Financial management for new students
When you first leave home to go to university, it can be hard to deal with all the extra responsibilities that you have to deal with. One of the most important things that you will have to learn to do is to manage your finances effectively.
If you have never lived away from home before, you will not have had to face up to many financial challenges, as your parents would have provided for most of your needs. Also, if you have just turned 18, you will never have had to deal with the temptations of easy credit before.
A lot of students find themselves in financial trouble fairly early on in their university careers, mainly because they have not budgeted effectively, or have spent like crazy in the weeks following the receipt of their student loan.
If you can set a budget and stick to it, you will save yourself a lot of heartache, and learn lessons that will prove to be very useful in the years to come. You can do this the high tech way, with a computer, or in the low tech way, with paper and a pen. Both are equally effective.
The first thing that you have to do when setting out a budget is to work out how much money you would have available every month if you did not spend any of it. Then you will have to write down all the things that you absolutely have to pay for, such as groceries, bills, rent, and books, and how much they will cost each month.
If the monthly total of your expenses exceeds your total monthly income, you will either have to find ways to save money on these expenses, or take a part time job to earn you some extra money.
If you have any money left over once you have subtracted your essentials from your monthly income, it is a good idea to set aside a little every month to put into a bank account, so that if you are hit with an unexpected expense, you will not have to go into debt to pay for it.
It can be a good idea to have a weekly allowance for luxuries such as clothes, entertainment, and going out. That way, you always know how much you can afford to spend on these things every week without running out of money.
Delora Dings is the author of this article. Alliance
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