No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Practical Saver
  • Home
  • Save money
    1000 dollar bill

    $1000 Dollar Bill: The Shocking Facts People Don’t Know Of

    save money on life insurance, online dollar stores, make money from home

    Top 7 Ways to Save Money on Life Insurance

    save money on life insurance, online dollar stores, make money from home

    18 Online Dollar Stores with Amazing Deals

    does AC use gas

    Does AC Use Gas: The Money-Saving Myth Debunked (2019)

    how to coupon, how to boost credit score

    How To Coupon: The Epic Guide to Couponing for Beginners (2019)

    pantry challenge

    Pantry Challenge (in 2019): The Ultimate Guide You’ll Need

    Trending Tags

    • Money Saving Tips
    • Frugal Living Ideas
    • Personal Finance
    • Spend less
    • Food Budget
    • Retirement Planning
    • Grocery Shopping
  • Make Money
    how to make money doing nothing

    13 Clever Ways On How To Make Money Doing Nothing (Almost)

    best rewards apps, free money apps

    13 Best Free Money Apps For Free Cash Now – Best Rewards Apps

    how to travel for free, money hacks

    17 Real Free Money Hacks To Make Free Money Fast ($100/Day)

    how to make money fast as a kid

    Instant Paid Surveys: 17 Surveys That Pay Cash Instantly (2019)

    how to save money | ways to save money | money saving tips | save money fast |

    11 Best Survey Sites For Paid Online Surveys for Cash ($115/Hr)

    survey club review, get help paying rent

    Survey Club Review 2019: Is This Survey Site Scam Or Legit?

    Trending Tags

    • Earn Money Online
    • make money
    • Passive Income
    • Personal Finance
    • survey sites
    • Investing for Beginners
    • Blog Ideas
  • Budget
    benefits of budgeting

    13 Amazing Benefits of Budgeting Your Money

    get paid to watch videos, budgeting hacks

    Budgeting Hacks: 17 Ways On How To Stick To A Budget

    living below your means

    Living Below Your Means: The Epic Guide To Living on Less Money (2019)

    thanksgiving budget

    Thanksgiving Budget: 13 Easy Ways To Get More For Less

    Christmas tips for Budget shopping

    11 Proven Christmas Tips for Budget Shopping That Work (2019)

    how to create a budget

    How To Make A Budget: 11 Easy Ways To Do It (The Complete Guide)

    Trending Tags

    • Food Budget
    • Holiday Budget
    • Money Saving Tips
    • Personal Budget
    • Frugal Living Ideas
    • Shopping on The Budget
    • Travel Budget
  • Pay Off Debt
    improve credit score

    How to Improve Credit Score: 11 Tips You Need To Know Now

    how to pay off credit card debt

    How To Pay Off Credit Card Debt: 13 Proven Tips That Work

    how to save money, how to pay bills, can't pay bills

    Can’t Pay Bills? 3 Proven Steps To Get It Done

    how to pay off debt fast, student loan debt, pay off student loans, pay student loan education loan save money on back to school supplies Saving you money from insurance, mortgage, gas, parking, registration, and a lot more. financial mistake in college

    How to Avoid These Financial Mistakes in College

    how to pay off debt fast checkout

    How To Get Out Of Debt: $40K Debt to $70K Savings in 2 Years

    how to pay off debt fast, student loan debt, pay off student loans, pay student loan education loan save money on back to school supplies Saving you money from insurance, mortgage, gas, parking, registration, and a lot more. financial mistake in college

    Why College Students Should Consider An Education Loan

    Trending Tags

    • Credit Cards
    • Debt Help
    • Personal Finance
    • Spend less
    • Money Saving Tips
  • Home
  • Save money
    1000 dollar bill

    $1000 Dollar Bill: The Shocking Facts People Don’t Know Of

    save money on life insurance, online dollar stores, make money from home

    Top 7 Ways to Save Money on Life Insurance

    save money on life insurance, online dollar stores, make money from home

    18 Online Dollar Stores with Amazing Deals

    does AC use gas

    Does AC Use Gas: The Money-Saving Myth Debunked (2019)

    how to coupon, how to boost credit score

    How To Coupon: The Epic Guide to Couponing for Beginners (2019)

    pantry challenge

    Pantry Challenge (in 2019): The Ultimate Guide You’ll Need

    Trending Tags

    • Money Saving Tips
    • Frugal Living Ideas
    • Personal Finance
    • Spend less
    • Food Budget
    • Retirement Planning
    • Grocery Shopping
  • Make Money
    how to make money doing nothing

    13 Clever Ways On How To Make Money Doing Nothing (Almost)

    best rewards apps, free money apps

    13 Best Free Money Apps For Free Cash Now – Best Rewards Apps

    how to travel for free, money hacks

    17 Real Free Money Hacks To Make Free Money Fast ($100/Day)

    how to make money fast as a kid

    Instant Paid Surveys: 17 Surveys That Pay Cash Instantly (2019)

    how to save money | ways to save money | money saving tips | save money fast |

    11 Best Survey Sites For Paid Online Surveys for Cash ($115/Hr)

    survey club review, get help paying rent

    Survey Club Review 2019: Is This Survey Site Scam Or Legit?

