Five REALLY USEFUL Money Saving Tips When Leaving Home for The First Time

Student life. It really IS as great as it sounds. But beware: your time at university or college could land you in money trouble, unless you’re financially savvy. We’ve put together some valuable money saving hacks to bring your personal cost of living down.

We Know This Much is True

As we’re venturing into your world of academia, let’s make an erudite start, with a quote from an American poet Richard Armour (1906-1989):

“That money talks
I won’t deny.
I heard it once.
It said, “Goodbye.”

Great, isn’t it? Plus, it makes total sense. Money just evaporates, or it seems to. When it comes to managing your expenses, failing to plan could mean planning to fail – and you don’t want that to happen.

Is this you?

If you’re leaving home for the first time, you’re nervous, yet excited at the same time.

Quite right.

It most certainly is an exciting time for you. Don’t under-estimate how hard it is to get a good degree, though. It’s tough. However, the analytical skills you’ll acquire will set you up for life, and hopefully – a great career. Likewise, you’ll make new friends and expand your social circle. Brighton is just full of fabulous music venues, theatres and all sorts of ways to expand your cultural and social life.

But.

Your student loan is finite. There is no money tree. You will have to cope on your own. And, apologies, but Brighton is an expensive place to live.

We hardly need touch on rising inflation rates and the energy price cap (of which more later), but these are things that will affect you. So, forewarned is most definitely forearmed here.

Not to put too fine a point on it, the financial bits and pieces involved in leaving home for the first time, and being on top of everything will all add up to an essential life skill – yes, we’ve even put this in italics. Becoming your own Money Saving Expert is a rite of passage. So, to start you off, the Clarity Property Management team have put together some advice and guidance to help you Teflon your time at university.

1. Work out how much money you have to live on.

We’re making a budget here.

Yes, it should be obvious, but if you’ve relied on the Bank of Mum and Dad, and have never done this before, you could be in trouble pretty quickly. Your student loan will be divided into three payments, and should land in your bank account in September, January and April. So, make three separate budgets if you can; if you’re a whizz with spreadsheets that’s great, but pen and paper will do just as well. As well as putting you firmly in the picture, it will make you feel like a Ninja, with more control over your finances. Think about the following on a monthly basis:

• Rent (obviously)
• Food and toiletries
• Utilities
• Water rates
• Stationery, books and supplies
• Travel
• Property contents insurance (do get this if you can)

The above figures need to be in one column or page, with the figures divided into four to reflect the period between your loan payments (four months, obviously). So far so good.

Then, your loan amount, equally divided into four should be in an adjacent column. Subtract the first amounts from the second and voila – there you are. All your must-haves covered, with hopefully some “fun money” left over.

OK, so let’s get onto actually saving money.

2. Acquire cookery skills

Let’s get into the kitchen.

Food is not cheap.

Therefore, almost nothing will save on household expenses MORE than learning to batch cook, and sharing the cost of grocery shopping with your house or flat mates. And, getting them to do the same. We are not joking. This is another life skill. And, it’s fun. Dinner round the table is sociable, and civilised.

Think about the classic dishes and then get Googling for some recipes: chilli con carne (the student staple), spaghetti Bolognese (ditto), vegetable curry, plus all sorts of slow-cook casseroles with cheaper cuts of meat.

Make ample and regular use of your freezer. Budget and space allowing, you could club together to invest in a large, second hand one. Your landlord may help you out here, but that’s not a given.

Top tips: never, ever venture into the supermarket without a shopping list. Don’t buy anything that’s not on the list. This notwithstanding, food shopping after 6pm could lead you to some excellent deals!

Mostly, meal planning is your super-power.

3. Tighten your budget belt

There’s no easy way to say this:

Once you’ve established your budget, and started meal planning, it’s time to trim away most of the excesses, so that you’re left with what you need, rather than what you want.

You’ll need to cut back on eating out, gym memberships, and costly subscriptions. Impulse buys are way too seductive, as is online shopping, so be aware of how easy it is to hand over your debit card. Do you really want it? Wait 48 hours before parting with money you could be spending on more crucial things. It’s not all doom and gloom, however. For fun stuff, don’t forget to check out our blog about free or low-cost activities in Brighton.

4. Be aware of…the bills

We really wish that we had a magic wand to wave here.

But unfortunately, there isn’t, so we need to make you aware of this. For complicated geopolitical reasons, the ironically named energy price cap will once again be going up in October, and then again in January 2023. This means that your utility bills WILL be skyrocketing, potentially by eye-watering amounts.

The solution? Do your research. You are entitled to change energy suppliers before you move in. We can’t officially endorse any particular company, but you may want to have a look at Unihomes. There’s more information here:

https://www.unihomes.co.uk/blog/5-reasons-why-accommodation-with-bills-included-is-making-student-lives-easier

Having a smart meter installed will deliver two key benefits: your household will pay only for what you use (and your standing charge), and you’ll be able to see which elements are the most power-hungry.

Tip: anything with a heating element – for example an iron, hair straighteners, an electric fire, will churn through the units.

5. Have at least one no-spend day per week

When you stop to think about it, you probably spend money on at least one thing every day, even if it’s just a bus fare or a bottle of water when you’re out.

It will need self-restraint and it’s not easy, but at least one day when you spend nothing at all could help you become more aware of your budget and finances overall.

You’ll notice that we haven’t recommended that you take on part-time work, as we’d rather you focused on your studies one hundred percent. Nevertheless, needs must and, to be fair, many of us “oldies” have fond memories of our first foray into pulling pints, or delivering pizzas. Or, maybe not!

So, there you are. We hope our top tips can help you with your first time away from home. Just make a few savings here and there, and all will be well.

Best of luck at uni.