Budgeting might seem pretty boring (something your parents told you to do but you never quite got around to), but there are loads of benefits to tracking and controlling your spending.

Imagine your bank account is like a leaky bucket. Every now and then, a tap opens to fill it up - this is your income.

Annoyingly, your bucket is full of holes that are leaking your money. The water level will constantly be changing, but as long as there's always enough water in the bucket at any one time, there's no problem.

However, there is a problem if the water level gets too low. Then you have to start plugging those holes (your spending habits). And this is where budgeting comes in. It helps keep the water level consistent so you can continue to spend money on the things you need and enjoy (within reason, of course).

Whether you're trying to save up for a big spend like a summer holiday or a new games console, or you just want to be prepared for emergencies (we're talking broken laptops and smashed phone screens), a strong budget is exactly what you need.

Establish your income

First up, you need to work out how much money you've got to play with. This will set the parameters of your spending, so think carefully about every possible source of revenue.

Remember that your Maintenance Loan comes in three big instalments throughout the academic year, or in monthly instalments if you're from Scotland. It's up to you to budget this out across that period.

Common student income streams

• Your Maintenance Loan
• Extra money from bursaries for students
• Money from your parents
• Salary from a part-time job
• Savings.

Estimate your outgoings

Next up, you need to figure out where all your money is going. You can either look back at your bank statement to add up all your previous purchases or simply input a rough estimate of how much you think you spend on each category.Use our data on the average student living costs as a guide to how much you could be spending.

Essential student expenses

Non-essential student expenses

Calculate your weekly budget

Once you've got all your expenses laid out before you, it's time to break them down into a weekly budget. Brace yourself, as this is where it starts to get real.

• Work out your total income for a term at university
• Minus your essential expenses for the same period
• Divide the number you're left with by the number of weeks in a term.

You've now got your weekly student budget. In other words, this is how much money you've got to spend on all those non-essential things each week.

For example, if your income across the first term is £3,000 and your essential expenditure adds up to £1,500, you would have £125 a week (across a 12-week term).

It's better to budget your expenditure per week rather than per month, as it's easy to go overboard at the start of the month and be penniless by the end.

Set yourself some goals

If you follow the steps above and come out with a reasonable weekly budget, then great! But what if you're left with a tenner to live off each week or no money at all?

Whether you need to budget to get by or you're trying to cut back, it's all about setting goals to either reduce your spending or boost your income.

You may realise you're spending £50 on takeaways each month, in which case you could try reducing it to half of that amount.

Or, if your gym membership is sucking up half of your Student Loan, then maybe it's time to try some cheaper ways of getting fit.

Sources

Save the Student
Why you need a budget at uni

By Save The Student
Save The Student is the UK's leading student money website, helping you budget your money, make sense of student finance, look for part-time jobs, find extra funding and more. Founded in 2007, the website provides free and impartial guides, tools and verified deals to tackle the real-life money problems students face at university.