It’s a joke, a given, a cliché. Unfortunately, it’s also true.
In the weeks leading up to your first term at University, you will be bombarded by various forms of junk mail.
Banks will want your savings, and if you’re lucky, they’ll give you a free CD or two for your trouble. Travel companies will offer you GAP years, regardless of whether you’re already enrolled. Insurance companies will terrify you into thinking everyone wants your DVD collection, but they’ll protect it for you, for a price. All of these things will happen, and each and everyone will try to remind you of how little money you’ll have when you’re a student.
Frankly, it’s a little overwhelming, and it’s easy to forget that overdrafts are not real money, travelling is still travelling, whether it’s been organised by a rafting company or not, and you don’t really need to insure every single teddy bear in your collection. It’s tempting to try and take advantage of all the student deals you’re offered, before and when you arrive at University, as various companies and business will try scare you into thinking you should use what money you have usefully while you still have it.
The truth is, it’s just not as hard as they want you to believe. If you’re not a budget sort of person, that’s fine, because all it really takes is a little self-discipline. Do you really need a take-away three nights a week? Tesco’s
Finest is all very nice, but how different does it really taste when you’re the one footing the bill?
If you are the type who can budget, that’s a great way to start. Decide on an appropriate amount per week and try and stick to it. You’ll find you are surrounded by people who will have more money to spend than you, as well as people who will have less. Don’t be disheartened. You'll find yourself thinking that students who shop at Waitrose are not ‘real’ students. Super-noodles are an essential part of the student’s hermit-like, hard-working, thrifty existence.
Okay, so perhaps living off super-noodles is just as much an extreme as a weekly shop at Waitrose, but there is a middle ground. I have a friend whose parents give her £50 a week for food alone, so she shops at Marks and Spencer’s. No such luck in my corner, but the truth is you just don’t need to spend £50 a week on food, unless perhaps you’re feeding a family of four. I can make £25 at Sainsbury’s last two-three weeks and I’ve never gone hungry since I’ve been at University.