Illustration by Holly Whitnell.
scrimp (verb): to be thrifty or parsimonious; economise. (OED)
To some it’s unheard of; to others it’s a fun personal challenge; and to most uni students, it’s an essential way of life. Personally, coming from one of the most affordable (a polite way of putting deprived and underemployed) cities in England to one of the most expensive, it’s already become my most prized skill. Essay writing is irrelevant if I can’t afford a weekly shop at the closest supermarket! With the cost-of-living crisis still ongoing, scrimping, bargain hunting, plain common sense or whatever you wish to call it, is becoming increasingly necessary for many people. While some Oxford students might not need to consider such cost increases as much, there will be many facing the daunting prices here in horror. Regardless of which position you might be in, bargain hunting is something I believe can benefit everyone, and so that is who this article is for. Welcome to the guide to Affording Oxford.
Surprising to some, university life is not just about studying, clubbing, and stressing about deadlines. Amongst all of that, most of us have to try and find room for weekly shops and various other essential activities that are suddenly far more expensive than they used to be at home. All of the closest supermarkets are “convenience” stores with ridiculously inflated prices. There aren’t any cheaper toiletries/home goods shops, such as Wilko and Home Bargains, and you’ve just seen a fairly plain top in a charity shop costing TWENTY QUID. Before you know it, you’re overworked and don’t have the time to make it further than the local Co-op for a small, quick lunch. Ah, only £6. What a bargain. It’s hard to find the time to gather your bearings and figure out where doesn’t cost a fortune in this city, so I’ve done it for you. Let’s begin.
City Centre
Journey Time: Practically 0 anything. Maybe 10 minutes if you go to St Hugh’s.
Oxfam Scarf Price Index: £5.99 !!! Absolute rip off.
As a loving fan of charity shops/vintage clothing in general, and an advocate for reducing fast fashion and clothes waste, I’m going to make them one of the main priorities of this article. Most people will have heard about the Aldi that’s half an hour away by the end of their first week here, but how many are aware of where you can find your matriculation shirt/halloween costume/formal shoes for less than a fiver?? Exactly. Listen up.
As beautiful as the city centre is, it really does not have much on offer for the scrimpers among us. There’s a Primark, thankfully, and a few decently priced food places (I’d’ve dropped out by now if there wasn’t a Greggs here), but other than that it’s looking pretty dismal. Yes, that Oxfam on Broad Street is the oldest one, which is pretty cool, but compared to the prices in the one on my high street at home it’s like shopping downstairs at Westgate! The British Heart Foundation down the side of Westgate isn’t quite as bad, but still more money than I’d like to be spending on second hand clothes, even if it is saving the environment. The Sobell House near my college never seems to have anything good in, and Mind in Jericho is also guilty of thinking it can charge more than is reasonable.
When completing my very important investigations for this guide, which included taking a shopping day in the name of self-care because I’d finished one of my essays early, the only thing that I would consider a good deal was this one stall in Gloucester Green market where everything was just £1. Granted most of the things on offer weren’t particularly desirable, but I was in a bit of a rush at that point and didn’t have time to dig through the piles and find a hidden gem. Either way, it’s definitely worth checking out just in case – it’s not like there’s anywhere else close to us with prices like that!
Botley Road
Journey Time: About half an hour’s walk from the centre. Straight road so a pretty easy route.
As I said earlier, most of you will have heard about the Aldi by now, but as it’s the closest cheap anything in Oxford, it deserves a mention. Just in case you haven’t heard, if you carry on down the road to get to the train station and keep walking for just under half an hour, without changing direction, an oasis will emerge. Navy blue with a golden frame, and some blue lines that used to represent an A. Nothing more needs to be said. Instead of spending your student loan on overpriced food at Tesco, take a half an hour’s walk and save money on the same items for half the price! You can even get a bus back to save yourself from keeling over on the walk back to your room with your shopping.
If you’re not already convinced, there’s also a massive Home Bargains next door complete with a big Halloween section and (oddly but welcome enough) a cafe?! If that doesn’t change your mind then I don’t know what will.
Headington
Journey Time: An hour’s walk. Part of it is up a fairly massive hill which isn’t the most enjoyable, though, so you might prefer one of the many buses that get there in 15 minutes.
Oxfam Scarf Price Index: £3.99. Still a bit steep, but they were hand-knitted and very pretty.
There’s a shark on the roof of one of the houses round here. Nothing to do with bargain hunting, but it’s a little added bonus. Added to the wonder that is Headington’s main high street: a collection of charity shops, Card Factory, Iceland, Greggs, and Savers, aka a scrimper’s idea of heaven. My immense hour-long trek up Headington Hill and past the main Brookes campus was worth it. In one of the charity shops here, practically everything, including shoes and even some coats, was just £2. I managed to snag my matriculation shirt for a fraction of what it would’ve cost in the centre, even in Primark! The Oxfam here has a really decent book section, and most of the charity shops sell random trinkets and decorations that can jazz up lifeless accommodation without costing a fortune (and without needing blu tac).
