Make a Savings Account!

Getting paid is by far the best thing about having a job, but once that money goes into your bank account it can be far too easy to just go crazy and spend all that money. However you may not be thankful for this decision later on in life.

So for today’s tip of the day I would advise you to create a savings account for when you get a job.

Personally I have a spreadsheet which contains all the payments going out of my account such as bills and rent, and then I work out how much I have left over and move some of that into a savings account.I do this when I first get paid and then I do it again just before my next pay check.

However if you are moving money into a savings account just after you get paid, make sure you don’t move too much money. And make sure that you can live comfortably for the next month.

I would recommend you doing this, especially if you are saving up for something such as a holiday somewhere. Just be careful not to go overboard and move too much money!

Having a savings account and especially if you are saving up for something in particular can also help keep you motivated if you’re having a stressful time at work.

So create a savings account, and put some money in every now and again, after all every little helps!

And that’s all for me for now, until the next time! Kathryn.

Treat Yourself! (just don’t go too crazy)

Hey everyone, payday is on the horizon which brings me to my tip of the day treat yourself (just don’t go to crazy).

When you start a new job there is no greater feeling than that feeling you get when you get paid. Mainly because a) you’ve got money! And b) you survived a month (or however long you’ve been working there for).

Payday and the fact that you have money provides you the perfect opportunity to treat yourself. And I’m not just talking about grabbing a quick coffee, treat yourself: get the book or game you’ve been after. After all you work hard so you deserve to treat yourself.

However, although it’s a good idea to treat yourself it’s also your responsibility to make sure you don’t go too far when you’re spending money. Don’t buy the most expensive computer or games console when you get your first pay check.  

Only spend the money you have, and don’t risk buying something if you know you might run into financial difficulties later on in the month.

So on that note, my advice to you would be to treat yourself: after all you’ve worked hard to earn that money but don’t go to crazy. Work out how much you’re spending on bills and rent and make sure you have enough if you’re making any big purchases.
Until next time, Kathryn

Use Pinterest for Recipes!

So you’ve moved house, or you’ve gone to university and you’ve got a few simple recipes lined up. But what next? You can’t live off those three recipes for an entire year, you need to find some way of finding new recipes and I would recommend using Pinterest to find new recipes.

Yes, you could go out and buy a cook book, but a) that costs money and b) chances are you’ll only use one or two recipes from the book. So to save money (and shelf space) I would recommend using Pinterest.

Pinterest is a form of social media that allows you to share and discover new interests by pinning them to your boards (or wall).

Using Pinterest you can create a board like I have containing a bunch of simple recipes that you can try out at any point. This can be useful to keep them all in once place. (You’ll also save time by not going throw several recipe books trying to find that one specific recipe). For those interested here’s the link to my Pinterest page (just click here).

Pinterest also has a search facility so that you can search for things like simple recipes. Once you’ve found a pin you can click on it and you’ll be directed to the recipe. You can then decide whether or not you want to pin it to your board.

Additionally, if you find a recipe on an external website (e.g BBC Good Food) then often there will be a Pinterest button where you can pin it to your board.

So when you’ve gone off to university and you’re cooking for yourself I would recommend using Pinterest to find new recipes and to keep all your existing recipes all in one place. And you’ll also save money by not buying new recipe books!

And that’s all from me for now, until next time! Kathryn.

Budgeting Your Student Loan

So, now you have money coming through on a regular basis, it might be one of those things where you immediately want to go and spend the money ASAP. However! It might be wise to budget your year first. Just in case.

Budgeting can be daunting at first, but once it’s done, it’s just a case of habitually updating the spreadsheet! You can then work out how much you can limit your personal spending by each month, vs how much you have to spend on rent, electricity, food, water etc.

You can go and pick up a random spreadsheet online that has already been filled out for you and all the functions have been set up for you. Or you can go and create your own. Plenty of places on the Internet have these available for you, even Microsoft and Libre/Open Office will have their templates all set up for you to download.

Or you can follow a guide if you’ve never made spreadsheets before and follow along, once you feel comfortable knowing all the different functions and how they work, then you can start working on them yourself. Adding your own data and functioning it so that it works out your spending habits.

These will also come in handy when you are working out finances when you’re outside of University as well. When money isn’t coming in regularly and you need that little extra assistance making sure that you aren’t going to spend anything that you can’t spend on needless things.

Once you’ve done this, you’re also able to plan extras that you might want to go on, say holidays and buying videogames or alcohol. This is useful for those moments where you really want to stop yourself spending but can’t without having a visual aid tell you ‘No’.
Goodbye for now!
Conor ^-^

Set Calendar Reminders for Bills!

Hi everyone, Kathryn here and for today’s tip of the day I would like to expand on Samara’s post about being organised. Being organised is particularly important especially when you start living on your own. 

When you start living on your own you will have a lot more responsibility and I would advise you to keep a track of all your bills and make a note or calendar reminder of when they are going out and how much is going out.

If you’re like me and you’re not very organised then you’ll inevitably start worrying at one point because some money has gone out and you don’t know why.But if you have a list of things that are going out monthly on your phone and dates of when they are going out it’ll be much easier to manage your money better.

Even if you aren’t living on your own it can be useful to keep track of monthly payments. E.g Spotify, phone bills and Netflix. And this will help you be more organised in the future.

So I would advise you to create a note on your phone and set calendar reminders to remind you that money is going out. And this will help avoid any nasty shocks if you’ve forgotten to keep money back for your water bill!