University students often have less income than outgoing expenses, so budgeting is a unique task. Here are a couple of recommendations to make a budget for the school year brought to you by yours truly, the Financial Literacy Peer Health Educator topic team.
1) establish your income
Know your starting point in order to build your budget around. Whether this is savings, money from the summer or current income it is important to know to build your budget around.
2) estimate your living costs
Students often spend on the following items: rent, utilities, Wi-Fi, groceries, transportation (via rail, gas money etc.), entertainment (cover for stages, dinners, movies, events), and school (tuition, textbooks, supplies). With these costs in mind, it’s important to estimate YOUR personal living costs and try not to compare to others!
3) calculate your budget
Work out your total income for the year at university
Calculate the total weekly essential expenses (things like food, rent, utilities, etc.). To do this you may wish to track your expenses for a week or estimate this budget.
Sum up your weekly essential expenses for the year and subtract this from your total year’s income.
Divide that number by the number of weeks in the year. This is how much you can spend on non-essential items.
4) SET SOME FINANCIAL GOALS
Make it a SMART goal:
Specific: I want to spend only X amount on Uber eats this month
Measurable: I will track how much I spend using Excel
Attainable: I will substitute Uber Eats with fresh meal kits
Relevant: This goal is important to me because I want to save money for travelling
Time bound: By October 31st I will have spent no more than $75 on Uber eats
5) use a budgeting app:
Technology has made budgeting much easier in our current time and age. Our personal recommendations are YNAB (You Need a Budget), Every Dollar, and Mint.
6) apply for student grants and scholarships
Queen’s University as well as the AMS provide tons of grants and bursary options. Visit the www.queensu.ca/registrar to learn more!
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