{"id":728,"date":"2023-02-22T10:14:04","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T10:14:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/?p=728"},"modified":"2023-04-24T11:53:26","modified_gmt":"2023-04-24T10:53:26","slug":"9-tips-for-managing-your-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/2023\/02\/22\/9-tips-for-managing-your-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"9 tips for managing your budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

Making a budget \u2013 and sticking to it \u2013 isn\u2019t always easy, but it\u2019s well worth your time.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re looking to change your spending habits or need to manage a reduced income at university, it\u2019s always a good idea to work out your budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s surprising to see how many things you spend money on in any given month. And how much you actually spend can be an eye-opener.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read on for our top tips to help you budget more effectively, whatever stage you\u2019re at.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Understand the amount of money you have to manage<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"AFirst things first, it\u2019s important to get to grips with the amount of money you have to manage \u2013 whether that\u2019s each week, fortnight or month. Whatever works for you. If you get paid weekly, it\u2019s a good idea to come up with a weekly budget, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

As well as the income you have from jobs, think about any other benefits or funding you\u2019re entitled to, such as child benefit or Universal Credit.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a student, you might have a maintenance loan, and grants for children or adult dependents. If you\u2019re entitled to NHS funding, you might have a training grant, parental support or travel expenses to take into account. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Decide who your budget is for<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"ImageIs your budget just for you, or is it for your partner and family too? Sometimes it\u2019s difficult to separate family finances, so a budget is something you\u2019ll have to sit down and work out together.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Get to grips with your bills<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"AYou should get in the habit of knowing what bills you have and when they\u2019ll need to be paid. Usually, these are set things that you have agreed to pay and aren\u2019t easily changed. Consider your rent or mortgage, gas and electric, water, council tax and your internet\/TV.<\/span><\/p>\n

It might be a good idea to set up a separate bank account for your bills to come out of. That way, it\u2019s easier to manage your money and avoid spending bill money on other things.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Calculate your regular expenses <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"ClothesNext, think about what other regular expenses you have. Essentials like food and toiletries, clothing, travel and parking and the cost of running a car should be factored into your planning. But you\u2019ll also have non-essentials to think of too, like socialising, eating out, trips and holidays.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Don\u2019t forget the one-off spends<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"AWe all have one-off spends that affect our budgeting, whether that\u2019s a new washing machine, next year\u2019s flat deposit, a new car, a holiday or a special treat.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you know you have something coming up in the next year, it\u2019s a good idea to work out the cost of that and put money aside each month to help cover the cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, unexpected things will pop up from time to time, from a flat tyre to a broken telly. If you can, it\u2019s a good idea to leave some reserve in your budget across the year \u2018just in case\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Create a budget plan<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"CoupleA budget plan is a great way to visually display how much money you have access to and how much money you\u2019re spending. It allows you to break your budget down by week, month or semester.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many services that offer free budgeting tools \u2013 such as Martin Lewis\u2019 Money Saving Expert<\/a>. If you\u2019re a student at Teesside University, you get free access to Blackbullion<\/a> which has a fantastic budget calculator, as well as lots of other great financial advice.<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Be accurate with your numbers<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"ImageIt\u2019s easy to underestimate our spending but try to be as accurate as you can. If you\u2019re not sure, always overestimate rather than underestimate \u2013 that way, you\u2019ll have cash left over rather than coming up short.<\/span><\/p>\n

8. Shop around<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"SaleThis is a useful tactic for anyone \u2013 and well worth your time. Often it pays to shop around to get the best price for what you need.<\/span><\/p>\n

Say your broadband deal is going up, rather than just accepting that, give your provider a call or message to renegotiate a better price. Yes, I know, haggling isn\u2019t always in our nature, but you might be surprised at how much you could save.<\/span><\/p>\n

And check for any discounts you\u2019re entitled to when online shopping. If you\u2019re a student, there are lots of ways you can get discount on top products, including Student Beans<\/a>, TOTUM<\/a> and UNiDAYS<\/a>. Lots of employers also have discounts for their staff too \u2013 especially if you work for the NHS or in education. It\u2019s always worth checking.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

9. Look for extra ways to make money<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"ImageWith free apps out there like Vinted<\/a> and Depop<\/a>, you can declutter your wardrobe and <\/em>recoup a little bit of what you\u2019ve spent, too. Plus, it\u2019s kinder to the environment by helping your clothes to find new life elsewhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s certainly always worth bearing them in mind when you\u2019re looking for your next fashion fix before paying full price!<\/span><\/p>\n

We hope these tips will help you get to grips with your finances. If you have any top money-saving advice to share, leave it in the comments.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Amy\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Making a budget \u2013 and sticking to it \u2013 isn\u2019t always easy, but it\u2019s well worth your time. Whether you\u2019re looking to change your spending habits or need to manage a reduced income at university, it\u2019s always a good idea to work out your budget. It\u2019s surprising to see how many things you spend money … Continue reading “9 tips for managing your budget”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24989,"featured_media":745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[50,51,52,54,47,53,46,48,49],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/files\/2023\/02\/fabian-blank-pElSkGRA2NU-unsplash-e1678095463544.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24989"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1403,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728\/revisions\/1403"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tees.ac.uk\/talkingteesside\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}