Establishing a Budget: The Smart students way to financial freedom
Juggling personal finances seem to be the problem of most students entering the university. Aside from additional expenses they incur throughout college, there is of course a certain pride in not asking for too much financial assistance from their parents. Pair these two and you have the no-fail recipe for financial disaster.
It is therefore necessary to be a little obsessive compulsive about planning your spending habits before entering the jungle that is called college life.
First, you should figure out what your incoming cash would be like. You should list down the allowance money that you will have from your parents. If your parents will be helping out, then list down everything that they are going to pay for too. If you have a part time job, list down all the income that you will be receiving from it. It would be better if you do it monthly or weekly, depending on the schedule of the money coming in.
Next, break down all the necessities that the money will have to go to. Do not forget to pencil in how much tuition you need to pay, dorm fees, book costs, food bills, and everything else. If you are already in the university, it would be wise to log in daily expenses in your planner or a small notepad.
After the first two steps, you are about ready to start your very own monthly financial budget. Get all your notes ready and sit down in a quiet place where you could really concentrate on the task at hand. Start off by listing down everything that really needs to be paid; do not squeeze in your clothing expenses just yet. Tuition money should be paid at the start of the semester, if you are planning to save enough money for the next semester, you should key in a specific amount that you need to save every month. If you are staying in a dorm, put in how much you pay monthly plus any other miscellaneous fees accompanying it such as meal fees. If you are renting out an apartment, list down how much the rent is, plus grocery bills and utilities such as gas, electricity, water bills, and so on.
You also should be doing a tally on the books that you need to get. Then you have to put in extra expenses you will have to spend on school materials such as pens, paper, notepads, and items for projects. Just put in an estimate on this since project spending is varied.
Now that you know which the necessities are, then you can put in a little bit of extra for other things that you might need, if you still have cash at the end of your calculations. Clothing should be top priority of course since you do not want to have ratty clothes all the time. If you still have enough left, then you can probably put that in savings or for other activities you might find yourself engaged in such as eating out in restaurants a few times, or going to the movies with friends.
Tags: Establishing a Budget, The Smart students way to financial freedom