5 Steps To Manage Your Finances As A Student – Nwobi Samuel
Students are faced with the constant struggle to manage their finances. Now I’m not talking about the rich kids obviously .For those who are not “the rich kids” this presents a problem for us in the sense that towards the end of the semester especially during exam period, we are low on funds, hungry, stressed and worn out. The issue most of the time is that we as individuals tend to have bad financial habit that are not of help to us as individuals. This article will change our mind set and let us see how we can leave a good and stable life as a student. Just follow this steps and you will be fine
1. MAKE A DECISION TO MANAGE YOUR FINANCES
It is usually said that for any change to occur physically, our thoughts have to be changed. I am not going to bore you with some gibberish about the human mind set and all that. I am going to keep it simple all, you have to do as a student is to make a decision to take care of your finances. Once you make that decision then you can proceed to tell yourself that you won’t go back on that decision when it becomes tough (This is the point that matters the most).
I remember the first few times that I decided to control my expenses, it was hard because I had to change some of my habits. It is quite good to remember that as you do this, changes will come and some might not be immediate but in a few months you will be good to go.
2. CREATE A BUDGET
At the beginning of the month, make a list of possible expenses and categorise them. Remember, we you were taught scale of preference in highschool, it’s no joke, this is the time to apply it. Think about the items you need to buy or payments you really need to make, decide which one is important and stick to them. Postpone items not need currently or eliminate them totally. This will help to limit unnecessary expenses.
Keep a record of all expenses made throughout the month, you can do this by getting a small booklet which you will take around or you can always download an application (expense manger) <= (Not an ad) to help you keep record of expenses. The recording of expenses makes spending a conscious activity, at any point we make a decision to spend, we examine to see if the expense is necessary.
Analyse your expenses at the end of every week and month. This will help you to know if you are sticking to your budget and if not; to correct the mistakes. But if you are rich to hell with that right.
3. CHANGE YOUR HABIT
You might want to look at some habits that might consuming a lot of money such as eating out in a restaurant, buying irrelevant things et al. Try and curtail habits of eating out by purchasing foodstuff in bulky and cooking at home. Some individual might say that they feel shy going to the market but remember everything can be packaged. All you have to do, is go with a backpack and no one will notice. But why will you be shy of food. Those crying that they can’t cook; browse a recipe online, ask a friend to help you out, turn it into a fun activity and with time you will be an excellent cook.
4. SAVE
In the book ‘the richest man in Babylon’ the author advised that we should endeavour as individuals to always pay our self-first. All he meant by this statement is that we should save a minimum of ten percent of our income. This income can be a salary, an allowance or a gift cash. If we can do this as an individual, over time we will have extra money to engage in a business or any other activity of your choice.
When saving do not use a single account and this will deal a huge blow to your effort because you will eventually spend it all. Have more than one bank account, find a bank that changes zero interest for banking with them, do not get a debit card or have the account attached to your phone number to avoid temptation of buying airtime. Doing this things will make it harder for you to access that account thereby keeping your savings safe from you. For some individuals saving money by themselves maybe be difficult, so you can proceed by writing a savings goal (46,000 by the end of the year) and work to achieve it or better still you can us an application. Currently, there is this application that individuals use save money called Piggyvest. This app can help you cultivate a good savings habit plus they also pay you a 10 percent interest for all you’re saving at the end of the year (a double win).
5. MAKE SOME EXTRA CASH
As a student there are free periods in the day in which you can use to make some extra cash, utilise those opportunities to make extra cash. Get busy; bake, freelance (creative writing), trade online, play a sport, get employed. You can also try to invest the money you saved in to treasury bills. It is one of the safest means of investment and it is guaranteed by the Government.
Some of us might be wondering when they will have time to do all this things but the truth is that, there is enough time to do a lot of things. All you have to do is find time. Even if as a student you don’t want to be involved n business, you can always learn other skills that will be of great use to you in future. The aim is to get involved in other activities that will help you see talent that you have might be hidden. Some of these skills, you acquire will not profit immediately but with time the rewards will start pouring in.
And that is how to put your Finances in order as a student. Think of this if you could manage a little then think of how you will fare with more.