If you’re not lucky enough to live near a Savers Health and Beauty at home, you’re missing out. It’s like the Home Bargains toiletries/cleaning sections only bigger, cheaper, and it sells chocolate too. What more could you want? Card Factory is the perfect spot for birthday cards for all your new friends that you love but aren’t quite ready to splash out on Hallmark birthday/Christmas cards for just yet. Iceland is probably pretty useless given that half your shopping would’ve melted by the time you get back, but it comforts me knowing there’s one nearby anyway.
Cowley Road
Journey Time: Depends how far down it you go, but shouldn’t be more than half an hour’s walk.
Oxfam Scarf Price Index: £4.50. Disappointing.
Quick side note before we get into Cowley Road itself, there’s an Age UK charity shop just off the first exit on the roundabout from Magdalen Bridge. Pretty big, pretty cheap. I saw a pair of Levi’s for 12 quid but they unfortunately wouldn’t have fitted me. Definitely worth a look in if you’re heading to either Headington or Cowley Road, because you practically go past it on the way anyway.
I’ve not been here long enough to officially vouch for Cowley Road being cooler than central Oxford itself, but it does have normally-priced charity shops, a few vintage shops and I’m sure there’s a chippy down there somewhere. Barnardo’s was shut when I got there so Oxfam was my only source of information. I must admit I was still a bit on-edge from being the only person looking in the vintage shop across the road and leaving after scrutinising half the clothes (and price tags) without buying anything. Still, I was able to acknowledge another solid book section, even if the clothes on offer weren’t particularly exciting. No need to worry though, as I knew better things were on their way…
Oxfam Superstore
Journey Time: About an hour’s walk from the centre, or a 10-20 minute bus ride. Worth it.
Oxfam Scarf Price Index: £2!! What we like to see.
Saving the best (charity shop at least) ‘til last. If you’ve been sticking with this guide the whole way through, think of this as your reward. Nothing breaks my heart more than this place being so far away, by Oxford standards. Finally, a charity shop which has both decent pricing and an actually nice variety of swag clothes, not just an old lady’s wardrobe. Matriculation skirt was acquired here for a fiver, only it’s not just a black skirt – it’s some official team clothing for the old Lotus F1 team?! Very much worth it.
The name superstore is used very accurately: it’s massive, so fairly easy to lose your friends in! Full of clothes, books, stationery, trinkets, Moomins paraphernalia and that fair trade chocolate nobody ever buys (20% off!!). There’s not much else to say about it other than if you’re after some specific item of clothing, you’ll probably find it here. Oh, and it’s also near a Spoons…
Templar’s Square/Shopping Park
Journey Time: Close to Oxfam, so again either an hour’s walk or a short bus ride.
Botley Road’s Aldi and Home Bargains is a fairly decent combination in the eyes of a scrimper, getting two discount places for the journey time of one! Templar’s Shopping Park, however, is a scrimper’s paradise: Lidl, Poundland, Shoe Zone, The Works.The average price of anything in a shop down there must be no more than £2.50. There’s a TK Maxx too, if you’re feeling fancy, though if you’re willing to walk an hour just to get to a Lidl and Poundland then that’s probably unlikely.
Across the road from this haven is the Templar’s Square Shopping Centre, unfortunately closed by the time I got there but (according to Google Maps) full of more delights for any bargain-hunter. Charity shops, no doubt decently priced due to their distance from anything resembling traditional Oxford, another Poundland, our old friend Savers, Wilko, Iceland, B&M!! They’ve got it all going on down here.
Finally, after getting a weekly shop, new outfit, 3 books and a skincare routine for about 20 quid max, you can finish off your trip with a visit to a Wetherspoons that probably won’t be rammed with students doing pres for their midweek clubbing (still a very strange phenomenon to me). Or there’s a kebab shop and a Chinese takeaway next door – whatever you fancy.
To round it all up, Oxford’s a pretty expensive place to live in, but if you know the right spots you can make it work. The Tesco in the centre never seems to put reduced stickers on things, but down in Templar’s Lidl you can get a whole loaf of bread for 20p based on the incredibly low risk that it might descend into mould within 5 minutes of going past the best before. I know that I’d rather be forking out for a £2.30 bus ticket to get down there than I would be having to use my life savings just to afford Sainsbury’s prices. Hopefully this guide has shown that that’s an option for some of you, my fellow scrimpers out there, as well.