A savvy student has revealed how she saves £1.8k a year - including paying herself 'pay packets' to stop overspending.
Emma Cutler, 21, has adopted some cost saving measures to "plan for the future" and ease the burden of university costs.
She gets three £3,000 student loan payments a year - and separates the money into pay packets when it drops into her bank account.
The third year Media and Communications student at Loughborough University has a packet for bills and rent and splits the rest between food shopping, nights out, self-care, and miscellaneous spending money.
She uses online saving pots and cash to stop herself from overspending.
As well as dividing up her money, Emma batch cooks all her meals and completes online surveys to top up her income.
Emma, who does content creation for the university's social pages, originally from Birmingham, said: "I'm probably saving a good £150 a month.
"My rent and bills are £550pcm and then I put aside £120 for food shopping, £30-50 for going out, £30 in my miscellaneous spending money pot and £50-£80 in self care.
"It stops unnecessary spending and it makes you think twice before you buy something.
"I've definitely gotten better at it over the span of three years.
"In first year it was more about making sure I could afford rent but now I'm thinking about the future and longer term plans.
"I've developed my own way of budgeting and knowing how to save for things coming.
"I always look at what in my income is going to be for the month from the loan and my work as well.
"It can be difficult as you get it in three instalments so I work out what the average will be for each month.
"University throws you in at the deep end and you have to start paying for things.
"At that age, a student loan is a big sum of money for the first time."
After working out how much she can spend a month, Emma splits up her money, allowing her to carry it over to the next month if she doesn't spend it.
She said: "I prioritise bills and rent and then break it down into the four categories.
"After that I have longer term things like luxury items and holidays.
"It gives me a budget on what I'm spending on and even for things like Christmas I know I can put £10 away for that and it doesn't feel like I'm spending a lot when it comes to buying presents.
"It takes away the pressure and guilt of spending a lot of money if I know I've saved for it - it's more controlled spending.
"I used to use cash more often but now I use Monzo and put everything into pots and it rolls over to the next month so you can make up for quieter months."
Emma also cooks all her meals in batches, something she says she learnt to do throughout university.
She said: "A lot of the meals that I do - spaghetti bolognaise and curries I make two or three portions at a time so I can freeze and reheat.
"I always meal plan before I go to the shops and I didn't do that in the first year and I'd end up spending £30 and wouldn't have any meals for the week."
When it comes to a night out, Emma choses not to buy many drinks, instead she opts to drink at home beforehand.
She said: "That's something we always did in first and second year - you don't have to buy many drinks at the club if you pre more at home.
"I also take my own coffees into lectures instead of the £4 from Starbucks to save money.
"And prepping lunches is a good if you know you're going to be there for the day so you don't need to use the canteen."
Aside from her content creation - which she does for her university's social pages - Emma also does yearly surveys and sells her clothes on Vinted.
Emma is also thinking ahead to the future, with one of her pots dedicated to life after university.
She said: "I do the content creation every few weeks when the uni have a project on - they pay me around £10.40 an hour.
"I haven't thought about investing but I've got a help to buy ISA and have one main savings pot aside from the little ones and that's for a house deposit or something to fall back on if I'm renting."
Money Emma sets out in her plan each month:
Rent - £400 a month
Bills - £150 (inc subscriptions)
Food shop - £120 a month
Going out - £30-50 a month
spending (misc) - £30
Self-care £50-£80
Emma Cutler, 21, has adopted some cost saving measures to "plan for the future" and ease the burden of university costs.
She gets three £3,000 student loan payments a year - and separates the money into pay packets when it drops into her bank account.
The third year Media and Communications student at Loughborough University has a packet for bills and rent and splits the rest between food shopping, nights out, self-care, and miscellaneous spending money.
She uses online saving pots and cash to stop herself from overspending.
As well as dividing up her money, Emma batch cooks all her meals and completes online surveys to top up her income.
Emma, who does content creation for the university's social pages, originally from Birmingham, said: "I'm probably saving a good £150 a month.
"My rent and bills are £550pcm and then I put aside £120 for food shopping, £30-50 for going out, £30 in my miscellaneous spending money pot and £50-£80 in self care.
"It stops unnecessary spending and it makes you think twice before you buy something.
"I've definitely gotten better at it over the span of three years.
"In first year it was more about making sure I could afford rent but now I'm thinking about the future and longer term plans.
"I've developed my own way of budgeting and knowing how to save for things coming.
"I always look at what in my income is going to be for the month from the loan and my work as well.
"It can be difficult as you get it in three instalments so I work out what the average will be for each month.
