3rd year student gives his tips...

Neurotix

Hello! I'm Matt and I am pretty new to this forum :hello:

I've been checking the site now and then over the last 6 months but never saw this forum aimed for students! So here I am saying hello and looking to be a regular!

I will be starting my 3rd year of Uni in September so I am a little experienced about being a money saving student however I can still use some help!

My first year of Uni in terms of money spending and saving was pretty bad! I'm from London and go to De Montfort in Leicester so moving to a new city and living on my own for the first time was overwhelming. Saving money as a first year is pretty tough, especially in the first month or two but I think you should start to budget once you are settled!

When I went into my 2nd year I decided I would start to budget after being too dependent on my overdraft in the 1st! Student overdrafts can be a god send but don't rely on it too much because you have to pay it all back one day!

Halfway through my 2nd year and my budget idea had gone out the window so I decided to sit down and read the MSE site and browse the forums to get something serious going in terms of saving money.

The best thing that helped me is creating a budget while at uni. From January to March I worked out how much Student Loan I got for that time and divided it by how many week was left til the next installment. I think it worked out around £44 a week which is what I lived on.

It usually went £10-15 on nights out, £20 on shopping and the rest to save up for bills or luxuries.

I really started to save money and was being alot more careful when splashing the cash. You also start to appreciate things more like going out for a night out and spending little but still having a good time!

Ideally having a job at Uni would help out with bills, rent and living expenses but I found its not easy juggling a job and uni and a social life.Some of the tips for making extra cash on this site came into good use.

Promoting for nightclubs is a really good job for students, it usually involves handing out flyers a few hours a week for nightclubs. You usually get paid plus you get free entry to the club! So you save money getting in and you have money for drinks from the flyering!

I recently got the money diet book so I'm gonna give that a good read over the summer and hopefully my 3rd year of uni will be full of savings!!!!

Aplogies if this has all been said before or is not what this forum is about!

NickiM

It's always useful to post tips, even if they have been said before. I am going to try and budget properly when I go into my second year in September.

Neurotix

cool good luck with it!