Should i keep a budget for uni?
For the past year i've kept a budget for my spends, I'm thinking if I should continue for the next year of uni or whether there is an easier way of keeping track of money spent as a student without having to open up my budget every day to note spends.
I don't want my budget to take up a lot of my time whilst studying- not that it has in the past, but I just wondered if anyone had an easier way of tracking spends?
I don't want to get rid of a budget at the same time as I need to know where my spends go and hence control what I spend money on.
Anyone have any experiences of keeping a budget/ not keeping one? How has it worked out?
All feedback is much appreciated-
RevisionNad
I don't want my budget to take up a lot of my time whilst studying- not that it has in the past, but I just wondered if anyone had an easier way of tracking spends?
I don't want to get rid of a budget at the same time as I need to know where my spends go and hence control what I spend money on.
Anyone have any experiences of keeping a budget/ not keeping one? How has it worked out?
All feedback is much appreciated-
RevisionNad
If you're making budgets, you need a good idea about how much things cost in the first place. Food and toiletries should cost about £30.00/week, but it can hit £50.00/week if you don't shop around and it could be as low as £15.00/week depending on your diet and where you source things.
Think about the costs of travel, utilities, eating out, socialising, holidays, any kind of equipment you'd need for University (eg study materials, printers, laptops/computers, etc), and make it realistic. A well prepared student has a few thousand kept in savings for emergencies, but a few hundred is reasonable. If the numbers don't work, you might have to adjust your lifestyle to accommodate - or seek some sort of part time work on the side.
If you're an excellent student, tutoring is an easy way to earn a little extra. There are loads of student who use DSA to pay for someone to take notes for them, so that's another role you could take.
Think about the costs of travel, utilities, eating out, socialising, holidays, any kind of equipment you'd need for University (eg study materials, printers, laptops/computers, etc), and make it realistic. A well prepared student has a few thousand kept in savings for emergencies, but a few hundred is reasonable. If the numbers don't work, you might have to adjust your lifestyle to accommodate - or seek some sort of part time work on the side.
If you're an excellent student, tutoring is an easy way to earn a little extra. There are loads of student who use DSA to pay for someone to take notes for them, so that's another role you could take.
Yes definitely.
I've seen too many people land themselves in bad financial situations, all because they couldn't be bothered making a simple budget.
I've seen too many people land themselves in bad financial situations, all because they couldn't be bothered making a simple budget.
I'd say have a decent amount of money for the first couple of weeks of ~£200 if you plan on drinking, £100 if you're a non-drinker, buy stuff day by day or a couple of days at a time rather than the whole week and then you can get a decent estimate of how to budget the rest of your money e.g. are you buying a bunch of stuff you don't end up eating?, can you buy cheaper versions which don't taste that different/are there cheaper options? (like buy jelly/doughnuts instead of cakes if you want a dessert), or on the opposite end can you afford to treat yourself a bit more? Once you come up with a decent estimate on how much you can get away with spending each week find out how much that is in total and add ~£150 to that for potential emergency/extraneous costs, maybe more if you have to travel a lot. Now you have your ideal budget, if that's more money than you have you'll need to find ways to reduce your weekly spending (namely giving up luxuries) or increase the money you have available by finding part time or occasional work.
Original post by RevisionNad
For the past year i've kept a budget for my spends, I'm thinking if I should continue for the next year of uni or whether there is an easier way of keeping track of money spent as a student without having to open up my budget every day to note spends.
I don't want my budget to take up a lot of my time whilst studying- not that it has in the past, but I just wondered if anyone had an easier way of tracking spends?
I don't want to get rid of a budget at the same time as I need to know where my spends go and hence control what I spend money on.
Anyone have any experiences of keeping a budget/ not keeping one? How has it worked out?
All feedback is much appreciated-
RevisionNad
I don't want my budget to take up a lot of my time whilst studying- not that it has in the past, but I just wondered if anyone had an easier way of tracking spends?
I don't want to get rid of a budget at the same time as I need to know where my spends go and hence control what I spend money on.
Anyone have any experiences of keeping a budget/ not keeping one? How has it worked out?
All feedback is much appreciated-
RevisionNad
Hello
During my First Year and Second Year I always used the same method. I have a look at how much I had coming in each term from Student Finance (in total) and then subjected rent etc and then divided it by the amount of weeks between each payment and then whatever I was left with was my expenses per week.
