Find bargains at the touch of a button

Money-saving rating: 5/10

6. Cut-price food bills

Supermarket price comparison website Mysupermarket.com claims to cut food bills by 20 per cent. It works by comparing every product on your shopping list across Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Ocado (Waitrose) in order to find the lowest price and the best offers. If it finds a similar product at a better price, it will suggest you swap it and you can compare the whole cost of your trolley at the end before you decide where to check out. The site is free to use, though you may pay a delivery charge from the supermarket of your choice.

Money-saving rating: 8/10

7. Financial products

Insurance, bank accounts, savings accounts, mobile phones, broadband... compare the cost of these and other financial products, utilities and telecoms at a whole plethora of price comparison websites including the Compare and Buy section at - among others - www.guardian.co.uk/money, or at Gocompare.com, Moneysupermarket.com and Uswitch.com.

Money-saving rating: 9/10

8. Cut-price fashion

Fed up with your wardrobe? Bought one Che Guevara T-shirt too many? Why not swap clothes, shoes or bags with someone? Websites such as Whatsmineisyours.com and Bigwardrobe.com provide an online marketplace to allow you to do this. Whatsmineisyours also has an eBay-like facility that allows users to buy and sell clothes. The sites are aimed at both sexes, though Bigwardrobe has far more male users than Whatsmineisyours. For final-year students looking for something special for a graduation ball, Fashionhire.com allows you to rent designer bags for a month at a time.

Money-saving rating: 3/10

9. Cheap phone calls

Gone are the days when students had to queue up to use public phones in campus halls. Most students now have mobiles and many have an internet connection in their room. Advice on choosing the cheapest mobile phone tariffs is here, but an alternative way to save money is by using Voice Over Internet Protocol (Voip) or, in layman's terms, phone calls over the net. There are lots of providers but amongst the biggest are Skype and Vonage. You'll need a headset attached to your computer; then, for a monthly fee from as little as £1.95, you get free calls to UK landlines and, depending on the fee, free calls to other countries. Mobile phone network 3 offers Voip on the move via a 'Skypephone', which its pay-monthly customers can get free.

Money-saving rating: 7/10

10. Free stuff

Website Freebiesbank.co.uk is a directory of - and link to - free stuff available on the net. A lot of it is tat, but among the top 10 most popular free products are Simple skincare samples, jelly beans, shaving oil, Lancashire tea, lip gloss and shampoo. Another website offering freebies is the UK free recycling network Freecycle. The idea is that, in an effort to keep unnecessary waste out of landfills, members give and get items for free. You can sign up to the group in your local area at www.freecycle.org.uk.

Money-saving rating: 10/10