How to Create and Stick to your Student Budget 

Starting a budget might sound a bit boring, but it’s one of the most important things you can do as a student. From rent and bills to food and everyday essentials – knowing how much money you have, and what you need to spend it on, is the first step to managing your money.   

But paying for everything you need, whilst saving up for the things you want, can be difficult to master. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice those little treats , but it’s important to prioritise the essentials, such as food, bills, transport, and course materials. 
    
To get you started, here’s some practical tips on how to set up your student budget:  

1. Calculate your income   

This is how much money you have coming into your bank account either weekly, monthly, or quarterly. This is important as it will set the limits of your spending, so think about everything you have coming in. This could include:    

• Your Student Loan   

• Additional money from bursaries or scholarships   

• Money from your parents   

• Salary from a part-time job   

• Savings  

2. List your outgoings 

Next you need to understand what you’re spending your money on.  You’ll have regular outgoings like your rent and bills, but you need to factor in any extras. Go back through your bank statements and add up your previous purchases and break them down into categories such as rent, bills, food, social etc.  

3. Calculate your weekly budget 

Once you have a list of your outgoings, you can then break them down into a weekly budget: 

• Work out your total income for a semester at university.  

• Take away your essential expenses for the term – including one-off expenses.   

• Divide the number you’re left with by the number of weeks in a term. 

You now have your non-essential weekly budget. Check out Save the Students How to Budget Page for help making your own budget, including a budgeting spreadsheet.   

4. The standing order trick  

This is a super easy and useful trick that could help you save hundreds of pounds a year. The idea revolves around the psychology that you’ll only spend what you can easily access. 

Step One – When you receive your Student Loan (or any other income) into your bank account, transfer it into a separate current or savings account (which are easy and free to set up). 

Step Two – Set up a recurring payment (such as a Direct Debit or standing order) each week to transfer your weekly budget into your normal spending account. This is easy to do and will put only the money you need into your account, meaning you won’t go overboard when you get your money. 

Step Three – If you ever need more cash one week, you can simply transfer some more money across, but at least you’ll be thinking about whether you really need it first. Not only does this give you a (kind of) weekly payday, but it also helps to break bad spending habits.   

5. Make use of budgeting apps 

Budgeting apps are handy tools to help create a budget, monitor your spending, and forecast how much money you have for treats. Here are three budgeting apps that can help with money management. 

Money Lover   
Track your finances and manage your overall spending, across all your devices. It notifies you of recurring transactions (like rent, bills, etc.) before they leave your account, so no more nasty surprises.   
Apple Store | Google Play     

Cleo  
Works through Facebook and takes a read-only (so no one can ever move money in or out of your account) look at your spending to help you keep track of your finances.   
Apple Store | Google Play     

HyperJar   
A free tool for budgeting and payments, and also has a function for group-shared expenses, if you and your housemates split bills. 
Apple Store | Google Play