I'd then subject my shopping costs for that week and whatever I was left with was extra money to spend during the week. I've always done this and it's always kept me on track ensuring I know when money is coming in, when it's going out and how much I have to spend.
I have a Lloyds Student Account where all my Student Finance money goes into and then I split that into my Nationwide Current Account which is my main account and spend money from that one - if that makes sense?
I'd suggest budgeting and knowing what you can and can't spend is something that is a definite during university.
I gave myself a weekly budget (plus a separate budget for big expenditures like clothes) and basically took my £60 out every monday and that was what I got until the next weekend so I knew exactly what I was spending, I'd do my food shop first and then obviously if I wanted to do anything big or expensive I had to save £10 for a few weeks to afford it
Original post by JustGeorgeJ
Hello
During my First Year and Second Year I always used the same method. I have a look at how much I had coming in each term from Student Finance (in total) and then subjected rent etc and then divided it by the amount of weeks between each payment and then whatever I was left with was my expenses per week.
I'd then subject my shopping costs for that week and whatever I was left with was extra money to spend during the week. I've always done this and it's always kept me on track ensuring I know when money is coming in, when it's going out and how much I have to spend.
I have a Lloyds Student Account where all my Student Finance money goes into and then I split that into my Nationwide Current Account which is my main account and spend money from that one - if that makes sense?
I'd suggest budgeting and knowing what you can and can't spend is something that is a definite during university.
During my First Year and Second Year I always used the same method. I have a look at how much I had coming in each term from Student Finance (in total) and then subjected rent etc and then divided it by the amount of weeks between each payment and then whatever I was left with was my expenses per week.
I'd then subject my shopping costs for that week and whatever I was left with was extra money to spend during the week. I've always done this and it's always kept me on track ensuring I know when money is coming in, when it's going out and how much I have to spend.
I have a Lloyds Student Account where all my Student Finance money goes into and then I split that into my Nationwide Current Account which is my main account and spend money from that one - if that makes sense?
I'd suggest budgeting and knowing what you can and can't spend is something that is a definite during university.
Original post by doodle_333
I gave myself a weekly budget (plus a separate budget for big expenditures like clothes) and basically took my £60 out every monday and that was what I got until the next weekend so I knew exactly what I was spending, I'd do my food shop first and then obviously if I wanted to do anything big or expensive I had to save £10 for a few weeks to afford it
Thank you both! I finally feel like I'm doing a right thing! I also use my budget to make graphs of trends sometimes or just simply look at it and see which month I spent the least or most in! Thanks again!
I have 2 bank accounts and one savings account. I get my loan and wages paid into one, every time I get the loan, I move 2k to the other bank account. I rent privately so all my rent and bills are paid from that. Next payment I get, I just top it back up to 2k. I usually have 200-300 left there. Everything else is moved into savings and then I move some of it back to my normal account for each week and that's my budget to work with. I usually give myself £50 a week unless I need clothes or something, then I decide on what I can allow myself to spend on that and move the appropriate amount from my savings.
Original post by RevisionNad
For the past year i've kept a budget for my spends, I'm thinking if I should continue for the next year of uni or whether there is an easier way of keeping track of money spent as a student without having to open up my budget every day to note spends.
I don't want my budget to take up a lot of my time whilst studying- not that it has in the past, but I just wondered if anyone had an easier way of tracking spends?
I don't want to get rid of a budget at the same time as I need to know where my spends go and hence control what I spend money on.
Anyone have any experiences of keeping a budget/ not keeping one? How has it worked out?
All feedback is much appreciated-
RevisionNad
I don't want my budget to take up a lot of my time whilst studying- not that it has in the past, but I just wondered if anyone had an easier way of tracking spends?
I don't want to get rid of a budget at the same time as I need to know where my spends go and hence control what I spend money on.
Anyone have any experiences of keeping a budget/ not keeping one? How has it worked out?
All feedback is much appreciated-
RevisionNad
I have the perfect solution. I kinda discovered this a month ago and have been using it throughout the summer (even on holiday, theres no fee for usage abroad). I swear its going to be a lifesaver for budgeting at uni.
Its basically a prepaid account that you top up as and when you want. It has useful budgeting features. Its all app-based so you receive push-notifications as soon as you spend, daily/weekly/monthly updates of what you've spent, it categorises your spending allowing you to budget better, and they have a budget-setting feature coming within the next week or so which allows you to cap your spending. Your card should come before you go off to uni if you get it soon, they seem to be prioritising students at the moment.