    Trending Tags

    • Earn Money Online
    • make money
    • Passive Income
    • Personal Finance
    • survey sites
    • Investing for Beginners
    • Blog Ideas
  • Budget
    benefits of budgeting

    13 Amazing Benefits of Budgeting Your Money

    get paid to watch videos, budgeting hacks

    Budgeting Hacks: 17 Ways On How To Stick To A Budget

    living below your means

    Living Below Your Means: The Epic Guide To Living on Less Money (2019)

    thanksgiving budget

    Thanksgiving Budget: 13 Easy Ways To Get More For Less

    Christmas tips for Budget shopping

    11 Proven Christmas Tips for Budget Shopping That Work (2019)

    how to create a budget

    How To Make A Budget: 11 Easy Ways To Do It (The Complete Guide)

    Trending Tags

    • Food Budget
    • Holiday Budget
    • Money Saving Tips
    • Personal Budget
    • Frugal Living Ideas
    • Shopping on The Budget
    • Travel Budget
  • Pay Off Debt
    improve credit score

    How to Improve Credit Score: 11 Tips You Need To Know Now

    how to pay off credit card debt

    How To Pay Off Credit Card Debt: 13 Proven Tips That Work

    how to save money, how to pay bills, can't pay bills

    Can’t Pay Bills? 3 Proven Steps To Get It Done

    how to pay off debt fast, student loan debt, pay off student loans, pay student loan education loan save money on back to school supplies Saving you money from insurance, mortgage, gas, parking, registration, and a lot more. financial mistake in college

    How to Avoid These Financial Mistakes in College

    how to pay off debt fast checkout

    How To Get Out Of Debt: $40K Debt to $70K Savings in 2 Years

    how to pay off debt fast, student loan debt, pay off student loans, pay student loan education loan save money on back to school supplies Saving you money from insurance, mortgage, gas, parking, registration, and a lot more. financial mistake in college

    Why College Students Should Consider An Education Loan

    Trending Tags

    • Credit Cards
    • Debt Help
    • Personal Finance
    • Spend less
    • Money Saving Tips
No Result
View All Result
The Practical Saver
No Result
View All Result

Home » Budgeting for Students: A Step-By-Step Guideline

Budgeting for Students: A Step-By-Step Guideline

Allan LiwanagbyAllan Liwanag
August 4, 2017
in How To Budget
4

This post contains affiliate links. I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links at no cost to you

Budgeting for Students: A Step-By-Step Guideline

This ” Budgeting For Students: A Step-By-Step Guideline ” post comes from our guest blogger.  Tina Roth is a personal finance blogger. Her Finance Blog was created to inspire people to explore more on frugal living and especially, to help you craft a financial secure life. This post contains affiliate links/ads. See disclosure policy. 

For most of the college-goers ‘budgeting’ is the least loved word. It means a restriction on their lives (i.e. having no fun and entertainment). Of course, many of these students hate to lead such a life; however, it is a wrong notion.

Just think about budgeting from a different angle.  It is actually a plan that will keep track of where your money goes. Pretty much, it will do a 24×7 monitoring of your spending. With a budget, you will be able to stay aligned with your goals and, possibly, create a bright financial scenario. Without a budget, you are more likely to cross your income limit and find yourself on a rocky terrain after graduation.

After you make budgeting a habit to keep yourself on track with your financial objectives, it will earn you following benefits or help you determine:

  • Where you spend every dollar you earn
  • Where you spend more every month
  • How you deal with financial emergencies
  • How much you manage to save in every month

Creating a budget is lot easier than sticking to it. Many get frustrated and give it up after a short time as they feel like birds with wings clipped. If you are a financially wise person and think that budgeting will be a good guidance in your life, you must have certain goals in your mind. Depending on time, your usual goals can be categorized into short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals.

Preparing a list of short-term goals is very easy as you are more aware of your immediate needs than looking into your future needs. However, when you master the art of budgeting, you will find yourself more efficient at preparing your remote goals. Budgeting helps you identify and assess your resources and it helps you make a plan about how you could put those to good use.

Budgeting for Students – A Step-by-Step Guideline

Get started and you will find preparing a budget easier than what you expect. If you are using a notebook and pen, you may have to use a few pages as several important items could accidently be excluded. The basic goals for creating a budget are as follows:

  • Assessing your monthly income
  • Identifying how much you need for monthly living
  • Making a comparison between income and expense
  • Either making a cut on your budget or earning more
  • Skewing extra money to saving or making debt payment
  • Always living below your means

Assessing Your Monthly Income

To start with budgeting means that you need to figure out the sources of your monthly income. In addition, not only do you need to figure out those sources but you also need to determine how much you are receiving from each of those sources.  Income may come from different sources that include:

  • Earning from a full-time job
  • Earning from a part-time job
  • Financial help from your parents and/or other family members
  • Financial aid in terms of grants, scholarships etc

Identifying how much you need for monthly living

After you are done with income assessment from different sources, figure out your average monthly expenses. Some expenses like rent, car payment, insurance, utility bill, tuition fees etc. are fixed-type expenses. Some monthly expenses do fluctuate from month to month. These fluctuating expenses include food, transportation, laundry bills, gift purchase, books and supplies, etc.

