Budgeting at Uni?

Luvplacebo

I've been given an estimate for my student finance at uni and I've luckily secured 2 grants/bursaries from my uni too, after deducting my accommodation I'm left with £60 p/w whilst at uni and £52 p/w over the summer.

I'm not going to be getting any parental support and tbh, with that much money I don't think I really need it, but whilst trying to draw up a temporary budget and working out how much I spend on food it seems like my budget is out of balance.

I've allowed out of £60p/w: £25-£30 p/w for food; £10 p/w for printing, stationary, books etc; £15 p/w for going out, clothes, cleaning things etc leaving me £5 p/w to save. Does this seem realistic? I know my food budget is quite high but I love cooking and eating a variety, although hopefully it'll be staying around the £25 mark.

If it makes any difference I'm studying a science so I'm not likely to have to buy much for my course except books and possibly access to jounals; I'd just like to know if this is a realistic budget.

EDIT: Also my food budget is potentially allowing for a £4 taxi back from the supermarket as its about a 40 minute walk uphill and I'm well aware that if I'm buying a lot of heavy things, I may have to get a taxi back as there are no buses from campus to the out of town supermarket as far as I know.

fishfins

Hi,

It's a while since I went to uni (I left in 2003 I think), but I did sciences too. I think £10 p/w for books/stationary/printing might be a bit generous, for my three years I only needed one text book which was £45 ish, then maybe spent £5-£10 on printing and photocopying the whole time I was there, and not much on stationary at all. The rest sounds good though, I think £30 per week for food etc sounds about right.

Lokolo

Have you accounted for bills such as gas electric broadband.

Travelling is something to consider if you plan on coming home at xmas and/or easter.

mmmsnow

I would recommend not buying any textbooks. For the first couple of years at uni (studying chemistry and physics), I bought every "required" book and guess what? They sat unopened for years on my shelf until I sold them on Amazon (for 50% or less than their value).

The library is your best friend. Also, the uni may give you access to ebooks and journals through the library.

Luvplacebo

I'm staying in my uni halls so I have no bills as it's all included in the rent.

I didn't add travel actually, although at about £23 a month in advance I should hopefully be able to pay for this out of the £5 p/w I'm saving.

I am considering using my own printer at uni, rather than printing credits so I thought this would bump up the cost, I still want to have a weekly amount set aside so would something more like £7.50 for printing, books etc and saving £7.50 sound better?

rev_henry

Get yourself a cheap printer but MAKE SURE you can get cheap cartridges for it first! Also I agree with not buying textbooks. I don't own any - all I needed for my 1st year just gone was available as an ebook through the library website and I borrowed a couple of paper books about twice all year. Also studying a science...

ajwolf

Unless you know you will need to do a lot of printing I wouldn't buy a printer. In my experience lecturers give you copies of notes etc. Also it is £5 for 100 prints for me which in three years I've only used about 200. Try to find out if you will need to print a lot and how much a print card will cost you at your uni before you buy a printer (ink can be very expensive!).

Like everyone else has said don't rush into buying books. I did that and now I'm stuck with a load of barely used books I shelled out loads on but will resell for a fraction of the price. If you are going to use the uni library try to find out which books you need early on and get there asap.

Also your going out budget is quite low but it depends if that's your kind of thing or not and the people you are around.

Luvplacebo

Well as I also do a lot of sewing (I'm taking my sewing machine to uni with me) and I often print out patterns and things which take a lot of paper per pattern, generally 4-12 pages each. I also print out my monthly journal relating to my course which is generally another 10 pages. I know that at least one of my lectures also insists upon hard copies of work as well; which is why I thought buying a printer would work out better than using printer credits.

I've since looked at the first year modules more closely and all of them seem to use articles on the uni's journal system so I will definitely see whether I use certain books a lot and just buy those instead.

As for the going out, I'm going to Aberstwyth so a small rural town with 3 "clubs" but a heck of a lot of pubs, and thought £15 would be ok; I normally spend about £20 at home (cheap drinks are a must) but that includes a taxi ride home which I don't need there. Have any of you been to uni in a similar place and able to suggest a better amount for going out.

ajwolf

Fair enough on the printer if you will need to use it a lot.

If/when you buy books get them second hand. You can get ones in pretty decent shape for a lot less than the new price. Try amazon used books, some uni bookshops buy then back off students and resell them cheaper than new, uni may have an online forum where students sell their old books or sometimes people just put posters up round campus.

I'm at uni in a city and I don't know anything about Aberstwyth, probably can't help you with specifics there. I would say £15 might only allow you one night out a week (depends on how much and what you drink) and you may go out more than that. Try to find out about the clubs there, if they have 'cheap' nights or offers for students, this would help you budget. I've found pubs are generally more expensive for drinks.

kkss1155

£60 p/w is loads! just get everything on offer when you go food shopping. freeze reduced meats and defrost the night before. make sure you stock your cupboards with ingredients and foods that dont waste. pasta bakes are a yummy cheap meal. also cut and freeze some veggies like peppers and mushrooms. i love cooking and food and i manage to feed 3mouths a week for about £15, with about 80% of meals cooked from scratch. i agree with the comment about books and stationary, i bought loads but ended up using the library all the time! complete waste of money! good luck!

Oldernotwiser

£25 pw is a lot for food; if you enjoy cooking and cook from scratch most of the time that should cost you less rather than costing you more.