Original post by abc_123_
Life is boring on a budget … my parents have agreed to put £100 into my bank account each month & I'll get money from work when I go to uni + savings
uughh lucky... I could do with an extra hundred a month.
Sounds like a good idea, so you dont run out of money for the important stuff... shelter, food ect or the fun stuff ... going out ect anyway I think in that situation your parents might help you out with the essentials so you dont end up on the streets lol and there is always an over draught for such situations but that can run out too if your not carefull (obviously its useful to have overdraught for emergencys but alot of people get into the habbit of thinking yeah I have money when you actually you have no money, and infact your minus money). so use the bank of mum and dad or an overdraught to buy the essentials stop you getting homeless is you run out of money but if you get into that financial position you wont be able to spend on enjoyable things like going out. You should have some wriggle room in your budget so if you do have an unexpected expense it wont cause you to have to be in the position i have just described. And when budgeting dont just say yeah its fine, once ive paid my rent im left with 5pounds a week to live on but ill go overdrawn, if that is the case (as it was for a friend of mine, who was reciving maximum student finance, but still had no money to spend after paying rent because of ridicouslly expensive halls) then you will have to look for another source of income. Also throughout the year, dont be tempted just to buy somthing because you can put on your overdraught .... if its not budgeted for then dont buy it... which is why your budge needs a catergory for everything...
i mean the only exception of not having a budget would be if you have loads of cash to spend, similar to my situation currently which is that I have a job and have really low essential out goings, even then i should be better with my money. but if your a broke student, then a budget is definatly essential, especually given that they give you a whole terms student finance at once which can be a little dangerous especially because its normally people first experience of having a significant amount of money in first year ... compared to saturday job at college or parents giving you allowance
i mean the only exception of not having a budget would be if you have loads of cash to spend, similar to my situation currently which is that I have a job and have really low essential out goings, even then i should be better with my money. but if your a broke student, then a budget is definatly essential, especually given that they give you a whole terms student finance at once which can be a little dangerous especially because its normally people first experience of having a significant amount of money in first year ... compared to saturday job at college or parents giving you allowance
I've just finished first year and kept a budget the whole time. My girlfriend had a fancy Excel sheet thing but I did mine perfectly well with a notebook, with one page per week; listing how much loan is left, how much I can spend that week, how much I spend and then a grand total.
A few tips:
-Just note down how much comes out of your bank. This is much more efficient than trying to remember that 20p you put in a charity box the other day.
-Do your budget Sunday to Sunday as no money Spent on a Sunday will come out of your bank until the Monday anyway.
-Take into account that you may need money to cover the period between finishing one academic year and starting the next. My last loan payment came through in April and my next is late September. That's a long time to make the money stretch.
I budgeted myself £80 per week, excluding rent obviously, but in reality I usually spent between £50 and £70, meaning I always had a nice amount left over. But then again I live in one of the cheapest university cities and can have a good night out on £25 and a weekly shop at the market for £15. Having said that, before coming to uni I expected to be spending like £65pw, but it's surprising how stuff ads up, especially in freshers week when you go to all the expensive clubs and develop a taste for cheesy chips.
A few tips:
-Just note down how much comes out of your bank. This is much more efficient than trying to remember that 20p you put in a charity box the other day.
-Do your budget Sunday to Sunday as no money Spent on a Sunday will come out of your bank until the Monday anyway.
-Take into account that you may need money to cover the period between finishing one academic year and starting the next. My last loan payment came through in April and my next is late September. That's a long time to make the money stretch.
I budgeted myself £80 per week, excluding rent obviously, but in reality I usually spent between £50 and £70, meaning I always had a nice amount left over. But then again I live in one of the cheapest university cities and can have a good night out on £25 and a weekly shop at the market for £15. Having said that, before coming to uni I expected to be spending like £65pw, but it's surprising how stuff ads up, especially in freshers week when you go to all the expensive clubs and develop a taste for cheesy chips.
Have you thought about getting your statements and pen/paper and writing down what you need the for the week and how much money you have left
Example
Rent is 300 quid
Phone bill £26
Food £35
Other expenses £60
Income
Student loans
Income from job
Parents allowance
Benefits
Access to HE in Social Work
BSc Health and Social Care - pending
Example
Rent is 300 quid
Phone bill £26
Food £35
Other expenses £60
Income
Student loans
Income from job
Parents allowance
Benefits
Access to HE in Social Work
BSc Health and Social Care - pending
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