Keeping to a low budget while a FE / HE student / on a low wage working whether part or full time living in Hillingdon

1) Food
a) Iceland
Regular and weight watcher microwave meals£1,
Sunday roast meals £1.50-2.50
Milk 2ltr £1
Bread loaves, 2 for £1
Cola £1.99 a 2-3ltr bottle
Small Chocolate Sponge (£1-2)
Frozen Vegetables £1-2 per pack.
Goes towards store discount card that can be used to subsidise Christmas shopping

b) Tesco Metro
1 pt bottles £0.50-60p
Basic microwave meals Under £2 each
Fresh fruit
Also store discount card

c) Sainsburys


d) 24 Hour Uxbridge Supermarket (opposite Civic Centre)
Ethnic minority food stuffs such as 4-5kg bag of Rice and Halal / Kosher meat.

2) Housework and catering
3) Tea / Coffee / Milk / Hot Chocloate
Poundland
4) Clothes (men)
Primark in Harrow / Hounslow for ordinary socks (£2-4, compared with £7-15 for a M and S multi pair set) also for polycotton shirts for interviews / work
Primark Hammersmith for some suits (out of sale)
Peacocks in Pavillions
Oxfam for shirts and trousers
Thames Valley Hospice for Suit Jackets or M and S Marble Arch, Harrow or Uxbridge in the sales /
Also MandS for 100% cotton shirts at their Harrow store or Marble Arch (approx £25-30)
Their trousers (machine washable, non iron) cost approx £19-20, with cords and more expensive ones going up to £50 each.
Jeans £15-40 each depending on Colour and 'range name'
Also try Debenhams / BHS Uxbridge (Chimes Shopping Centre)

5) Sports Clothes and Equipment
There is Sports Direct Store opposite Nat West Bank in Uxbridge and a smaller branch next to Burger King in the Pavillions Centre. Sells sports balls (such as footballs and Baketballs) for £2.99 each.
6) Shoes
Shoe shop next to Peacocks in Pavillions (adult shoe size Black shoes from £9.99)
Best shoe polish (squeeze and spread variety) in Clarks Shoe shop next to MandS n high Street. Clarks shoes in the sales cost £29.99-50.

Hiking boots at Blacks in Green Hill (Harrow on the Hill) shop or the shoe shop in Pavillions.

7) Outdoor activities shops
Ski Bartlett On the Uxbridge Road between Hayes Police station and Blue Dragon Dry Cleaning in Hillingdon

Blacks outdoor / Millet Greenhill

8) Eating Out
Greggs / Wenzels baker shops in Uxbridge (latter does small sandwich rolls at 99p - £1.99)
Pasties / Baked rolls under £2.
McDonalds (sometimes discounted with vouchers when you get stationery at WHSmith)
KFC / Burger King

Nandos
Take the extended family to there or Nona Rosa in Uxbridge (expensive so save it for end of year / graduation if you don’t want to go to the May Ball or graduation ceremony), theres a French / Italian restaurant on Harrow Hill that is similary priced and used to have its menus in French (Channell Islands) dialect.

9) Cinemas
Uxbridge Odeon
Harrow Warner Bros (St Georges Centre)
Hammersmith shopping Centre
High Wycombe

10) Theatres / Arts
Beck Theatre Hayes
Windsor
Palace Theatre Watford

Amateur groups in Ruislip, Eastcote, and Compass Theatre Group

Art drawing course are done by Hillingdon Adult Education, (Brookfield Centre Uxbridge) and the Southlands Arts Centre has members in the borough and surrounds. There are art galleries in Central London (National, National Portrait, Tate, Tate Modern etc).