Managing Expenditure as a College Student

Why It’s Important

If you are currently living in a dormitory or even abroad, you know exactly why this is important. Not living with your parents means that you’ll need to find your own food for the day, you’ll need to buy your own necessities such as soap and cleaning tools, and all that. Moreover, you’ll need to cover medical supplies for when you get sick.

Trips to the mall and grocery stores are funded by yourself.If you can’t manage how much you spend, you’ll end up running out of money by the end of the month, and have to cope with ramen noodles for one week. It would be a miracle to not end up with indigestion or some sort. Managing your expenditure is not just about financial stability, it is key to maintaining your health and well being.

 

How to Manage

Managing your expenditure has to come from yourself. Without determination, you might still be lured to spending your dinner money for that gorgeous pair of shoes you saw online. Thankfully, the digital era has provided us with plenty of easy financial management applications. You can note your expenditures there for around two weeks, and make note of how much you’d initially spend for food, entertainment, etc.

Then, you can set up a budget for the next two weeks, making sure you don’t spend more than, for example, $20 per day for food.  You can even go as far as setting a withdrawal limit to your debit cards, so that you don’t withdraw a more than necessary amount of money per week.

 

Should You Start Saving?

Yes! The answer is always yes. It is never too soon to start saving money. Why? Because it will also be useful for something. If it’s hard for you to save without a cause, then start a cause! It could be something small, like saving up for a music festival or for a holiday trip. When you’re used to saving money, it would be easier for you to save up for bigger things, like a car or even a small apartment.

You can save your money in a separate bank account, to make sure that none of your saved money gets accidentally withdrawn for daily expenditures. It doesn’t have to be difficult, you can start by saving $5 per day, and by the end of the month you’ll have $150. Maybe you could use that for the gorgeous pair of shoes we discussed earlier rather than using your dinner money!

 

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