Budgeting can play an important role within managing your expenses. With limited funds and minimal time to put in extra work shifts, students often find themselves in a predicament. It’s good to understand how to organise everything in the right way to avoid problems.
How a Student Budget Planner Can Simplify your Finances
Budget planners allow you to organise your expenses and set budgets. They help you to see when bills are due, but also allow you to track your spending.
Organise your Student Bills with a Budget Planner
Write out these columns:
- Outgoings: Here, write all your student bills and any expenses you have that month.
- Due date: Write when each one comes out of your account, or is due, if this is applicable.
- Budget: Write realistic budgets next to each one (we’ll look at how to set these a bit later).
- Actual: This column will include how much you actually end up spending on that particular expense.
- Difference: This will show you if you’re spending more than the budget you set yourself.
- Notes: This area is almost like a reflection. You can jot down what you would do differently next time or anything which you think is important to note.
Next month, write each section out again and start fresh.
Tips for Using a Student Budget Planner
- Be realistic. Don’t set budgets that are too low because this can end up causing extra stress which isn’t needed. To help you do this, look at your bank statements. This will show you how much you’re spending in different areas.
- Take advantage of the resources digital banking apps have. Many of these let you categorise your spending so you can learn about your habits and set goals.
- Keep receipts and bills. This will help you remember to note anything down that you purchased when you arrive home.
But how exactly should you use your student budget planner day-to-day? Below are some further tips on how to get things right.
Categorise Your Expenses
Putting your expenses into categories will help that little bit more with organisation. You might have an area for monthly bills, a section for leisure and an area for your car. Each of these will be broken down further to show each expense. So, the section for your car might include petrol, parking and insurance.
Track Every Expense
If you buy spontaneously and don’t track these purchases, this can defy the point of having a budget planner. In one week, you could buy some earphones for £200 and a new pair of shoes for £80. If you don’t note down this £280, you might struggle to meet budgets in other areas. Some purchases might not seem important, but they can slowly build up, and before you know it, you’re running out of money.
Review and Adjust Monthly
Monitoring your budgets will help you work out if they’re reasonable. If you’re really struggling to reach a specific target, it might be time to make a budget higher. If you find you have a lot of money left over in a certain area, you can lower it. Sometimes setting goals can take some experimentation until you find what works best for you.
You might also find that some months you have more money than others. This could be because you have less work shifts one month compared to another for example. In this instance, you might end up changing them around each month a lot more.
Get an Emergency Fund Together
You never know when things could go wrong, so it’s good to have some money set aside. Your car could break down and you need some extra money to fix it. Or your fridge might break, and you and your housemates need to get money together for a replacement.
Make sure there’s a section for savings on your budget planner. You don’t have to put a huge amount into this each week – it will build up quicker than you think. Even just £5 spare a week is something which could make a difference in the long run.
How The Student Energy Group Can Help with your Expenses
At The Student Energy Group, we combine all your monthly statements into one. This includes, water, energy, internet and more. This can then be split between you and your housemates using our student bills packages. If you sign up with us, you’ll find managing your expenses can be made easier. We’ll plant a tree as well! Get a free quote from us today.
