Planning and Budgeting

Life as a student often requires paying careful attention to your finances. If you are having difficulties managing your costs and expenditure you might find planning your spending carefully can help bring it under control. A budget is an effective way of organising your money so you can clearly see how much money is coming in and how much is going out. Budgeting may seem like a complicated process but life can be a lot more complicated if your money is all gone.

Preparing a Budget

The first step is to complete the budget table below. Think carefully about the amounts you enter into the table. It is better to be conservative with your estimates and have money left over at the end of the month than to run out unexpectedly.

Once you've completed the table, assess the results and decide if you're happy with them. Then (and easier said than done) try to stick to your budget. Review it after each period until you're happy with it. If you manage to stick to (or better) your target spending limits you will reduce your money worries greatly and you'll probably be found on a beach some time over the summer break!

• Budget planner (pdf).

Budget Calculator

You may wish to check out the Commonwealth Bank's Student Budget Calculator.

It will give you good experience in preparing a budget as a way of helping you control your finances. Be aware that there is no specific category for grocery expenditure so you will need to include this in the "others" or "household items" section.