When your student loan comes in, it\u2019s a great day. You\u2019ve got a big lump of cash in your account, and it\u2019s so tempting to run to the nearest shop and blow a huge chunk of it. But I\u2019m here to tell you to not do that. If you want to make it to Christmas this year without feeling stressed about money, then here are 10 ways to make your student budget go further.<\/p>\n
If the money isn\u2019t in your current account, it\u2019s almost as if you don\u2019t have it. This is also a great way of not accidentally spending your rent or utilities money. If you\u2019ve got it separate, it\u2019s safer.<\/p>\n
Setting yourself a weekly budget allows you to keep in control of your spending. If you\u2019re realistic about how much you spend a week, you can usually save a little bit each week and maybe put some aside for a rainy day.<\/p>\n
Sometimes, the shop\u2019s own brand is just as good as the premium brand but will cost you half the price. It\u2019s better to buy these so you can splash out on the more important premium products. Obviously it\u2019s got to be Heinz though.<\/p>\n
If you eat roughly the same foods each week, then it\u2019s quite easy to work out how much you spend a week on food. If you put this figure into your weekly budget, it will give you a better idea of how much money you can spend on fun things, like booze and the pub within a student budget.<\/p>\n
Usually when you\u2019re cooking a meal for yourself, it isn\u2019t much more expensive to cook a little bit extra of the same meal for a friend. If they then do the same the next night, you\u2019ve both saved a chunk of money on having to make separate dinners.<\/p>\n
If you work alongside going to university, try putting some money from your pay-check back into your savings for a student budget. It doesn\u2019t have to be much, but \u00a310 a week is \u00a340 saved a month, and that is \u00a3120 in a term. That could possibly pay for Christmas presents for your family and more.<\/p>\n
If you budget in booze, you won\u2019t be caught out by extortionate off license prices. Similarly, supermarkets have a much wider range of alcohol, usually have drink offers on and if you\u2019re drinking before a night out \u2013 it doesn\u2019t really have to taste that nice. \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Taxis and running your own car are money pits. It\u2019s usually so much cheaper to get a bus pass, Oyster Card or Metro Pass. Public transport companies usually offer student deals and are quite good at getting you anywhere you want to be. In Manchester, if you don\u2019t have a bus pass, are you even a Manchester student?<\/p>\n The reduced section of Supermarkets at around 9pm is a gold mine. You can get nice cheese, bags of salad and sometimes prime cuts of meat and fish. You can easily freeze it at home or eat it that day. But it\u2019s always worthwhile checking. Similarly, if a shop is offering a two for one offer on something you eat a lot of, it is often worth getting the deal and saving on the next time you\u2019d buy it.<\/p>\n Charity shops are a godsend in England. They are usually crammed with so many amazing products. You can buy clothes, shoes and homeware. There\u2019s no point buying plates new from a department store if they\u2019re just going to get smashed at a party. But when you can get four plates for \u00a32.50 from British Heart Foundation, are you really going to say no?<\/p>\n When your student loan comes in, it\u2019s a great day. You\u2019ve got a big lump of cash in your account, and it\u2019s so tempting to run to the nearest shop and blow a huge chunk of it. But I\u2019m here to tell you to not do that. If you want to make it to Christmas…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24509,"featured_media":135856,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1801,8010],"tags":[9092,9088,11775,11376],"thb-sponsors":[],"class_list":["post-135855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-food","category-life-in-real-world","category-school","tag-how-to-save-money","tag-saving-money-in-college","tag-student-budgeting","tag-student-budgeting-tips"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n8. Public Transport If Your Friend<\/h2>\n
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9. Shop in The Reduced Section and Discount Offers<\/h2>\n
10. Shop in Second Hand Shops<\/h2>\n
If you have anymore ideas on how to make a student budget go further, let us know in the comments below!<\/h2>\n
Featured Image: Weheartit<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"