Money - the bane of all evil

In my earlier posts I said how money is really important when you're at university. Without money you won't be abe to survive and so needs to be planned very carefully down to the last pound. I have written a few tips on how I budgeted/saved before and at university that may help you.


Make the most of freshers week. During Fresher's Week you will be given tonnes of information and leaflets about life at university and there will be many opportunities to collect free vouchers/20% off/BOGOF deals and these definitely should be used. For example if you turn up for a welcome meeting you receive 25 free bus tickets on the uni bus (which I got in the first week). I don't know about you, but I would gladly sit through a 45 minute meeting about safety and stuff to get 25 free tickets. PLEASE use everything that is given to you because at the end of the day the university is there to help you too.


Draw up a budget. There is no use in saving all that money/getting your student loan through and blowing it all in the first week. You need to plan plan plan to make the most of the money you have otherwise it will be gone before you know it. The first thing I did was write down all income/savings I had to give me the total I had for the next year. Then I wrote down all the most important expenses first and worked down. The main things are your student fees (if these aren't covered by the tuition fee loan), accommodation, food, books, water/council tax/electricity, phone bills, credit card payments etc. Then you can do these rest like clothes,music,recreational activities, going out, etc. Whatever is left is yours do with whatever you like! It may also be helpful to add extra on top of your total outgoings so that if anything comes up you have something to fall back on.


Student accounts. The world of student accounts is very competitive and so it will help to shop around. Many banks now offer 0% interest free overdrafts and some don't expect you to pay the balance off until a year after your degree is finished. But you have to be extremely careful as in small print banks have the right to up the interest if and when they want to. Before you know it the amount you originally borrowed has increased significantly. So be warned when using the overdraft facility, I intend on using mine for emergencies only and I'm not talking about that late night takeaway because you're starving after a night out. :)


Separate accounts. This is a very good idea if you want to organise bills/direct debits/rent efficiently and helps you keep track of everything coming out of your account. For example you could use one account for your rent and bills by setting up a standing order to transfer money into this account and use your original one for every day spending.


Get a part time job. The money in loans/from parents may not be enough and getting a part time job can really help. You don't want this to affect your studies however and so be careful how many hours you take up. Most people recommend up to 16 hours per week is enough to balance with your studies but can mean an extra £250-£300 extra a month.


Working also means that you are not spending money and is a chance to meet more new people this way. Lets say you take up 12 hours per week working, that's 6 hours over two nights and if you spend about £10 a night you will be saving £80 per month and earning maybe £240 extra. That equals £320 spare than you did before It all adds up and is something worth thinking about.


However if you want to spend as much time partying and drinking while at university you could think about working during your holidays instead. Many supermarkets, bars, clubs etc. have students as employees and many of them go home during Christmas, Easter and summer. So you could get full time work back home. If you live with your parents during this time then it is likely you will be paying either little or no board and so all the money you will be earning is yours. For example if you earn £5 per hour, 40 hours a week that works out at about £800 per month and if you are home at Christmas for 1 month, Easter for 2 weeks and summer for 3 months minimum that works out to be £2000 earned over the whole academic year and that can seriously help out during university.

You could also ry this budgeting tool on yahoo which may help you to plan your finances.

What do you do to budget? Leave a message!