A student’s budget

By Simphiwe Malunga
Email address: mandlamalunga1@gmail.com
Twitter handle: @MalungaSm
Tags: TUT, student budget, #levyndou


‘‘It only took me two weeks to realise that all that remained in my cardboard was bread and a pile of sauces, and I immediately knew that my savings were not ideal’’.
As a student, managing your finances is probably the hardest thing to do. The three top things that black students spend their money on are alcohol, petrol and bling while coloured students splurge on clothing, computer software and takeaways. White students spend their money on contraceptives, music and toiletries. This is according to research conducted by Student Village.
As a tertiary student knowing how to budget is one of the most significant things there is to know. You come across challenges such as not having a refrigerator, more especially if you reside within school residences which tend to strain your budget as you are then supposed to go shopping more often than usual. The norm is that as a student in order to save one should mostly survive on tinned food stuff, instant cereals and eggs, but who said in Varsity you cannot eat healthy whilst saving?
People budget for a variety of reasons; one would be to purchase certain clothing or simply to avoid expenses. ‘‘In order to stick to budget I buy what I need not what I want, I stay far away from franchise foods’’, said Thabo Nkosi a Tshwane University of Technology student studying surveying.
Don’ts:
*Never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry.
* Don’t buy the most expensive university meals. Figure out what you actually consume and get the correlating package.
* Don’t buy unnecessary school supplies. Why buy cumbersome notebooks when you can type on your laptop? It’s better for the earth anyway!
* Don’t buy books you will only need for a short period of time – check them out from the library instead.
*Don’t buy music. Use the free services like waptrick.com or Pandora offer.
Do’s:
*Sell last semester’s books back.  
*Limit the number of times you eat out monthly. 
*Walk or ride a bike instead of having to use transportation, it’s also good for the heart.
*Live with others so you can split rent and utilities such as grocery.
*Shop where they offer discounts.
*Take advantage of what your campus has to offer in terms of activities, rather than spending money on going out. Many campuses have an array of museums, offer movie nights and other social events for cheaper or, sometimes, for free.
*Cook more often.
*Open a savings account that earns interest.
*Use a free tool, like FinAid’s Student Budget Calculator  to calculate your budget.  
Reference (Fast web fast living on a budget)
 
 
 

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