London is a beautiful and entertaining city, yet managing your finances as a student can be somewhat challenging. Given that everyone has different lifestyles, I’d like to provide some general tips on how to stay on top of your money that everyone can find useful.
Keep track of your monthly spending
I’m starting with the most fundamental yet most important tip: record your spending. Setting a budget isn’t about picking a random number and trying not to spend over it; you need to find a sweet spot that fits with your lifestyle yet is financially manageable. I use Google Sheets’ monthly budget template, but any format is fine as long as you can figure out your spending pattern. It’ll take time; you’ll have to record your daily spending for at least the first three months to get a relatively accurate estimate of your expenditure. Trust me — you’ll always have something that you’ve forgotten to pack, and you’ll probably spend most of your first month here transforming your accommodation into your comfort zone.
Make the best out of student discounts
The UK is generous to university students: Amazon Prime, Spotify, UniDays, StudentBeans and many restaurants, such as Itsu, Leon, Whittard of Chelsea, and so on, offer student discounts. Before buying something, always check if the product is eligible for a student discount. Of course, Black Friday deals are sometimes cheaper than the price with student discounts. But let’s be honest — there are times when we desperately need something regardless of Black Friday. On the flip side, you might be tempted to get something you don’t need just because of the deal the firms offer. So, my point here is to use student discounts to your benefit — but use them wisely.
To share my story, I recently bought noise-cancelling wireless headphones to replace my broken wired earphones. I knew that I had to pay £99 if I bought it from the official website, but I checked out UniDays first to get a £10 discount code. In terms of student subscriptions, I’m only using Amazon Prime and Spotify because those are the two services that I regularly use. Even if it’s a good deal, you probably won’t want to subscribe to something for a one-time use. Again, it’s helpful if you know your preferences to increase the standard of living for yourself.
Looking for a part-time Job?
Getting a part-time job can be another way of managing your budget. For international students, you can take whatever job as long as you can work less than 20 hours per week; anything beyond 20 hours will be against your student visa regulations. But even if we take the visa regulations aside, I won’t recommend working 10+ hours per week — especially if you’re a full-time student. LSE’s workload is rigorous no matter what you study here, and it will take grit to catch up with your lectures and seminars. Remember, you’re here to study! Part-time jobs shouldn’t hinder your academic performance.
Don’t familiarise yourself with restaurant deliveries…
Yes, it may sound controversial, I know. I’m not saying that you should never use food delivery — everyone knows it’s convenient. Yet, using food delivery apps all the time will be very costly, even more than dining in at the same restaurant. If you’re not confident in cooking, maybe consider setting a weekly limit on the number of times you order delivery. You’ll easily find your food budget quickly disappearing every time you rely on delivery apps, and it will grow like a snowball once delivery becomes your go-to option. If you live in catered halls, this may not apply to you as much as it would to those who live off-campus or in non-catered halls. Yet, it’s still good to keep this in mind anyway because catered halls don’t provide breakfast and lunch on weekdays. For non-catered hall or off-campus residents, cook to the best of your ability. Ingredients are quite cheap in London; it’s just the ready-to-eat, pre-prepped meals that are expensive. If you pack lunch for yourself or do weekly meal prepping, it would save your food cost immensely.
