By David Bentley
Copyright birminghammail
Thousands of students around the country are starting university for the first time and facing the challenge of managing their money in the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. A recent survey revealed that 79 per cent of 18-to-21-year-olds have never created a budget, and 35 per cent of young people experience daily financial stress. To help first-years with saving money, fashion and lifestyle influencer Kunmi Balogun has shared his top five TikTok hacks to help students stretch their pounds further this autumn. READ MORE: Keep your student card wherever you go. While many shops plaster student discounts across their windows, others are more discreet, so you might not know unless you ask when you get there. Beyond interest-free overdrafts, major banks are offering perks like £85 cash, a free railcard, discounts at restaurants and subscriptions to apps or services. Find out more about students accounts including a Santander offer that comes with a free four-year 16-25 Railcard worth £115, plus access to cashback from Greggs, Tesco , Cafe Nero and other retailers. It’s easy to spend a bit too generously when your student loan first hits your account. Setting a weekly budget and splitting it into categories means you know exactly what you can spend without putting yourself in a difficult position later in the term. This method can also help you set aside a percentage of your savings for an emergency fund – even £5 a week amounts to £240 over a year. Try this checklist to help manage your money: Category – Percentage of outgoings – Items Buy in bulk to get the savings, cook in large quantities, then pre-portion meals for the week to freeze and use for lunches and dinners. Easy, affordable recipes for students include pasta dishes or chilli. “Uni is a pivotal time socially. Students want to look good and feel good, so they’re looking for ways to do that on a limited budget,” Kunmi says. Kunmi, who’s an MandM ambassador, says that off-price retailers like MandM make it possible to get fresh drops from big brands like Adidas, Nike, Calvin Klein and more – for up to 65 per cent less. Off-price retailers buy large volumes of brand-name and designer goods – usually surplus stock and out-of-season items – directly from manufacturers so they can offer them at big discounts. Get breaking news on BirminghamLive WhatsApp . Join our dedicated community for the latest updates sent straight to your phone as they happen. You can find out more about cost-of-living issues in our Money Saving Newsletter, which is sent out daily via email with all the updates you need to know on pensions , PIP , Universal Credit , benefits, finances, bills, and shopping discounts. Get the top stories in your inbox to browse through at a time that suits you.
