Keep calm and carry on spending

We live in an ever-increasingly expensive society, one that can cause consternation and despair, particularly amongst the student community. 20p for a Freddo? You must be joking!

Coming to University can symbolise many things: a chance to reinvent yourself, freedom from the authority of your parents, but perhaps the most important aspect of going solo is, for many people at least, control over your own funds.

Budgeting can be stressful. Luckily, there are a number of sites that can help you out!

As hard as you may try to budget and allocate yourself certain amounts of money for certain aspects of your life, it’s never that simple. If you embrace everything University life has to offer, the first few weeks of term are likely to be some of the most expensive you will experience. Upwards of £20 on societies, more than £50 to join Warwick Sport (more if you join the gym), a small fortune on course books, never mind buying your own food and the inevitable rush of nights out. It is easy after a month of Uni to panic about the state of your finances. But fear not. It doesn’t last.

Simply put, the longer you spend in that environment, the less you spend. Once you find a routine that works for you, no matter how strict or casual it may be, you’ll for the most part stick to it, and with less big one-off purchases, your expenditure will plateau into a state of serene comfort. Or at least that’s the plan.

If you don’t quite reach that level, then don’t worry because there’s an abundance of tips for students to tighten the purse strings without compromising too much on standard of living:

• Part of the quintessential student experience is the ability to spot bargains: the 12p loaf of bread lurking in the corner of Tesco that no one visits, the own brand, double strength squash at a fraction of the price of Robinsons. You get the idea.
• NEVER, EVER, EVER take a card on a night out! Once you know your tolerance you know how much it will cost for a big night, if you’re in the mood for one. So take that much money out (plus maybe a few quid for that drunken kebab on the stumble home). If you take a card, you’re asking for trouble as the £20 rounds of Jagerbombs start to mount up. No matter how generous a drunk you may be, your bank balance won’t be thanking you the next morning
• Always stay stocked up on food- there’s nothing worse than coming back from a long day of work (so I hear, I do English Lit) to discover an empty fridge. Hunger does bad things to good people and before you know it you’ll be on the phone to the takeaway. If you have food in, more often than not, you’ll feel obliged to eat it.
  

  One a night out, leave the plastic at home!

Put simply, if you’re not an utter moron with your money then you should be fine. Don’t buy a new jumper every week, don’t spend a tenner on Waitrose Finest Stuffed Vine Leaves, don’t be the prick in Saints buying bottles of Moet. Easy.