It is inevitable that most university students have very little money, and it is important that you are aware of how much you have and you budget it so that you don’t run out.
Managing your own money can be difficult as most students haven’t had to do it before and haven’t had to buy everything themselves. Here are a few tips I would give you to consider over the next year, which I haven’t learnt over my first year.
- Food is going to be one of your biggest expenses over the year. My best advice would be to find the best deals and shop around at the various different supermarkets in Worcester.Also, eat before you go grocery shopping to save buying unnecessary items.
Eat most of the food in your cupboards before you go out and buy more so there is no wastage and stuff isn’t going out of date.Buy stuff you know you’re going to eat, and isn’t going to go out of date quickly, things like fresh food can be particularly difficult to store.The occasionally shared take away with flatmates is also an option as during freshers week and the rest of the year you will be bombarded with various vouchers, so use them if you can!
- Text Books are incredibly expensive and this comes as a shock to a lot of people.At the start of the semester, you will be informed on what you will need, and I advise shopping around.
Ebay, Amazon, and even the publishers sites can be great places to find them, and some lecturers will give you discount codes so look out for these.
- Laundry sadly does not come free if you live in halls on the St John’s campus.
Make sure you always have some change to hand. I personally raided my parents changes pot before I came to university.
- Credit Cards and Debit Cards on a night out can be the bane of some students lives the next day. The best thing to do is to draw out some cash before you go out and limit yourself to that and leave the card at home.
- For most Nights Out you will have to pay for entry, but you can use your student ID to get a small discount, just don’t lose it.During those late cold nights, if you are living on campus, you may also need to get a taxi, in this case, rally as many of you up as you can, that way it will normally work out at about a £1 each.
- Costumes for society nights can also be required for some individuals, and the best thing for this is to use what you have, borrow if you need to, or go somewhere cheap and get stuff like Primark, Poundland or a Charity Shop.Check out Katie’s post on this for some great ideas;
It can be difficult to budget and sometimes, you may have to exchange the odd night out for chilled nights in watching films or just have a small get together at your flat.
Be organised with your money, but make sure you will enjoy your student life. There are some great events put on by the Students’ Union so make sure you check them out!
Worcester Student Life 