Advice for looking after your money

Whether you have a student loan or not, for many people living at Uni is the first time they're managing their own money, and so it's always useful to take some advice about the best ways to do this. Here's our top tips for looking after your money this term:

• List your incomings and outgoings and then set a spending goal for each week and try not to go over it. This sounds harder than it is, once you get in to the routine of tracking the results speak for themselves. Click here for some more guidance on creating a budget. 
• Write a shopping list. One of the worst mistakes to make is to turn up at ASDA without a list ... as you wander the aisles the basket gets heavier and often we can leave with a really random mix of stuff! Plan your weekly meals so that you only buy what you need. Perhaps plan to cook communally too to split the cost and no matter what, never do a food shop on an empty stomach!
• Re-use and Recycle. 500ml of water is definitely not worth £1 anymore, and why buy a coffee when you can just make your own?
• Check your statement once a week put aside 5 minutes and check your statement just so you don't have any surprises at the end of the month. With mobile banking, there's no excuse, and it's better to know sooner rather than later and get stuck with loads of charges.
• Flash your ID: whenever (and wherever!) you go shopping take your student card with you to get that all important student discount. Keep an eye on this handy list of where does Student Discount and always ask in store - some shops have it even if it's not advertised so it's worth asking about
• Look out for offers and make the most of them - a lot of shops have loyalty cards where points can pay off and will do flash sales too. Sign up to sites like studentbeans and UniDays to get alerts. 
• Save money on travel: make sure you get your bus pass from the Guild and don't forget your Young Person's railcard. They're investments but will seriously cut down travel costs!

Struggling with Money?

Talk to someone. The Uni Money Advice Team offer a specialist debt advice service for students experiencing financial difficulties. If you are worrying about your debts, or just managing your money in general, then they can offer the following services:

• advise you on personal budgeting (you can also see our article here on this)
• refer you to other services that can help you
• negotiate with creditors on your behalf

Find out their opening hours and how to contact them here.