{"id":1616,"date":"2018-03-20T20:42:13","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T20:42:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/?p=1616"},"modified":"2019-09-20T09:47:35","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T08:47:35","slug":"my-budgeting-survival-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/2018\/03\/20\/my-budgeting-survival-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"My budgeting survival tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>University is a great time to test your budgeting skills and discover whether you are more likely to be a financial connoisseur in your future or a small fish in a large pool of debt. To make sure that doesn\u2019t happen, here are a few tips for your budgeting survival.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>But first \u2013 a run-down of the main university expenses <\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Generally speaking, the main proportions of student budgets go towards rent, food expenses, phone contract, gym membership and of course social life. Some students also tend to spend money on textbooks, whereas others loan their textbooks out from the University library. As a fan of paperback copies, I bought my own textbooks in my first year and then sold them on to Freshers\u2019 once I started my second year. However, this year I have made extensive use of the library resources and recommended online readings instead of paying a large amount of money upfront for my textbooks, which has proven to be greatly helpful.<\/p>\n<p>My personal monthly expenses include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a3380 on rent<\/li>\n<li>\u00a310 on my phone contract<\/li>\n<li>\u00a335 on gym membership<\/li>\n<li>Approximately \u00a335 per week for food<\/li>\n<li>Approximately \u00a330 per week for social activities<\/li>\n<li>\u00a35.99 for my Spotify contract (with a student discount!)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>My food expenses fluctuate depending on how often I eat lunch on campus as well as how many coffees I have in-between lectures (because the trend of \u201cdo you want to grab a coffee together and work\u201d has become a significant budget killer). To counteract this, you can pack lunches to eat on campus and drink water instead of coffee, although that may not be as fun. As per the social activities, this depends on how often you go out \u2013 club entry is generally \u00a35 and if you\u2019re looking for something a bit different like a trip to the Cinema, student tickets are approximately \u00a310.<\/p>\n<p>**a little hint: when you purchase a cinema ticket at the Odeon you sometimes get a discount off your next trip to the movies, which is printed out on one of your receipts \u2013 keep an eye out for this as sometimes you get 40% off!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1617\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1617\" style=\"width: 1233px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2018\/03\/cups.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1617 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2018\/03\/cups.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1233\" height=\"309\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2018\/03\/cups.png 1233w, https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2018\/03\/cups-300x75.png 300w, https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2018\/03\/cups-768x192.png 768w, https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2018\/03\/cups-1024x257.png 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2018\/03\/cups-858x215.png 858w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1233px) 100vw, 1233px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1617\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The main budget killers \u2013 meeting for coffee<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Hunting down those bargains\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><em>If you are looking for a fun and less costly place to eat and socialise with friends then I\u2019d recommend the following deals in Bath: <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a310 for a pizza and pint of cider from Bath Pizza Co. in Green Park Station<\/li>\n<li>25% off at Las Iguanas from Sunday - Thursday<\/li>\n<li>At Mission Burrito students get 30% discount on Wednesdays<\/li>\n<li>Yo Sushi, get a selection of leftover sushi for only \u00a33.50 after 8:30pm on weekdays<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>If you are in the need of food on the go and wish to keep to a strict budget then there are various options such as: <\/em><\/p>\n<h3><strong>In the city<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The baguette shop on the High Street next to Pret A Manger, which sells whole Baguettes for only \u00a32<\/li>\n<li>Have a look at the \u2018reduced price\u2019 food section in your local Sainsbury\u2019s as they often have great on-the-go meal items<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>On campus<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>The Students Union have daily meal specials after 5pm such as the wrap and pint for \u00a33.75 and burger and pint for \u00a35<\/li>\n<li>The Lime Tree Salad bar offers you a variety of salad, pasta and couscous meals to combine in one bowl for only \u00a32.50<\/li>\n<li>The \u2018Leave No Trace\u2019 campaign in on-campus eateries is a fun way to get a discount off your food and drinks and gain stamps towards a free meal \u2013 it only requires you to bring your own containers and coffee mugs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>So, taking all these wonderful deals into account, my top 5 tips for budgeting are: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Pack lunches<\/strong> every now and then to avoid high food expenses<\/li>\n<li>Ask if there is a <strong>student discount<\/strong> whenever you purchase something<\/li>\n<li><strong>Keep stamp cards<\/strong> to various coffee houses as they may get you a free one eventually<\/li>\n<li>If you are going clubbing, <strong>speak to student club reps<\/strong> to get you on the guest list (this includes a small discount off ticket prices\u2026 I myself am a Klass, MNB and Forever Fridays Rep)<\/li>\n<li>Instead of going out for dinner with your friends, which can be expensive, why not <strong>have a fun group dinner at home<\/strong> where you can all cook together.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Thanks for reading this post, I hope it gives you a bit more insight into a student approach to budgeting while at University. Don\u2019t hesitate to comment on the post if you have any questions!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>University is a great time to test your budgeting skills and discover whether you are more likely to be a financial connoisseur in your future or a small fish in a large pool of debt. To make sure that doesn\u2019t...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1046,"featured_media":1618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[456,5,198],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-1616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-budgeting-finance","category-school-of-management","category-undergraduate","tag-finance-budgeting"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/81\/2018\/03\/coffee-e1523376838502.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1046"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bath.ac.uk\/students\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}