Before I came to uni I'd never really had to budget or manage my money strictly before. So needless to say when I came to uni this was all a bit of a shock to me.
Sticking to a student budget is challenging to say the least. But either way it has to be done! After nearly 4 months at uni I think I've finally grasped the concept of budgeting, and honestly it's helped me a huge amount.
Budgeting my money weekly is what I find easiest as it gives me short and manageable timescales to work with.
The best thing to do first is take away the money you've got to pay for rent / bills for the year, this way you're left with the remaining money you can actually spend. Divide whatever money you have left after this by the weeks you'll be living at uni - this is how much you have per week for the academic year!
Once you've done that I'd write a list of everything you would need to spend money on. For example: travel expenses, food shopping, nights out & socials, takeaways / maccies trips, toiletries etc. Once you know what you're actually having to spend money on it helps manage your expenses in advance, that way you're not aimlessly trying to track what you've already spent. This has caused me so much unnecessary stress over the past 4 months!
After you've got a list it's important to prioritise. What is the most important thing you need to spend money on? Personally I think food is the obvious choice for many, but then again I can't speak for all! Work your way down the list and allocate the money you think you need / should spend on each item (whilst keeping your overall budget into account of course).
Student budgets can be quite limiting so whilst you're budgeting it can also be a good time to work out some areas you can cut back on.
I've started food shopping at places like Lidl or just looking for cheaper options and deals in Tesco - shopping around and looking for deals can save you some money in the long-term. The money I save in the week from this I can then spend on other things like nights out, or just put aside so that I have a bit of money saved in case something comes up that isn't in the budget!
Superdrug and Boots often have quite a few good deals on for toiletries so it's definitely worth having a proper look around (I managed to get 2 for 1 on TRESemmé shampoos yesterday!) - so I guess my main point here is to just shop around and save where possible.
Hope this has helped some of you! xoxo
Once you've done that I'd write a list of everything you would need to spend money on. For example: travel expenses, food shopping, nights out & socials, takeaways / maccies trips, toiletries etc. Once you know what you're actually having to spend money on it helps manage your expenses in advance, that way you're not aimlessly trying to track what you've already spent. This has caused me so much unnecessary stress over the past 4 months!
After you've got a list it's important to prioritise. What is the most important thing you need to spend money on? Personally I think food is the obvious choice for many, but then again I can't speak for all! Work your way down the list and allocate the money you think you need / should spend on each item (whilst keeping your overall budget into account of course).
Student budgets can be quite limiting so whilst you're budgeting it can also be a good time to work out some areas you can cut back on.
I've started food shopping at places like Lidl or just looking for cheaper options and deals in Tesco - shopping around and looking for deals can save you some money in the long-term. The money I save in the week from this I can then spend on other things like nights out, or just put aside so that I have a bit of money saved in case something comes up that isn't in the budget!
Superdrug and Boots often have quite a few good deals on for toiletries so it's definitely worth having a proper look around (I managed to get 2 for 1 on TRESemmé shampoos yesterday!) - so I guess my main point here is to just shop around and save where possible.
Hope this has helped some of you! xoxo
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