Making a comparison between income and expenses

Now you have a list of your monthly income sources and possible expense categories where your expenses fall under. It’s now the right time to compare income and expenses to figure out if there is any area where you are overspending. If possible, size it down. If your income is more than your expenses, it will earn you surplus that you can direct towards clearing dues or saving.

Either cutting your budget or earning more

If your spending tends to be more than your income, you may end up incurring debts. Small amount adds up and makes a big total that you may find hard to pay off. There are two ways to save you from going to this situation – cutting your expenses or earning more.

In some cases, if you are a college student and are trying to focus on your education, you may be less likely to have enough time to get a part-time job or doing some side hustles to make money. Therefore, the alternative option (i.e. cutting your expenses) makes a far better choice for you. Though you are less likely to slash fixed expenses, you may or will be more than comfortable slashing some of your variable expenses.

Skewing extra money to saving or making debt payment

After making adjustments to bring expenses to track, you will need to calculate how much you can save every month. What will you do with the disposable income that is obtained after deducting expenses from earning? Always think of what you need to do with your savings before you make any movements. You can pay off your debt, if you have any, save money in the bank, invest in the stock market, etc.

Living below your means

If your expenses outpace your earning, you may find yourself addressing your needs using debts. If you don’t control your spending habit, these debts will start snowballing over time to make a big sum. Debt is frustrating for a student who is already on an educational loan. So, it is best to think wisely on how you can manage your monthly expenses so that you can walk like a free bird out of cage after graduation. A proper budget will definitely help you in this regard.

 

sa-captivate-placeholder
sa-captivate-placeholder
124shares
  • Pinterest124
  • Facebook
  • Flipboard
  • Twitter
  • Pocket

Related Posts

how to make money doing nothing
Make Money

13 Clever Ways On How To Make Money Doing Nothing (Almost)

November 13, 2019
best rewards apps, free money apps
Make Money

13 Best Free Money Apps For Free Cash Now – Best Rewards Apps

November 14, 2019
how to travel for free, money hacks
Make Money

17 Real Free Money Hacks To Make Free Money Fast ($100/Day)

December 12, 2019
Tags: Personal Budget
Allan Liwanag

Allan Liwanag

Allan is a recognized personal finance expert, a Level II Certified Cost Estimator, and founder of The Practical Saver. His expertise has been featured in Business Insider, MSN, U.S. News and World Report, Yahoo Finance, NerdWallet, GoBankingRates, AOL Finance, CreditCards.com, HuffPost, Debt.com, Zillow, and Mass Mutual. He was indebted for $40K but paid it all off and saved $70K, at the same time, in 2.5 years under one low income of $39K/year. Now, he enjoys sharing his thoughts and experience on saving money, making money, paying off debt, and budgeting. Read more

Comments 4

  1. Brad from MaximizeYourMoney.com says:
    3 years ago

    This is great! More people should start to learn, and put into practice, good financial habits while still students. Our schools (college included) do a horrible job of preparing people to be financially fit – which I guess is why we all do what we do (blog to help people out).

    Reply
    • Allan Liwanag says:
      3 years ago

      I totally agree. How I wish schools emphasized personal finance, which includes budgeting, more so people can understand how money works even before they start earning a living.

      Reply
  2. ZJ Thorne says:
    3 years ago

    This is a helpful primer. I hope folks find it and benefit from your wisdom.

    Reply
    • Allan Liwanag says:
      3 years ago

      Thanks, ZJ.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Practical Saver

About Allan Liwanag

Allan is a recognized personal finance expert and founder of The Practical Saver. He paid off his $40K and saved $70K, at the same, in 2.5 years under $39K/year salary.

His expertise has been featured in Business Insider, MSN, U.S. News and World Report, Yahoo Finance, NerdWallet, GoBankingRates, AOL Finance, CreditCards.com, HuffPost, Debt.com, Zillow, Mass Mutual, and various local media outlets. Read more

Next Post
How I Made Over $4,010.00 On My 7th Month Of Blogging

How I Made Over $4,010.00 On My 7th Month Of Blogging

NEWSLETTER

Don't miss any new posts ever again! Subscribe to my mailing list to receive updates direct to your inbox! 

Click here

SITE LINKS

  • Contact me
  • About me
  • Careers
  • Advertise
  • Start here
  • Privacy
  • Sitemap

ABOUT ME

I am Allan Liwanag – The Master of Practicality. 
My family was indebted for $40K in 2013. Five years forward, we have saved more than $400K. We did that with trick-less, simple, effective money management that most people tend to overlook.

The Practical Saver Copyright © 2019.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Save money
  • Make Money
  • Budget
  • Pay Off Debt

The Practical Saver Copyright © 2019.