Insider
Finance
How to be Smart with your
Savings
As a student, being clever and getting the most out of your money is
important, but sometimes not the easiest thing to achieve. These are
some useful tips for how to keep on top of your everyday finances.
Amy Cannon
As a student at col-
lege, it is important
to keep on top of
your finances, espe-
cially with the ex-
penses that come
with being 17/18. My
first piece of advice is
planning. It is useful
to know each month
how much money
you are earning
(whether that be
from a part time job
or allowance from
parents) and what
you spend per month
on fixed costs (phone
bill, petrol etc). Once
you work out how
much you have re-
maining after your
expenses, you have
an idea on what can
be spent on ‘treats’.
Hopefully this will
stop you overspend-
ing without realising.
Another tip for people
with debit cards is
downloading an
online banking app to
your phone. On these
apps, you can see
what you have spent,
your interest made,
your pending trans-
actions and what you
have earned. Usually,
without online bank-
ing, you would only
get a bank statement
every month/ three
months, meaning
you may lose track
of how much is in
your account.
My next piece of
advice is taking ad-
vantage of student
discounts and of-
fers. Places such as
Superdry, New
Look, Greggs, Su-
perdrug and many
more regularly
have either perma-
nent student dis-
counts or seasonal
ones. Usually all
you need is your
student card, how-
ever, by signing up
to a free ‘Unidays’
account online,
you can get a wid-
er range of offers.
It is easy, once
you know which
places offer which
perks, to make
your shopping
habits more cost
effective.
Another good idea,
for those that
struggle with ex-
cessive spending
and an inability to
save up, is to open
up a savings ac-
count. You can do
this easily and
quickly through
your bank with
your debit card. By
having one account
for everyday spend-
ing and expenses,
and a separate ac-
count which you use
for putting aside a
small sum of money
each month, it’ll
stop you getting
tempted to spend
all the money in
your account as
soon as it comes in.
This trick is espe-
cially beneficial if
you are saving up
for something par-
ticular; whether
that be a piece of
clothing, a new
phone or maybe
even a car. It will
soon start adding
up if you are con-
sistent and have
enough willpower to
leave the money
alone!
It goes without say-
ing trying to secure
yourself a part time
job will really help
you afford both ne-
cessities and treats
for yourself, it also
helps you value the
money you earn
more and perhaps
will encourage you
to spend less if you
know what it took
to earn it.
The College magazine online: sixthformmag.blogspot.co.uk