Budgeting tips for students!

I believe that the start of the university academic year is the best time to get organised with your budgeting. I thought I’d provide you with some recommendations for budgeting from a third-year student who has discovered some good budgeting tips!

Calculate monthly budget:

• Calculate how much money you have to spend after rent and bills each month.
• Once this is completed, you can separate the money into food, nights out, educational resources, bus fares ect. To visually represent this, Excel spreadsheets are your best friend! This ensures you are being sensible with your money as long as you do not go over your designated amount.
• Any money left at the end of the month can carry over to the next month.

Food shopping:

• Write a list of all the meals you are going to be making for the week and correspond this list with items that you already have in your fridge and cupboard. This means you won’t end up overbuying unnecessary items.  
• On social media platforms such as Tiktok, there are influencers who post student budget-friendly meals which are made with cheap ingredients but in large quantities. Bulk cooking will not only help you save money but also makes meals a lot easier as they are already prepared, which saves time and effort after a long day of studying.

Student discounts:

• This tip isn’t focused on budgeting as such but is a great tip regarding money.
• Definitely make use of the student discount platforms available to you! I can do another blog on which student discount platforms are best to use, but the main two are UNIDAYS and StudentBeans. Sign up using the university email you are provided with when you start your first year, and you won’t regret it.
• Also, it is always worth asking when dining in restaurants, shopping for clothes or when out for cocktails, as they may offer student discounts.

I hope these tips have given you an insight into budgeting as a student.

If you have any budgeting questions or would like some support in setting up a budgeting spreadsheet, please do not hesitate to send me an email!

My email address is Kaitlyn.kellett@warwick.ac.uk

Until next time, Kaitlyn x