All Things University: Top Budgeting Tips

Going to university can be a huge financial strain, despite getting a maintenance loan (if you're a UK student) in many cases you won't be able to solely rely on this. In today's post, I want to go through some of my budgeting tips to help you make the most of the money you have and still be able to do everything you want.

The first step is to calculate how much money you'll have each term, in the case of a maintenance loan, you'll have this split into three payments over the year (one for each term). The maintenance loan is based on your household income, whether you're living away from home or not and if you'll be classed as living in London if you do choose to move out. There are additional means of financial support, through the form of the Disabled Students Allowance and university-based grants and bursaries. Once you have the termly sum of money coming into your account you need to calculate your expenses.
These can range from a variety of things such as...

• Halls Accommodation Payments 
• Private Rental Payments 
• Bills (utilities, water, broadband) 
• Commuting Costs (train, bus, or fuel money) 
• Grocery Cost (I would recommend doing a trial online shop for the things you're likely to buy each visit so you can estimate how much you'll be spending on food items)
• Academic Costs (books, equipment) 

These are what's known as essential costs, once you deduct these from your termly sum you'll be left with a disposable income, in many cases, this won't be a huge sum so you have to make it stretch as far as possible. Being a student means that you'll probably have a more active social life than you did prior to starting university and with an extensive social life comes an array of costs, whether it's: going on a night out, going for lunch with friends, going on a day trip. All of these things add up over the course of the term.

KEY TIP: When going on a night out, to ensure that you don't overspend make sure you just take cash out with you, once the cash has run out you'll need to stop spending.

There are ways of having a good social life without having to break the bank, for example, going out for lunch with friends doesn't have to be expensive. There's a variety of discount websites that you can use, even more so as a student. You may be eligible for student deals just by showing your student card when at the checkout.

• UniDays - free to download off the app store, just sign up with your student email address 
• Student Beans - also free to download off the app store, just sign up with your student email 
• MeerkatMeals - free to those who've taken out insurance through CompareTheMarket 
• MoneySavingExpert - free online platform sharing thousands of discount codes and vouchers

Try and make the most of these discounts because you'll save yourself money on eating out, day trips and general shopping. I would also recommend getting a points card for wherever you intend on doing your food shopping. For me, I tend to shop at a combination of Tesco and Waitrose so I have cards for both of them, I can gain points throughout the year and turn them into vouchers. 

Budgeting apps can be a great way to organise your finances, there are many student-friendly ones free to download from the app store...

• Yolt 
• Cleo 
• Money Dashboard
• Spending Tracker 

My take home top tips for university budgeting

1. Look into employment at your university to earn yourself some extra money (uni jobs usually pay well and are flexible to work around studies)
2. Always ask yourself when spending whether it's something you need, will use in the future and if you could find it somewhere else cheaper, or if you can use a discount code
3. Save money on regular non-essential things (such as coffee-shop visits, these can all add up)
4. Avoid cash machines that charge you for transactions
5. Be savvy with your food shopping, shop around to find the best deals and look for cheaper alternatives
6. Be sure to always grab the best deals by taking advantage of student discount apps 
7. Try not to buy academic books brand new, look if you could borrow them from the library or buy them second-hand 
8. Know where to go if you need financial help (universities, employers, family) 
9. Try putting money away into a savings account where possible 
10. Have nights in with friends to avoid always spending money going out, there are so many things you can do from a hall flat (I had a bake-off finale party where we made cookie ice cream sandwiches) 

Finally, I want to leave you with some key student deals currently available: 

• 6 months free Amazon Prime - eligible for all students, just sign in with student email 
• 50% off AppleMusic - eligible for all students, just sign in with student email
• 16-25 Railcard - Free with Santander Student Account 
• Many universities offer free Office packages for you to access Word, PowerPoint, Excel etc. 
• Spotify Premium free for 1 month then £4.99 afterwards