Top ten tips for surviving the summer as a student

When that lovely chunk of student loan magically appeared in your bank accounts last May I’m sure you, like most of us, neglected to remember that this instalment actually has to last us until September! But never fear, Glide is here with some top tips to have an amazing summer on a budget.

Sell your stuff

Sounds obvious but how many of us have a room full of old stuff that we just don’t need anymore and what better way is there to de-clutter, than to make money while you’re doing it. Find your local car boot, post your stuff up online and on facebook or look out for eBay’s free listings days, after all one man’s junk is another man’s treasure!

Teach yourself to be a sensible shopper

Get into the habit of asking yourself “do I really need it? “. Shopping vintage is a good way of getting a unique and on-trend look for low prices, or check your favourite high street stores for their nearest clearance outlet. When it comes to food, supermarkets aren’t necessarily the cheapest option. Take a trip to your local market or pop into shops such as Poundland, Savers and B&M for some grocery bargains.

Go on a Roadtrip

We all deserve a holiday but this year why not stay closer to home and holiday in the UK? We may not be able to guarantee sunshine but we can guarantee that if you pile some mates into a car, along with a tent and some basic supplies and you’ve got an amazing break for next to nothing. If you can’t afford a whole week check out some of your local free days out; sight-seeing, museums and galleries are all free and if it’s good weather why not go to your local park or beach.

Become a WWOOF-er

If you can’t stand the thought of not going abroad this summer why not sign up to World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms. As a volunteer you choose a host in whichever country you fancy and, in return, for accommodation and food you work on their organic farm. It gives volunteers the opportunity to see parts of a country that as a tourist you wouldn’t usually see and become integrated into a community, with most volunteers living as part of the host’s family.

Bag a bargain online

If you’re not already signed up to the hundreds of UK deal websites that are online, why not?! Take a look at Group on for one off discount offers, Money supermarket for printable vouchers for days and nights out and keep your eye on forums, like hotUKdeals and the Money saving Expert, for all the latest deals from food to electronics, holidays to music.

Be prepared

We’ve all been there; starting off with the best of intentions then still leaving your work to the last minute. But seriously getting your work done for next semester is really going to benefit you in the long run, plus you don’t want to miss out of all the Freshers fun because you’re stuck inside finishing off coursework.

Get experienced

In the current climate experience is more important than ever when trying to find a job after you’ve graduated, so why not get one step ahead of the rest and get some experience this summer. Lots of companies run internship and placement schemes but there is often a lot of competition so apply early if you can.

Get down and dirty

How does getting paid to attend your favourite festival sound? Yes you’ll have to do some work but you’ll meet some great people and you’ll be right in the midst of the festival atmosphere. Check festival websites for paid positions and www.festaff.co.uk or approach charities for “work for your ticket” opportunities. If you’re into your music, but you prefer proper toilets and less mud, check out Orange Rockcorps; you volunteer 4 hours in the community and get given 1 ticket to an amazing gig in return. Win, win!

Grow your own

You might think gardening is just for old blokes down allotments but Grow your own is coming into fashion in a big way. Not only is it cost effective but it’s good for the environment. If you’re not green fingered start off small with a cut-and-come-again lettuce on your windowsill, and, if you’re not into veg why not brew your own? You can pick up a decent beer or cider brewing kit for about £30, far cheaper than if you bought the 40 pints in a pub!

And lastly...avoid the ATM

We all know how easy it is on a night out to “just take another tenner out” but be strong, set yourself a realistic budget at the beginning of the night and stick to it. This way you might be able to afford to go out a few times rather than just one massive blowout.

We’d love to hear about your plans for this summer and your money saving tips!

Moving home this summer? Don’t forget to take Glide with you...and everything else

Glide’s mission is to make your life easier when it comes to shared accommodation, so if you’re moving into new accommodation this summer or just moving home, take a look at Glide’s checklist to make sure you don’t forget anything.

Cancel your electricity, gas and water accounts

If you're a Glide customer, you just need to let us know when you're moving out and we'll sort everything out for you. However if you’re not currently with Glide make sure you phone all your providers to ensure your account is cancelled. It's really important to provide final meter readings or your account could be closed on an estimate which might cost you more!

Cancel your telephone and internet

Again, Glide customers have it easy, you just need to let us know when you're moving out. You also need to return the router to us at Glide, The Chamberlain Building, 36 Frederick Street, Birmingham, B1 3HN. If you’re not with Glide, phone your providers to make sure your accounts are cancelled.

Give keys back

You'll have to return your keys to your landlord or letting agency.

Claim your tenancy deposit back

Leave your property and the contents in the condition which it was originally let to you and check that all payments are up to date. After you leave the property, your landlord or letting agent should then return your deposit.

Claim your Glide deposit back

At the end of your tenancy, Glide customers need to provide final meter readings and return your Glide Router to us. We'll then close down your account. We work out how much energy you've used against how much you've paid. The balance is then either collected or returned to you. Your Glide deposit is also returned to you too. The whole process can take up to 8 weeks and we refund any credit balances directly to your bank account.

TV licence

Because your TV licence will be registered to the specific property rather than you as an individual, Glide will automatically terminate your TV license when you tell us you're moving out. If you’re not with Glide you can either transfer your licence to your new address or claim a refund for any three consecutive calendar months. For more information click here.

