5 TIPS FOR LIVING ON A (STUDENT'S) BUDGET

University life and living in your own flat defenitely has its benefits, but at the same time, there are some disadvantages as well....like being on a budget. 

Like most students, my parents give me a monthly budget for food, rent etc. and whenever I am at home, I try to work in my old job in a restaurant as well to get some extra cash. I´ve lived on a student´s budget for about a year now and within the last 12 months, I came up with a couple of tips on how to make the budget work for you and how to make the most out of it. Since you really liked my budget travel post, I am continuing my little budget series with a few tip for living on a (student´s) budget.

1. PLAN AHEAD
I think it really helps to take a minute at the beginning of a new month to think about which expenses are going to be unavoidable that particular month. Think about fix costs such as Wifi costs, rent etc.  but also keep track of birthdays. Is it your best friend´s birthday this month? Note down how much you are planning on spending on her birthday present. Do you know that you will be going on a weekend trip somewhere? It might be wise to note down your expenses for that as well.
All of this will give you an overview of the amount of money you will have left that month for foodshopping, going out, shopping etc.

2. KEEP TRACK OF YOUR EXPENSES
Second of all, I like to keep track of all of my expenses - for me probably the most important tip! I do this in quite an oldschool way using Excel (I guess there are a lot of other - perhaps more modern - alternatives on the market, Excel works just fine). I usually save all of my receips and at the end of a week (or whenever I have time), I update my excel table. This really helps to know how much money you´ve already spent and how much you´ve got left for the rest of the month.

3. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE SALES
Another great way to save some money is to take advantage of the sales. Nowadays, it seems like there is a sale happening at any time of the year. Especially when you want to treat yourself with e.g. some new clothes, it might make sense to wait for the mid-season sale to save some extra pounds on the amazing jeans you´ve already spotted and fallen in love with. 

4. USE STUDENT DISCOUNT CODES
Quite a few brands seemed to have noticed that we students are not the wealthiest of them all, so they invented discount counts just for us - winner! Usually, you have to register for these student discount codes with your university email address - it´s super easy! The first thing I did last year when I got my university e-mail address was to register for the student discount code at ASOS! Yes, you heard right, ASOS offers 10% discount for students and ASOS is not the only one. Urban Outfitters, Nakd, Amazon, HP, Apple - just to name a few of those who also jumped on the bandwagon. Defenitely something to make use of and save some extra pennies!

5. KNOW WHERE THINGS ARE THE CHEAPEST
Especially when shopping for groceries, it might make sense to know where certain things are the cheapest. For example, I always buy fruits and vegetables at Penny, because there, they are much cheaper than at Edeka. It might not make the biggest difference, but eventually, your savings add up to a considerable amount.