Budgeting whilst at university
Many students out there will not be familiar with the idea of being away from your whole family and friends. University is the stage in your life where you’ll learn to be more independent and responsible. Here are a few pointers on how you can budget whilst you’re at university
1. Use your student finance wisely – This means as soon as you get your student finance, make sure you pay off your accommodation and any bills that you have to pay for. You don’t want to leave this and be ready to pay when you have nothing left in your bank account.
2. Shop around – Instead of buying groceries and other necessities from the same place, shop around different places to see if you can find cheapest options for certain things and save some money this way.
3. Have a job – Although for many, it may feel too stressful to have a job whilst studying, you not only earn money through work, but you also learn some skills that are helpful for eternity such as organisation, multitasking etc.
4. Don’t party too hard – I’ve heard of those who end up spending all the money they have on going out and you don’t want to be one of those as you then won’t have anything left to feed yourself or even to buy train tickets to go back home during holidays
5. Clothes and electronics – Make sure you make the most of all the student discounts that are out there such as Unidays and NUS.
6. Course costs – Be aware that you may have other costs associated with your course studies such as printing costs and buying textbooks. Try to take out the books from the library whenever you can and only print sheets that are necessary. In this way, you’re also more environmentally friendly.
7. Make sure you have insurance for your laptop, mobile phone etc. as you don’t want to have to spend lots of money when one of those breaks. (This has happened to be before, and trust me I wasn’t happy).
I hope these pointers have been helpful in establishing how to be better at budgeting. For any questions on uni life Chemistry as a course, please feel free to get in touch.
Shaumica 🙂
