Stress-free Series: Budgeting for Beginners

This post is part of our Stress-free Series, designed to tackle those student pain points so you can start to remove everyday chaos. Whether you’re up to your eyeballs in life admin or struggling to get back on budget, we’ve got you covered.

If we’re being honest, being properly in charge of your own finances for the first time can be one of the scarier parts of going to uni. But it doesn’t have to be! Learning how to budget as a student is all a part of the university experience, which is why UniHomes has put together these tips and tricks to help you get to grips with budgeting and to make managing your money stress-free.

Figure out your finances 💵

This is less intimidating than it sounds, we promise. Per the 2025 National Student Money Survey, over three-quarters of students report being worried about money – so if this is something you’re currently trying to figure out, you're not alone. Getting familiar with your incomings and outgoings is the first step in learning how to budget, and it literally just involves you sitting down and working out your monthly income vs. how much it costs to pay your essential bills.

Essential bills for uni students generally include things like:

• Rent for your student accommodation
• Utilities (unless you found your student home through UniHomes, so utilities are already included in your rent, or you added our student bills package on separately)
• Any monthly subscriptions, like your gym membership or Spotify
• Your phone contract
• Any course-related costs (i.e. textbooks and equipment)
• Your weekly food shop
• Travel

Doing this work is the easiest way to see how much money you’re left with each month for non-essentials, and gives you a good starting point for a basic, stress-free budget (see our other student budgeting blog post for more ideas). It’s also a useful way of helping you figure out if you need a part-time job (i.e. if your outgoings are more than what you receive in your maintenance loan).

Adjust your budget ✍️

Once you’ve worked out how much money you still have after paying all your non-negotiable bills, you’ll know how much you can afford to spend on things like clothes, takeaways, nights out… the sort of things you technically can live without while at uni, but really don’t want to – what’s the point in a trip to the library if you can’t reward yourself with a matcha every now and then?

Factor these kinds of expenses into your budget by setting yourself a weekly or monthly spend limit. This way, you can avoid spending too much on unnecessary expenses and can relax knowing you can still afford this month’s rent.

It’s also worth using this as an opportunity to set money aside in your savings each month – NatWest reports that almost a quarter of 18-35 year olds don’t have any funds saved for emergencies, which can definitely be a source of stress. Having an emergency savings pot can help cover your back should your laptop unexpectedly break during exam season or your phone gets lost while you’re on a night out.

Cut down on costs 💰

Whether it’s your Tesco Meal Deal or a classic Greggs steak bake (or two) every week, purchases like this seem small in the moment but can quickly add up. Try meal-prepping your lunches every week and taking a packed lunch to campus with you instead, and you’ll soon find yourself saving some pennies.

Feeling particularly put-together? Take our advice from last week’s Stress-free Series post and try prepping your dinners, too! It’ll save you both money and energy in the long run, which is a win if you ask us. You can find some student-friendly meal inspo in this blog post here.

For those days when you just can’t resist the call of a takeaway (or even a meal out with housemates), don’t forget about discounts. Student discounts are a great way to treat yourself whilst saving money, and platforms like Unidays and Student Beans offer loads of discounts for places like Ask Italian and Domino’s as well as retailers like Urban Outfitters, ASOS, Sephora… the list goes on.

Save the dates 📅

This one might sound obvious, but it’s important to know when all of your bills are scheduled to leave your student bank account. If you don’t, it can be all too easy to overspend at the wrong time of the month and be left with insufficient funds to cover those essential outgoings.

Many students prefer to use their phone’s calendar to keep track of what goes out when, as they find it useful to keep an eye on your bank balance to ensure you have enough money.

If you have a lot of outgoings, many students find it helpful to set up direct debits so that their bills transfer out of your account automatically and on time. Or (better yet) they consider getting a utilities package, so that their utility payments are bundled into one…

Bundle your bills with UniHomes 💙

Sorting your utilities can get stressful. With wifi, water, gas, and electricity all to consider, it can be a hassle calculating how much you owe to who and when.

But that’s where UniHomes comes in! Our stress-free student utilities packages can be added on to any student property and works by bundling all your bills into one easy monthly payment, meaning that you don’t have to worry about keeping track of all your utilities anymore.

We even take the awkwardness out of splitting the bills for you – we split your monthly payment equally between you and your housemates, so you don’t have to stress about chasing anyone for their share. Check out UniHomes’ student utilities packages and get a quote today.

This blog is written for general informational purposes only and does constitute legal or financial advice, nor does it reflect the opinion of UniHomes. UniHomes is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and its authors are not financial advisors. Always carry out your own research and seek independent financial advice.