The Aspire Guide - Flipbook - Page 21
Top Budgeting Tips
Yasmin attended the University of Cambridge, where she learned some
valuable tips when it comes to spending and saving money. She shares
these below.
When I got to university, I was given a student loan which contained more
money in one go than I’d really ever seen before, and I had absolutely no idea
what I was doing with it. To this day, I still don’t know how much I spent in my
first term and I probably wouldn’t want to! But, after the shock realisation that
I had accidentally spent more than I meant to (without even really noticing), I
came back in second term armed with budgeting apps and a determination to
keep an eye on what I was spending. Here are some things which have worked
for me over the past three years, hopefully they can help you too!
1. Make sure your bills are paid. This one
is absolutely key – I don’t do any kind of
money planning until after I’ve subtracted my
term’s rent.
2. Track your spending. There are loads of apps
where you can input your daily spend, and
some banks even do it for you now. This helps
you know roughly how much you’re spending
per week (helpful for tip 3) and can also help
identify areas where you could cut back. I don’t
do this anymore, but I did for a few months
when I was in first year and it helped me set
my limits later.
3. Set some kind of spending limit. Depending
on your schedule for bills etc. this might be
monthly, but for me I find setting myself a cap
per week works wonders.
4. Check your bank account. I’ve set up weekly
text reminders which come through on a
Sunday, so that I know exactly how much I’ve
spent each week.
5. Calculate exactly how much you need for
a term and transfer the rest of your money
out of your current account. You could even
adapt this one so that you only leave yourself
enough in your current account for each week
– but I find seeing my overall term’s money go
down each week keeps me on track.
6. Keep some money for emergencies. Being
able to save money at university is definitely
somewhat of a rarity, but if you are able to, it
makes a world of difference when something
unexpected inevitably happens.
7. Similarly, keep some money for other things.
There are always going to be some potentially
out-of-budget expenses (like birthdays) so it’s
good to be prepared for those in advance too.
8. Don’t take your card on nights out. This one
is a recipe for disaster and its often way more
sensible to take some cash out in advance as
doing this limits your spending potential.
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