in addition to all other university-related costs and rent.

As fresher’s week approaches, parents claim they will spend £751 on furnishing their child’s room – and this comes at a time when the average UK disposable income reaches only £705.

Savebuckets.com questioned a GB representative sample of more than 2,000 people on the hidden cost associated with sending children to university, revealing that parents can expect to spend hefty sums in the coming weeks on university-related merchandise.

Expensive consumer electronics items top the table that parents expect to buy for students with new Laptops and the latest iPod models being the higher price items which can have the greatest potential savings by comparing prices and shopping online but hefty savings can also be made on more mundane products such as kitchen equipment, furniture and books.

Top 5 items parents are after to kit their child’s student room:

Laptop 42%
Kitchen utensils 42%
LCD TV 25%
Shelves/book cases 25%
iPod and docker/DVD player 8%

James Wenger, Marketing Manager of Savebuckets.com commented: “The findings show that setting up their kids at university puts family budgets under even more pressure and many parents anticipate going over budget – this disregards rent, general living costs and tuition fees.

“At Savebuckets.com we offer our customers the opportunity to shop cleverly and avoid having to make sacrifices. People can easily compare prices and obtain products within their budget empowering ordinary families to control their living expenses. By shopping at Savebuckets.com parents can save themselves almost half of the anticipated hidden cost when buying university related merchandise (£300).”