A Personal Finance Guide

Setting Up a Proper Budget

Making the most of your entire year at University takes a lot of restraint, control and financial planning. What I find with most students is that they get their student loan and their overdraft, within a couple of months it’s all gone because of over-excitement. This leaves nothing or not much until the next installment comes through. I’ve been there before and having to scrape some cash together just to get into Uni on the bus and some basic food shopping. So to make sure you live comfortably for the entire year, it’s essential to set-up a budget and stick to it.

How much do you have to spend?

This is the first step in setting up a budget. To find out how much you have to spend, you need to add up all the cash you’ll receive in a term or throughout the year if you like. Your budget should include your student loan, wages from a part-time job, any cash you receive from your parents and any other sources of income, but don’t include your overdraft, and overdraft should be for emergencies and I’ll be writing a post in the coming days which will give you some tips on what to do with your overdraft facility.

Calculate a Weekly Budget

Take the amount you worked out above and share it by the number of weeks in a year (52). This will be your weekly budget and you should strictly keep to it.

Calculate your Weekly Spending

Try to think of everything you spend on in a week, this could include food shopping, rent, clothes, supplies and stationary for university transport and anything else you can think of. After creating this budget, find out what you have left which is the amount you will be using for socializing (drinking) or putting into a savings accounts.

If you follow my advice, the days of scrounging the pennies for the bus will be over. It may sound boring, but people who set out a sound financial weekly or monthly plan will be much better off in the long run.

For more money saving tips, advice on student banking, budgeting, discounts, general student life and even making money, visit http://www.studentcashflow.co.uk