"University throws you in at the deep end and you have to start paying for things.
"At that age, a student loan is a big sum of money for the first time."
After working out how much she can spend a month, Emma splits up her money, allowing her to carry it over to the next month if she doesn't spend it.
She said: "I prioritise bills and rent and then break it down into the four categories.
"After that I have longer term things like luxury items and holidays.
"It gives me a budget on what I'm spending on and even for things like Christmas I know I can put £10 away for that and it doesn't feel like I'm spending a lot when it comes to buying presents.
"It takes away the pressure and guilt of spending a lot of money if I know I've saved for it - it's more controlled spending.
"I used to use cash more often but now I use Monzo and put everything into pots and it rolls over to the next month so you can make up for quieter months."
Emma also cooks all her meals in batches, something she says she learnt to do throughout university.
She said: "A lot of the meals that I do - spaghetti bolognaise and curries I make two or three portions at a time so I can freeze and reheat.
"I always meal plan before I go to the shops and I didn't do that in the first year and I'd end up spending £30 and wouldn't have any meals for the week."
When it comes to a night out, Emma choses not to buy many drinks, instead she opts to drink at home beforehand.
She said: "That's something we always did in first and second year - you don't have to buy many drinks at the club if you pre more at home.
"I also take my own coffees into lectures instead of the £4 from Starbucks to save money.
"And prepping lunches is a good if you know you're going to be there for the day so you don't need to use the canteen."
Aside from her content creation - which she does for her university's social pages - Emma also does yearly surveys and sells her clothes on Vinted.
Emma is also thinking ahead to the future, with one of her pots dedicated to life after university.
She said: "I do the content creation every few weeks when the uni have a project on - they pay me around £10.40 an hour.
"I haven't thought about investing but I've got a help to buy ISA and have one main savings pot aside from the little ones and that's for a house deposit or something to fall back on if I'm renting."
Money Emma sets out in her plan each month:
Rent - £400 a month
Bills - £150 (inc subscriptions)
Food shop - £120 a month
Going out - £30-50 a month
spending (misc) - £30
Self-care £50-£80
Category
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FunTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:21 These are all of the budget-friendly uni essentials I got from B&M, starting off
00:26 with this 14-piece dinner set for just £10, which I think is such a bargain. I also got an oven tray,
00:32 a pizza tray and a roasting tray. This three-piece sink caddy was just £2, except I've swapped out
00:37 the dish brush so it can hold my dish matty. I also got this set of five utensils for £2.50
00:43 and some other kitchen essentials like scissors for £1.50 and a jug for 99p. I love a microwaveable
00:49 bowl like this, they are so handy for heating things up. Food storage boxes are also super
00:54 handy for meal prep and I got this glass jar which is also stackable, so it's good for maximising your
01:00 storage in the kitchen. Then I got this pop-up laundry hand towel which was £7 and it's really
01:06 easy to collapse it, so it's not taking up too much space. The material is also really good quality.
01:11 For the living room, I got this extra large throw for £15 and it's the softest thing ever. It is
01:17 also massive, this is just half the size of it. Then I got this little swing bin which is meant
01:22 for your desk but I think I'm going to put it in the bathroom. Photo frames are also really cute
01:26 decor for a uni room and this is a pack of three and command strips are really renter friendly if
01:31 you want to put any frames up. I also got these command hooks to hang up on the back of the door.
01:36 Then this rope basket was £5 and I put a little throw in here which looks so cute and hides my
01:41 extension lead. I feel like I never have enough hangers so I also got this pack of 10 for £3.50
01:46 and finally I got this bath mat for £5 which is such good quality. This is everything that I picked
01:52 up in my Aldi food shop as a uni student. Starting off with fruit and veg, I got some of these wonky
01:58 onions. I always get the wonky ones because they're way cheaper. I also got a single potato because I
02:04 know that's all I'll be using and that'll make about two portions of mash and I also got some
02:09 tomatoes and cucumber for salad bits. This is all the fridge bits I got. I only got one pack of ham
02:14 for me because I didn't need anything else but I did also pick up a block of cheese and some halloumi.
02:20 The majority of this shop is literally stocking up my cupboard so I got a couple of snacks and then
02:25 some sauces and spices. These are my go-to spices that I use in majority of my meals, especially
02:30 with chicken. Then I picked up some other things for the cupboard. I love this peri peri rice,
02:35 it's literally so good. I also always buy Aldi's cheapest coffee and I don't taste the difference.
02:41 So altogether this came to just under £21 and I probably don't have a meal here but
02:47 it was mainly just a cupboard restock.
02:49 [BLANK_AUDIO]