Mega-stressed - any advice.

Javabeans

Hi,

To all those who have already been in this situation it will be as my mum puts it a case of 'welcome to the real world.' but any advice will still be appreciated.

I'm moving in with my partner in September as both of us will be going to the same university (she's already completed her first year, i'll be starting new.). We've found ourselves a nice little two bed place to rent privately, and dont intend to be going home etc for the typical student holidays (albeit we will obviously go home) so it is a typical 12month contract.

We've worked out our budget, made sure that we have enough for housekeeping and bills and sports and leisure too so that whilst we will have to be careful we can still go out and things. We've both had our parents check through it to make sure that its all ok and reasonable and they've both okayed it.

However, i'm finding that i'm already having sleepless nights worrying about the money and things. It reliant on me having a part-time job and as things have gone this summer it hasn't been that easy to pick up extra work to what i've already been doing and i've already started looking for things in Stoke or Newcastle-under-lyme (i'm going to Keele University) and everywhere is saything that they are laying people off not taking anyone on and dont see that changing in the near future. I dont need to earn a lot, just £150/month and i'm sure that something will come along perhaps at christmas etc.

If anyone has been in a situation where they've had a pretty tight budget can i ask how you got rid of worry's? We dont have money to fall back on if it all goes wrong and i need some sleep.

Any advice or tips or even motivation would be great.

Thanks

Stefanie

kiddy_guy

Hi Steff

Stoke tend to be quite industrial, but you should be able to get an office job over Xmas to help, or be an Xmas temp in a store (they needs extra staff).

As regards saving money, look on the various MSE threads - coupons, buy short life foods at reduced prices, etc, etc...

Don't worry too much - £150 should be 20 hours per week - you could do that in a bar, or an office part time - can you split the work with your partner? Perhaps start registering with employment agencies there - tell them what you are looking for and they may be able to find you something - there must be some companies who want people to work weekends, or anti social hours.

Don't worry yourself - I was made redundant and people were offering me jobs temping left right and centre...

[Deleted User]

The only advice I can offer is get yoursleves there a couple of weeks before everyone else(if you can)and there might be jobs going,but as you seem to realise in the current climate its going to be difficult,have you factored your overdrafts into the claculations?

sparklymessygirl

Our local university's student union building has its own employment office and acts as a resource for work opportunities so perhaps Keele does too? Universities often employ their own students for open days, room utilisation surveys etc. so check this out as soon as you can. Buy text books second hand if you can but do check with tutors which editions are acceptable.

Sparkly

Sparkly

RachelRa

http://stoke.gumtree.com/stoke/48/19406548.html

http://stoke.gumtree.com/stoke/27/25000427.html

http://stoke.gumtree.com/stoke/79/26349779.html One off, but still. next weekend

Oldernotwiser

You'll have the advantage over most students who'll be disappearing in the holidays, so that should help. £150 per month is probably less than your sport/entertainment budget so if all else fails you'll still be able to survive financially, even if you have to stay in rather more often.

horrorhag

i did the exsact same thing when i was 18. completely moved out with my partner when i went to university. no weekend visits. No going home for the summer. i was working 4 hours a week at my part time job....not much. but i have never go over my overdraft. never had a load of any sort and still live comfortably. my golden advice is this.....SPEND YOUR STUDENT LOAN WISELY! dont do what other students do and spend it on clothes and going out. use your part time work earnings for personal use and use the loan for household management. if you do this you shouldnt need to worry. in fact i even have £1000 each year spare!

TigerAngel11

I'm assuming you haven't done this and that you're the sole renters and that the second bedroom is free, so obviously ignore it if you've already arranged something similar...

Can you have a lodger/sublet? There must be fellow students looking for a room off-campus, particularly after their first year. To make it less of a risk, you can get recommendations from people your gf knows or even get a friend of hers to move in. If the second bedroom is big enough for a double bed, you could even get a couple to move in and charge more rent.

Make sure you agree on what's included in the price (e.g. food, bills, etc.) beforehand and a proper contract would be a good idea to protect you from a legal point of view. Or, if you'd prefer, perhaps you could arrange for them to just rent from the landlord (or lady) with you, each of you paying half the rent, and split all the bills. Assuming accommodation prices are similar in Keele to the university I'm going to, students would expect to pay at least £90-100 a week for self-catered halls so undercutting that slightly would be a good deal for them. If they're a couple, they'll each be paying - for example - £75 a week and that'll cover the £150 you need. Any work you find would be a bonus!

