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Budgeting for Fresher’s & Beyond: Handy Hits

Unless you’ve just received a huge pay check from a summer job or won the lottery, chances are you’ll be making a budget for fresher’s week.

Having gone through this painful task myself a year ago, I have a few tips you might want to factor in when thinking about your budget. The first thing you need to remember is that your student loan won’t come in until the university term actually starts so any money you want to spend in this upcoming week will be coming straight out of your own pocket, or your overdraft. Hopefully, like I did, before you started this year you’ll have raided your parents food cupboard or have suggested going on a trip to Tesco’s, so food for the week properly doesn’t need to be factored into your budget. However, whilst a lot of first year students start their fresher’s week with the misconception that their going to blow their overdraft on nights out and late night pizza deliveries, there are a few important things you need to save your money for!

When writing your budget, have a quick look at your courses book list, depending on your subject, the price of a single text book can be about thirty pounds and you may need these before your first seminar or lecture. Something a lot of new students are worried about if making friends, or rather not being able to make friends at university. Although this can be a daunting process, there’s no need to join every society to accomplish this. During the fresher’s fair, you will repeated asked to join different societies and whilst it is a good idea to join a few that you are interested in, try and be realistic – think, will I actually go to this? Most societies offer a free entry to their first meeting or event, so you’ll save a lot by simply going to the free trial first rather than just buying a membership straight away, the cost soon adds up!

Most students forget about their original budget a few weeks in to the term, but it’s a good idea to work out all the expenses you will need during your first term, for example bus or train fare or petrol if you’ve brought your car. Whilst welcome week is definitely worth attending and making the most of all the experiences available, remember, there will be plenty of chances to go out during the term so try and save some money, you’ll differently need it later in the year!

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