Ever find yourself wondering how you’re going to pay your rent and save enough for next semester’s tuition? Feel like you’re destined to eat Kraft dinners all your student days? If you ever feel you don’t know where your money goes or that you’re only scraping by, looking into a budgeting tool could help.
Load budgeting tools are online (let alone the many budgeting guidebooks lining library bookshelves). Choosing the right one for you is often a matter of skimming over them to see which one suit you, your preferred layout styles, and even your lifestyle the best. A layout that’s most intuitive and easy to use is probably going to help keep you on track and motivate you to enter in the information required on a spreadsheet. Trying one or two out for a few days also gives you an indication of which one you’re most likely to stick with.
Some people like print copies but it could be easier to simply keep a running online budget which automatically calculates your incoming and outgoing $s (as an Excel spreadsheet does). It’s all a matter of which format suits you best.
To get an idea of the Tuition and likely Living Expenses you’re going to need you may want to check out 2 resources from UBC to get started.
Youbc: Calculate your financial plan
It gives you a rough idea of how much you’ll need according to your program and your living arrangements.
Includes a timeline indicating when tuition is due and information on meal plans and residence fees.
Here are a few FREE(!) online budget tools to explore. The first one is particularly for students.
Thorough break down of expense items. For example, in “Food and Groceries” there’s a break down for “Meal Plan”, “Grocerites”, “Eating Out”, “Snacks”, “Other”. This way you can see exactly where you’re spending your money and where you may want to stop spending as much.
This is a free tool which you have to sign up for. It includes a demo and includes a weekly illustration on your expenses by each day of the week.
3) Xpenser
Allows you to record your expenses over the Internet, tag them, and search them by keywords.
Another free tool not geared to students particularly but worth a look. You have to sign up for it but it includes a demo and a helpful visual to show you how much of your allocated $ amount you’ve already spent.
5) My College Budget (Available in Excel 2010 version)
College Student Budget (Available in Excel 2010 version)
More general Money Saving Tips to check out are
Money Saving Tips for College Students
118 Ways to Save Money in College
Money Saving Tips (more general money saving tips)
If you look around online and at your local library you’ll quickly see there’s loads of reading you can dive into. The best thing to do is browse what you see, think of which type of budget and tool layout suits you and your particular lifestyle. Are you the sort of person who’s started a budget and then stopped almost as quickly? Part of the reason could be the actual tool you’re using. If you like the tool, it’s easy to use, and it instantly gives you the information you need as you budget, you may be more likely to use it (and hence actually budget!).