Being in school and trying to stick to a budget can be daunting. As students, many of us have varying financial needs depending on time of the year, season, or even month. These make the traditional budgeting method of using your stable monthly income to pay for your regular expenses a bit more difficult. Even though budgeting in college presents challenges, it is not impossible, with a little bit of care and attention you can create a budget and savings plan for any month, season, or year.
The main reason that budgeting presents a unique challenge in college is due to the fact that both our income and expenses vary between the school year and summer. For example, in a summer job many students are working full time if not close to that making a full-time salary for 10 weeks out of the year, but then we get back to school and might not be working at all or only working for a couple hours each week. When you combine that with the fact that the majority of students expenses typically fall in August and January it makes it look as if you are spending exponentially more than you make in those months. This is a challenge I, and many of my peers, face every year when trying to create a budget for the year.
These challenges should not be roadblocks in creating a budget, by following the tips below, you may find that creating a budget while in college is easier than you thought!
- Use a method to track all income and expenses.
The easiest way to start setting up a budget is to write down all the income items and expense items you will see in a year. I do this by keeping track of month-to-month income and expenses in a bullet journal I created, but there are many options. Aside from pen and paper many students like to use Excel. Powercat Financial even has a helpful spending plan worksheet through Excel found here, https://www.k-state.edu/powercatfinancial/budgeting/. Another option, for students who primarily use their checking account, is tracking expenses and income using their online banking app connected to their check book or debit card. Finally, a very easy and popular method is using an online app like the free Mint tool. Details about Mint can be found here, https://mint.intuit.com/. By tracking expenses and income, you will make sure you are staying on track for the year, even if one month might be more expensive than another.
- Add up your yearly income and think of it as being used for 12 months.
This tip is very helpful for students that have consistent rent and other payments. After you have an estimated total for the year, one option that you can use is taking your total yearly income and diving it by 12 months. This way, the money you might make in the summer can easily be allocated to later in the fall or spring for those rent and living expenses without feeling like you are spending more than you have made in the year.
- Know when your expense take place and make sure that you plan to save for those months
Finally, as students we have large tuition payments in August and January, even though we pay them in those months, by theoretically dividing up these expenses into 12 months, you know how much you need to save each month to make these payments when they come around. So when you are working your summer or winter break job, you can hold the amount of money required for your January payments back in your savings account.
These tips are just a few suggestions that might make the daunting process of budgeting just a little bit easier. Any of these tips can be adjusted to work best for you. Each students’ circumstances are different and while expenses and income change month to month, your confidence in your finances does not have to change.
As always, Powercat Financial can help you create an individualized budget that fits your needs. To request a free appointment go to this link, www.k-state.edu/powercatfinancial.
Cameron Jones
Peer Financial Counselor
Powercat Financial
www.k-state.edu/powercatfinancial
