Note: This was meant to go up yesterday but due to internet problems did not. This means the one scheduled for today will also go up today and the third article will go up tomorrow as planned.

“I’m not sure I can survive on a student budget”
If you want to survive at University and, by survive, I quite literally mean ‘not die’ then you need to have at least a vague idea of where you are spending money and why. While it can be fun to wake up in a tree in the middle of the Village with no recollection of the previous night and a completely tapped wallet it can also lead to problems when you cannot afford bus fare to get to work. I am hardly qualified to give budgeting advice but I can at least tell you the mistakes I have made and how you can avoid them or at least make new ones.

It’s boring and time-consuming but it can be great to keep a record of how much money you have and where you plan on spending it. I’ve seen students use spreadsheets, complex pie charts and iPhone apps to keep track of their finances and these methods are great. A student can track exactly how much money they have and adjust the budgets to new circumstances. I usually scrawl my budget on a napkin from work but you don’t have to follow my example. Creating a budget is as easy as working out your income and then planning out how you need to spend it. So what kind of expenses are you looking at?

University textbooks can be really expensive and there is no getting past that. If you are extremely lucky there will be a second-hand copy available of your book available in the guild shop for a fraction of the book-shop price. Murdoch University Book-Shop is many things but cheap is not one of them so you might find it helpful to buy books online for cheaper prices. If all else fails and you feel you can’t afford to purchase your books then there is always a chance the library will have a copy on reserve. This is less than ideal as you can’t take these books out but if you are desperate it can be a life-saver. Also, because this is very important, just because a book is listed as “Essential” doesn’t mean it is. Take the time to ask your tutor or lecturer if the text-book really is vital to passing the unit before you buy it. This can save you shelling out $100 on an expensive paper-weight.

We all need to eat. Some of us, especially me, actually quite enjoy eating and want to do it every day. Thus a student budget can come as a nasty shock when we suddenly discover that we cannot afford the frozen pizza and wads of cookie dough that form an essential part of our food pyramid. It’s rather a bucket of cold water when you realise that all the health food is about the same price as the junk food but will only last about half the time in the fridge. I spend roughly 3 hours a month trying to work out what the lump at the back of the fridge shelf is and whether it is still safe to eat. However there have only been a few times where I have gone hungry. Everyone eats a different amount but it can still be a lot easier to make shared meals that everyone can eat and share the cost around. This way you can also have fancier meals than a solo budget might allow for.

All work and no play turns you into a pretty successful person academically but you tend to lose your sanity. So there should definitely be space on your budget for entertainment. The occasional night out with friends or new DVD won’t utterly ruin your budget provided you keep these in moderation. Drinking in Perth isn’t cheap and a good night out can set you back anywhere from $50 - $200. Back in the UK I was paying around £3 – 4 for a pint whereas in Perth it’s closer to $9 – 12 depending on which club or pub you pick. Pre-drinking is a good way to get around this as you can get about 4 litres of cask wine for roughly $12. You do need to budget additional health-care money if you go the cask-wine route.

Overall

Student budgets are tough. You scrimp, you save and often you suffer but it’s still possible to survive. Budgeting can also give you a wake-up call when you realise how much money you are spending on stuff you don’ t need. You also learn to do more with less. When you realise you can feed 6 people on half what it would cost to order fast-food then you are on the right track. If you really believe that you can’t afford University on your own dollar then perhaps you can look at some of the funding options available or see if you qualify for student loans. As always you can email me any questions you have or leave comments below and I will do my best to answer them.