Budgeting for returning to Uni

r.mac_2

I am hoping that I might get some inspiration and new ideas from you all! I hope that I’ve posted this in the right place – if not, feel free to move it!

I am returning to University next month, to do a law conversion. As it is full time study, I have had to give up my current full time job. They won’t keep me on part-time. I haven’t yet got another job – I am looking and will be working part-time evenings and weekends, but in order to make ends meet I have to drastically cut back as much as possible.


Income

Student Loan £4000
Job £????


I have £1000 interest free overdraft and approx £1000 savings for emergency

Outgoings (pcm)


Mortgage £500 (moving to flexible next year to take advantage of the ‘payment holiday’ option. Can’t move until May 06 due to penalties as on a fixed rate)

Life Assurance £20 (covers amount of the mortgage)
B&C insurance £30 (just switched and saved some money)
Council tax/water £0 (live by myself and now registered as a student)
Graduate Loan £122 (still have approx £3,600 to pay back. The interest rate is base plus 2 ½ % which equals 7%. The loan is scheduled to be paid off by April 2008. There is no penalty for me repaying the outstanding amount in full)
Gas £14 (recently switched and get d/d discount)
Electricity £14 (recently switched and get d/d discount)
Mobile £30 – 70
Travel £26 (special student rate)
Virgin c/c £40 (0% balance transfer have approx £920 on there – I’m worried that now my income has changed I’ll not be able to replace it with another 0% card when it’s up in 7 months time)
Food/drink £100 (doing old style challenges and includes eating out and alcohol and cleaning stuff)

Then I have got to also have money for books, toiletries, some ‘fun’, presents/cards, clothes and Home repairs (and I don’t mean DIY I mean emergency plumbing etc). I understand that these are more luxury items, so there will be little or no purchasing going on!

I may have missed a couple of things – mind has suddenly gone blank! Any suggestions of what I’ve missed or how to cut these down etc would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

homersimpson_3

1. do you really need mobile?
2. £100 for food/drink per month seems high.
3. you have access to £2000 for emergencies (overdraft and savings).
4. students also pay water rates- don't they?

r.mac_2

Thanks for your suggestions. My thoughts;

1. I don't have a landline, and I live alone. I need to be able to be contacted somehow! so the mobile has to stay I'm afraid.

2. I don't think that £100 per month for food and drink is particularly high. I have been doing the grocery challenge a lot this last year (i'm a regular on the OS board). And I can usually stick below £20 a week - but this figure includes the odd bottle of wine, any dinners/lunches out as well as cleaning products, toilet rolls etc. I will continually be working to keep this as low as possible though.

3. Yes, I totally get you point here! I would like to keep these for real emergencies though and not get caught in the trap of using it all.

4. Not sure about this as it's encompassed with my council tax (I live in scotland). If i'm not paying council tax then how am I billed for this?????

Any other suggestions anyone?

Willsnarf1983

well ur only supposed to work 16 hours or summing like that at uni so if u work of that at minimum wage........thats 80 pound a week minimum and if ur budgeting i'd go of that


Will

eenu

Willsnarf1983 wrote:

well ur only supposed to work 16 hours or summing like that at uni so if u work of that at minimum wage........thats 80 pound a week minimum and if ur budgeting i'd go of that


Will

Where did that come from!

I had 36hrs of Undergrad lectures per week for starters not including labs!

Willsnarf1983

maybe that was just my uni, i did 30+ hours a week at blockbusters thou



Will

r.mac_2

Thanks - I'm going to have about 14 hours per week lectures//tutorials, but I have a lot of independant study to do on top of that. I can only really committ 15-20 hours a week for part-time job. If I have to do a bit more for cash though, I'll just have to find a way!

Now where's the thread on getting 26 hours out of a 24 hour day.................

Mrs_Thrift

Hiya r.mac,

I've looked at this as if it was me - what would I do? So please don't think I'm being too bossy or strict, it's just the way I'd approach it!

Firstly, to maximise your emergency fund, what do you have that you can sell? E-bay / car boot anything and everything. New start at Uni, fresh new start and all that!

And then, looking at your monthly situation - £4,000 student loan gives you £333 / month income, and you've listed your outgoings as £896 - £936 / month, meaning you either have to make another £563 - £603 / month from part-time work, and / or you need to reduce your outgoings so the gap isn't so large, and therefore hopefully easier to fill with part-time work wages.

Personally I'd try to take on a completely new approach to spending (which is what Mr Thrift and I are currently doing as he is off work long-term at the moment.) That £100 certainly isn't high for food and drink, etc. but it could definitely go a little bit lower, even if it means eating out less and fewer bottles of wine, (or making your own, or joining up with a friend to make it, for example.) You can entertain more at home, asking people to provide the food and drink and DVDs, etc. Cheeky I know, but with your new life they will have to understand that things will be different for you for the next couple of years while you're at Uni.

Obviously use as little gas and electric as possible - extra jumpers and all that. I know you're in Scotland though, and I wouldn't want to suggest you freeze the way I did in Glasgow when I was at Uni and had no central heating and couldn't afford to put the electric fire on more than a couple of hours a week! :eek:

Can you reduce your phone use? £30 - £70 a month sounds like a lot to me - again, your friends and family will understand the need for you to change your phone using habits.

As for presents and cards, be imaginative, and also strict in what you are going to give and spend (and NOT spend!) Home baked goodies don't have to cost much, but the time and effort spent on them would be appreciated by family, I'm sure, and if you feel you give too many presents at Christmas and birthdays, again, just cut down, and explain to friends the reasons.

I think a lot of it comes down to adapting your way of thinking about money, and being comfortable with explaining to freinds and family that things will be different for a while. When you talk to them I'm sure they'll understand.

Good luck!

tinalives

Excellent post Mrs Thrift!!!!!!

Lyndsey_Lou

I would suggest getting a prt time job somewhere like a call centre, if it's not possible to continue in your previous line of work. The hours are usually pretty flexible, and far more sociable than bar work. When I was at uni working in a call centre part time I made a bout £100-120 per week basic, then another couple of hundred a month in commission - this would help close the gap betewwn incomings and out goings.

Buy your books second hand, or use the library. I'm doing a part time post grad course just now and have saved a lot this way - academic books are too expensive for a student budget.

Think about changing your mobile tariff. The amount you're spending sounds alot - even without a land line - many packages will give you hundred of xnet mins and texts for about £30-40 per month.

If your graduate Loan is 7% APR and has no penalties to pay off early, why not move it to a life of balance credit card at a cheaper rate?

With regard to your 0% card, apply for a new 9 month 0% deal just before you finish up at your current job, then you won't need to lie on the application

Finally, enjoy being a student again, and good luck with the course! :beer:

saintstreaky

Lyndsey_Lou is right about the books, as they can really add up. I get a lot of mine from Amazon marketplace sellers - often if you go for the newest-but-one edition you can save a lot too, and in many cases the changes are minor (worth being careful for law, of course!).

If you do have anything left on your Virgin CC when the 0% runs out (and you can't get a replacement 0%) you could consider paying it off with some of your 0% overdraft. I know that's intended for emergencies, but there's no point paying huge amounts of interest.

Good luck!