Obviously that's just a rough example - you'll need to re-budget for how much their living with you would add to utility bills and make sure the money covers it - but even if you can't afford to undercut the university accommodation prices, there are plenty of students who'd be willing to pay a bit more for a private house/flat rather than having to share living space with lots of other people, particularly couples.


If you can't do that, jobs in the service industry are your best bet - shop assistant, waiter or barman. These tend to have high turnover, particularly in the larger chains/companies, so even if you can't find something at first, there will probably be vacancies after a couple of months. It's a good idea to research which places are near to your home/campus and start sending your CV or application forms, along with a covering letter explaining when you'll be starting university.

Generally, Christmas and Summer are busy times for the service industry, so you'll more than likely be able to make up any shortfall in the holidays. As long as it averages out as at least £150, you'll be fine. You could try getting 2 jobs if you can't find one with enough hours available, though this could get awkward if they try to change your contracted hours so that they clash or if they expect you to do a lot of overtime when it's available. Legally, they can't force you to do this, but both the large clothing chain and the supermarket I worked for expected staff to be at their beck and call, so it could cause problems when trying to juggle two jobs.

Check out the university website too - the university I'm going to has a lot of information about employment and has a scheme where you can sign up for emails asking for people to do certain one-off jobs or cover a busy period. You just reply saying "I can do it" and assuming you're one of the first, you'll get to do it. It seems to be mainly things like covering the telephones in various offices or assisting with open days. It seems that it should be thought of as pocket money, rather than relied upon.

Voyager2002

TigerAngel11 wrote: »

Can you have a lodger/sublet? There must be fellow students looking for a room off-campus, particularly after their first year. To make it less of a risk, you can get recommendations from people your gf knows or even get a friend of hers to move in. If the second bedroom is big enough for a double bed, you could even get a couple to move in and charge more rent.

I must say, when a couple are living together for the first time they need some privacy. So I think that sharing their private living space is something that should only be considered if the situation becomes utterly desperate.

To the OP, don't lose sleep. What counts is having a good time together, getting good degrees, and moving on to rewarding careers that will enable you to pay off the debts that student life will inevitably cause. A deficit of 150 per month sounds a lot, but over the course of three years it would only be an extra five thousand, which is a small amount in relation to the total debt of a typical student at the end of his/her course.

Obviously an extra five thousand in debt is not a good thing, but what really matters is that you both complete your courses with good degrees and so are able to get the kind of jobs that you want.

iNFLUENCE_2

TigerAngel11 wrote: »

I'm assuming you haven't done this and that you're the sole renters and that the second bedroom is free, so obviously ignore it if you've already arranged something similar...

Can you have a lodger/sublet? There must be fellow students looking for a room off-campus, particularly after their first year. To make it less of a risk, you can get recommendations from people your gf knows or even get a friend of hers to move in. If the second bedroom is big enough for a double bed, you could even get a couple to move in and charge more rent.

Pretty rare that your allowed to do that these days, especially in student accomodation, and if its not allowed and they did it, if the landlord found out, they could find themselves without a place to live.

To the OP: While I dont mean to suggest what your doing is a bad idea, but have you considered it through properly? Living with a partner for the first time (if it is your first time living together) can be a big strain on a relationship anyway. Have you considered what would happen if you split up? I realise theres two bedrooms, but still - you'd be living on top of one another.

You need to go and have fun at University, its the last time you'll be quite that free before you work 35+ hours a week for the next 50 years as a slave to the tax man, so enjoy it while you can.

That having been said, presuming you and your partner as sharing the cost of everything it shouldnt be too bad. It would be exactly the same if you were not partners really. You'd both have to stump up the same amount, infact being paerners is probabaly cheaper becuase I assume you'll be cooking and eating together etc. So financially your no diffrent to any other student going to University this year. So stop worrying and enjoy yourself:j

Flower08

Have you tried looking at call centre jobs? The reason i ask this is because the city i am uni in has a huge amount of call centres and they are always taking students on - most of the time you dont need any experience. They pay well aswell upto £10 an hour. Well worth looking into as you would only need to work 2 or 3 evenings a week to make up this money.
Other than that only thing i can suggest is try and get there b4 the rest of the students arrive (as other people have already said)