Hello, everyone! I’ve had a little bit of a life change in the last month—starting college. Now, through all of the crazy shifts and changes, I’ve had to adjust to a completely different view of everything, including my finances. Being a future accountant, it makes sense that I’d be focused on this. I understand that many of us would be more prone to completely ignore the state of our account balance or lack thereof, but that is the exact thing I think the most about. So, to get my ideas out on paper and share them with you all, this post is going to be taking a look at the college student and a budget.

First of all, do you have an income? Do you have a job? Do you have a small business operated from the dorm room? Or are you, like me, completely moneyless? It doesn’t matter where you obtain your dollars, you should always budget them out. I know what you’re thinking. “Blah, blah, blah! Boring!” Right? Well, here’s the deal. If you structure your budget, and you know where all of your money is going, you only have to deeply consider this business once. The rest of the time, you know where to put each penny, and with the teeny tiny college income, it only takes a few minutes to calculate.

Next, let’s look at what divisions you may or may not be dealing with. There are obvious ones that you need to think about, largely school tuition and food. There are others, though, that you do need to look at. They include:

• Saving
• School tuition
• School books
• Food
• Transportation
• Housing (?)
• Personal
• School supplies
• Spending/Entertainment

Okay, so these are the main divisions that I deal with the most. I usually divide by percentages, but I know that sometimes with a limited income and strict payment amounts, it’s best to take the whole amount and take specific amounts away. Now, let’s look at the divisions briefly.

I’ve put savings first, and you may find that odd, I mean, we’re college students, we don’t have money to set aside and do nothing with. You can find that money, though. Even if it’s just loose change—save it. I suggest, though, that with any money you receive, save 10% of that money. Whether you use this as a true savings account that you never touch, or if you use it for emergency use (such as your car breaking down), it’s a good idea to have this money set aside that you can rely on to be available.

School tuition—that taunting phrase. If you’re going to college or will be soon, it’s what everyone is talking about and stressing over. If you get a loan, such as through your bank or Sallie Mae, you’ll have payments. Even if you’re working your way through college and paying as you go, you need to set money aside.

School books is the second education category that you might find daunting. Keep setting money aside for this like you do for tuition. I also suggest looking on Amazon and Ebay for significantly lower prices on books. Also, if you can rent books from the bookstore, other kids on campus, or even from a library, you can save tons of money.

Food is a necessity of life. If you’re living in a dorm and have a food plan, then you don’t have to look at this section too much, but invariable there will be quick runs to the store to buy things for your dorm room (popcorn, coffee, ramen, etc.). So, the best way to tackle any of these situations is to have a set amount that you keep on hand whenever you make any money. Then, when you go to the store, you know exactly how much ramen you can buy, which is a lot in any case.

Transportation is the next category, and it doesn’t apply to everyone. If you have a car on campus, are a commuter, or are using public transportation (buses or taxis), then you’ll need to budget out a little bit of cash to be able to either pay for tickets, rides, or for gasoline. I suggest doing as much of your traveling on foot or by bike as you possibly can, because that will certainly save you money, and you’ll get good exercise, too.

I put a question mark after this next one for a reason. Housing doesn’t apply to everyone. Most freshman students don’t live off-campus or in an apartment, but there are some that do, and when that’s the case, they have to pay rent. If this is you, then you’ll have to slice off a chunk of money for that. Now, if you live in the dorms, and aren’t paying rent, I would still consider saving a little for housing, just to have a bit of a head start.

Personal, school supplies, and spending/entertainment are all those categories that you don’t need to survive, but they are useful. You’ll need shampoo if you’re showering regularly (hopefully you are). You’ll need notebooks and pens and pencils for when you’re doing homework (hopefully you are). You’ll also need some loose cash for when you do things with friends (again, hopefully you are).

I give you all of these categories not to be strict, to ruin the fun, or to even limit your fun. I’m saying this to hopefully give you a bit of a direction. In fact, when you budget, you’ll feel less stressed, I guarantee it. You’ll know what you have, and what you don’t have, and you’ll know what you can and can’t do. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel better when I know my limits.

Now, I don’t mean this to be just for college students. I believe that it’s good for anyone to budget out their earnings, especially high schoolers. If you’re in high school, you probably have a job somewhere making minimum wage. If you don’t that’s fine, and if you do, good for you! This is an income, though, and what better time than now, when you’re still at home, to figure-out how to organize your money.

I know that this is a bit of a change of tune from what I usually post about, but this is the stuff that goes through my crazy brain guys! 😉 I hope that this has been helpful! If you have any questions, suggestions or whatever else, don’t hesitate to comment!

Happy budgeting!