Why and How to Budget Finances as a Student

In need of budgeting tips to get through university, or just curious of any more tips to save as much money as you can? Don’t leave this page before reading to the end… You won’t regret it!

I could list off a ton of statistics about university students and their finances, but that is boring! We all know that university is not easy for the majority of students when it comes to finances. And there is a reason for that - food, accommodation, travel are just a few expenses that have to be taken into consideration… And let’s not forget you want to have enough left over to go out! Heck, you will even be charged for printing use in some universities! As a student myself, I found that out within the first trimester of my first year. A project had to be printed off and the cost was around twenty pounds if I remember correctly - and I had no choice!

Basically, there are expenses on expenses on expenses! And they are unavoidable if you want to live to a basic standard. Resultantly, we have gathered a few key tips for students, in the hope you can implement these into your university lifestyle and save some money!

1) First and foremost, you HAVE to track your finances. With all of the expenses you have, the least you can do is make sure you aren’t overspending! We recommend the budget planner app ‘Emma - Budget Planner’ which is completely free to download on your phone, so download it now and get started!

2) Be savvy with your eating habits... Translated to eat out as little as possible! Of course, you want to eat out, enjoy nice food and company, but it isn’t possible to do so all of the time. Plan to eat out a few times here and there. The rest of the time you should be cooking, as you have the opportunity to be smart with your food shopping, and in general, it is cheaper to eat in.

Check out our blog on basic cooking tips if you don’t know where to start!

3) Luxury spending - Limit this as much as possible AND when you do so, at least be smart! We all know how addicting shopping for nice items can be, but as a university student, that is nothing more than a luxury. Don’t unnecessarily spend to the point in which it may harm your finances significantly! Additionally, if you are going to buy a new pair of shoes or clothes, make sure to at the very least lookout for discounts. Don’t jump at first sight and buy! Students have so many discounts at their disposal (thanks to UniDays and StudentBeans) so take advantage and save money!

Now it is all up to you! All you have to do is take some small, necessary steps to save some money and set yourself up as best possible for financial stability throughout your time at university. Find the huge discounts, budget your weeks and months, eat in more… and you will benefit. Don’t forget, it will all add up too! Don’t have the mindset that saving a few extra pounds is nothing to take note of - continually make the right decisions and it will add up over the year!

Free student budgeting mobile apps worth downloading (Taken from Money Saving Expert:

• Yolt – allows you to track your finances and manage your overall spending. You can use categories to see how much you're spending in different areas.
• Cleo – works through Facebook and takes a read-only (so no one can ever move money in or out of your account) look at your spending to help you keep track of your finances.
• Money Dashboard – Categorises your spending and displays all incoming and outgoing amounts on a dashboard chart, so you can see what you spend in different areas.
• Pariti – Connects your bank accounts: you can view what you have coming in plus set spending goals. It updates automatically each day so you can see what you've left to spend.
• Spending Tracker – You can choose to track your spending weekly, monthly or yearly.

We also recommend you checking out EduExplained's Monthly Budget Calendar. This online budget calculator is a free and easy-to-use tool that allows you to create a personalised budget based on your individual expenses.

Check it out - www.eduexplained.com/budget-calculator