With college life comes newfound freedom, and challenges. One of those challenges you’ll be faced with in college is budgeting. You’re not going to be making a lot of fun, and with countless experiences and opportunities, it’s tempting to indulge and rely on your parents for financial safety. But if you can learn to manage your money as a college student, you’ll live a financially stable life after college. So if you don’t want to be a broke college student, here are some tips on creating and keeping a budget.
Track your spending and cut down on unnecessary spending
The key to budgeting is knowing what you’re spending money on. Before you create a budget, create a spending log for a month and record every penny you spend. Then take a look at your spending log and determine where you can make changes. For example, if your spending excessive amounts of money on eating out, look into cutting back to save money.
Separate Wants From Needs
A need is something that is needed to survive, while a want is something you desire to have. So let’s say you go out with a friend and see a cute dress at the mall. You’re thinking about whether to buy it or not, in reality, you probably already have something that looks like it. Most of the time, the items you want are an unnecessary need. So ask yourself when you’re out and about or shopping online is this something you need or want. Doing things could help you save a bit of money.
Use Cash Instead of Cards
Using cash instead of cards makes you aware of the money you’re spending compared to cards because you actually feel the loss. When you go out, consider leaving your cards at home and taking cash instead to help you save money.
Buy on sale and use coupons
Using coupons or searching for deals might not sound like the cool thing to do as a college student, but paying the full retail prices is a foolish financial decision. Saving that extra money by using coupons or buying an item while it’s on sale. It can be the difference between having extra money or barely making it.
Create a budget using the 50/30/20 budgeting rule
With the 50/30/20 budgeting rule, you dived your expenses into three main categories: needs, wants, savings. This will help you focus on the bigger picture and spend less time setting out your finances. Then you take your after-tax income and budget 50% of your income towards your needs, 30% towards wants, and 20% into your savings.
Free Budget Planner
To go with these budget tips, here is a free budget planner to help you track your spending and manage your expenses and income.
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That is such a cute printable Angela! I am usually good with keeping track of finances and budgeting, but with Victor’s recent visit, I kind of dropped the ball on that. I try to break down my expenses into percentages as well, but this is much simpler. Thanks for the tips girl! xx
Geraldine | https://geraldinetalks.com
Thank you, Geraldine. I can relate. Whenever my sister visits, I always end up spending over my budget. Yeah, the 50/30/20 rule is something I wish I discovered a lot sooner, but I’m happy to have it has a budget tool now.
No problem!
I wish I knew some of these tips while I was at collage! I could have saved some extra cash. Thanks for sharing these useful personal finance tips for collage students.
You’re welcome and thanks for stopping by. I didn’t figure all this out until my sophomore year, but I’m glad I did and was able to have extra money tucked away.
Separating the wants from needs is a game-changer. I wish I started applying this 10 years ago. Great article!
Thank you.
Definitely! It can be the difference between having extra money and having things you don’t need and being broke.
Angela these are some important tips!! Although I’m not in college anymore I certainly value your points especially the one about separating wants from needs. I think once you master that concept, it makes it a little easier to save money on the things you want spend it on the things you need. Thanks for this sis!!
Natonya | https://JustNatonya.wordpress.com
No problem, even though I’m not in college anymore I still refer back to these to maintain financial wellness. Separating needs from wants took me a while to get the hang of, but I got there eventually and it has saved me a lot of money. Thanks for stopping by.