Check your bank account

Most banks provide a graduate account with numerous benefits if you already hold your student account with them. Check that your bank automatically converts you to a graduate account, how long you will have the graduate account before it switches back to a standard account and what benefits you can get. If you don’t think you’re getting the best deal shop around as it's a highly competitive market.

Council Tax

As a student you are exempt from paying council tax. However as soon as you cease to be a full time student (generally the day after the last day of the summer term) your exemption will terminate. If you’re not moving home straight away you will need to contact your local council to arrange regular payments. If you move out before your tenancy agreement ends you will remain liable for council tax until your tenancy expires. Like your TV licence, council tax is based on the property rather than the individual so you'll need to speak to your housemates.

Pack

This always takes longer than you expect so plan ahead and arrange how you’re getting from A to B prior to moving day. It’s always a good idea to have an extra pair of hands so try and rope in friends and family to help the move go as smoothly and quickly as possible.

Take Glide with you

Don’t forget that you can always take Glide's services with you to your new home. Even if you're no longer a student, Glide is perfect for young professionals living together as everything's still split equally and fairly between you and your housemates. Call us on 0333 666 5555 to have a friendly chat with our team.

Housemates from Hell

No hot water, empty beer cans in the lounge, dirty plates littering the kitchen..ahhhh house sharing, we’ve all been there. For many of us moving out from the parents was great for both work and social life. However for some of us it was hell brought on by somebody we used to call a mate.

This year Glide is on the hunt for your stories about shared accommodation. Perhaps you lived or are living with someone who never does the washing up or always leaves the living room in a state. Upload your photos, videos and stories to the Facebook page for your chance to win some life changing prizes. It’s that simple!

If your flatmate is named this year’s Housemate from Hell there may even be a surprise in store for them as well.

The more surreal the story, the better the prize so get your entries in now before it's too late.

Oh and if that wasn’t enough we’ll be hosting weekly prize draws for an array of fantastic prizes so make sure you keep your eyes peeled on our Facebook.

New ticketing platform

Today we launched a brand new ticketing platform within our systems. A ticketing platform allows us to track and manage our customer communications which allows Glide to deal with customer enquiries and support issues much faster. It will also keep all the housemates informed of issues which affect the whole house. It means streamlined customer service where support issues are dealt with by the appropriate team member as quickly as possible.

Where the issue is broadband related the system will send ticket updates by text message to ensure you get back online as soon as possible.

We will soon enable customers to view their tickets from their online portal at www.glide.uk.com. This will inevitably help landlords and agents to better manage any issues across their entire portfolio.

Glide customers are advised to quote their ticket number whenever they call us. Customers can create tickets by emailing us at glide@glide.uk.com or by calling us on 08448 111 555 where a Glide team member is waiting to help.

Greenest telephone calls in the UK

We're pleased to announce that all telephone calls made through Glide are now carbon neutral. The UK telecoms market has been slow to reduce its carbon footprint but here at Glide we felt that we should be leading the way - not following. There is currently no greener way of making calls in the UK.

We've drastically reduced our power consumption and reduced our carbon footprint by offsetting the power that we do use to carry calls across the network. Even in the current economic climate the green agenda is extremely important to our customers. Students and young professionals like to make sure that their lifestyles are as environmentally friendly as possible and a key objective of many of our business customers is trying to reduce their carbon footprint.

Carbon credits have been purchased from two projects - a Wind Power Project in India and the Sichuan Province Hydro Power Project in China. The wind project is similar to the Jamnagar Wind Power Project in India and involves the construction of a number of new wind turbines which helps to reduce India's reliance on fossil fuels for electricity generation by providing renewable energy. This project will provide reliable, renewable power to the electricity grid and will directly benefit nearby villages through the provision of local employment.

The Sichuan Province Hydro Power Project bundles four small run-of-river hydro power stations and displaces electricity that would otherwise have been generated by fossil-fuel power stations. The project brings benefits besides that of climate change mitigation, including job creation and helping to address the shortfall of electricity available on the regional grid, with benefits to local households and economic development of businesses as well as providing energy security to the general community.

Calling Glide for free

From time to time customers ask us whether they can call us for free. The answer to the question is yes you can. The easiest way to do this is to dial 150 from any Glide telephone line and you'll be put straight through to us without costing you a penny.

The other way to call us for free from anywhere in the world is over VoIP. All you have to do is dial sip:glide@glide.uk.com. We'll also have ENUM configured within the next few months which will allow any company PBX to call us for free.

And you can always call us on 08448 111 555 or drop us an email to glide@glide.uk.com

Upgrades to our broadband network

We're pleased to announce that we are performing some major upgrades to our broadband network over the next few months. We are purchasing additional capacity in line with our current budget and our projected growth in customer numbers. We are also implementing a traffic management system to identify and prioritise traffic on our network.

Like other ISPs we deliver our broadband service over a network shared amongst our customers. This means we have to manage our network to ensure we provide the best service to all of our customers. Our goal is to make sure that time-critical applications such as VoIP and online gaming are always prioritised whilst ensuring that bandwidth-hungry protocols like Peer-to-Peer and Usenet are not allowed to harm the performance of the network. It will also allow us to manage the network better when dealing with the normal peaks in traffic on a day by day basis.

The upgrades will enable us to continue to offer unlimited broadband packages whilst also preparing everything for our forthcoming launch of our ADSL2+ services with top speeds of up to 24Mbps.

These changes will allow us to continue to offer the best broadband service to all of of our customers on current packages as well as enable us to offer much faster speeds in the near future.