Money Management Tips
The fundamental rule of money management is that in order to stay out of debt, your income must exceed your outgoings. When you are faced with a student income, that equation can be a hard one to balance.
It is important that you focus on two things: increasing your income and reducing the amount you spend. Even when you are studying, there are ways and means to achieve these goals. As soon as you have worked out your student income, see Increasing Student Income, and determined the cost of your student life, see Cost of Living, you will be able to assess whether or not you will have enough money to survive while you study.
If your outgoings exceed your income, you will quickly find yourself in debt; you will need to reduce your outgoings so that you can cover the essentials without running out of money. If your income exceeds your expected outgoings, you can relax in the knowledge that you will be able to finance your studies, but should nevertheless aim to reduce your outgoings and thus the chances of getting into debt.
Make sure that you avoid debt by opening a student account which offers you a free overdraft facility; this may sound like a contradiction, but a free overdraft will ensure that if you do overspend you will not face expensive fines that make the situation worse. Open your student account in advance, before arriving at university, so that any loans, scholarships, bursaries or direct debits can be paid in as soon as the money is available.
Once you have organised your income, organise your outgoings. Make a list of all your expenses (see Cost of Living for ideas) and write an estimate of the amount each expense will cost you. Some expenses may be fixed, such as tuition fees and accommodation costs, whilst others such as food and entertainment costs will be flexible. Any flexible expenses are ones which can be reduced to relieve your budget or increased if you have money left over.
For more information, tips and ideas, see:
