…or, how can I budget more effectively during my studies?
Managing your money is one of the most important things you will learn as a student. Knowing that your finances are under control will allow you to relax and enjoy your time at University.
As part of National Student Money Week, our Money Advice Service can offer plenty of essential advice and guidance to help students take control of their finances, helping you with budgeting and feeling more in control with your income.
Did you know that our budgeting and boosting your income webpages are full of both helpful tips and online resources for you to use? Whilst you are at university, budgeting effectively can help you to monitor your spending in order to ensure that you have enough money for essentials like rent and food, and to prevent overspending.
- Avoid expensive brands – supermarket and discount brands are an easy switch!
- Ditch the takeaways – after a long day of lectures, avoid the urge to order in – try practicing simple, quick recipes to pull back control of your spending
- Make use of shop loyalty cards for in store discounts
- Sign up for a a student railcard or buy bus tickets as a saver bundle to save on your commute
- Pause before you buy – before you hit the ‘purchase’ button, or tap your debit card, consider if it’s a purchase that can be made at a later date, or if you need it at all – taking a few moments to reassess what you can afford right now is a good way to start managing your spending habits.
Check out all of our top Budgeting Tips here!
Online Resources:
You can use the Money Advice online Student Budgeting Spreadsheet to help you see whether you need to cut your spending on non-essential items and/or increase your income. Practicing using a Spending Log for one month can also help you identify unhealthy patterns in your spending, allowing you to pull back on those spends you don’t need.
Are you accessing Student Discounts?
As a student, you are usually eligible for a range of great discounts on things such as travel, meals out, activities and shopping! You can find out about student discount schemes – such as Totum, Unidays and Student Beans – and how to sign up, by using the Student Benefits icon on your MyWorc page
Boosting your income…
Some students opt to take a part-time job during their studies to help their finances go further, however do try to get the work and study balance right – working too many hours not only affects your vital study time, but can have a detrimental effect on your health and wellbeing if you’re not allowing any time to rest.
You can find a quick guide to finding part-time work on the Careers & Employability webpage here or log on to your myCareer portal via your MyWorc page. The Careers and Employability team advertise the latest local part time and summer jobs on myCareer and you will also find useful resources such as application and interview guidance!
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