It’s not cheap being a student at times, especially when it comes to living in your student home, which is why we have put some tips together to help you understand your student bills a little better and how you can save money along the way!
Through our years of experience of helping students split their bills, source cheaper utility suppliers and delivering great student broadband deals, we understand exactly how to make students life easier.
The prospect of leaving university or college with a large amount of debt is a reality for many students today which why it’s good to get all the help and advice you can.
Understanding utility bills
Let’s be honest, understanding utility bills UK can be a pretty confusing process, even more so if you’ve never had to deal with these companies before.
Essentially, utility bills are the things like electricity, gas and water that are provided for your home. Until now, you’ve probably not had to bother with them as they’ve always been taken care of by your parents.
If you’re moving into a student property, then it is possible to share the task of arranging a utility and deciding whose name will go on the bill to make life easier.
However, there will need to be a system in place so that whoever is paying the utility bill gets the money back from their fellow housemates.
The easiest way to arrange and then pay for utility bills is to speak with the team here at Glide who can arrange a split equal monthly payment for you and your housemates. This will also take away the stress and headache of having to ring around multiple suppliers.
Find the best student broadband deals
Much like deciding on the best option for utilities for your student property, finding the best student broadband deals is a massive part of a students responsibility when moving into their student home.
You will probably find after a quick Internet search that there are lots of what appear to be quality offers for student broadband.
However, there needs to be some careful thought before agreeing to a new broadband deal and you and your housemates will need to decide how much of a data allowance you’ll need (though most homes will need to have an uncapped allowance) and what speeds will be needed too.
It’s also important to understand that arranging broadband doesn’t happen overnight so you will need to gear up to ensure that your student house has broadband ready to be installed on the day, or close to the day that you move in. No one wants to be deprived of insta.
The best student bank accounts
Everyone loves a freebie, and students are offered lots of tempting incentives to move their student bank account to a new provider all the time.
Most banks will tempt you with a 0% overdraft as well as free goodies in the hope that you go with them.
Just about every student at university will be needing an overdraft facility so it’s good to find a bank account that will not charge you for this.
Also, opt for an overdraft with the biggest amount and which will last the longest; some banks will offer up to £3,000 though a lot depends on your circumstances.
Crucial tip: when you have a student overdraft in place, do not go over it. This is because the charges will be high and even a small amount over the limit will be a costly mistake.
What every student needs to know
Now this subject could make for a very long article in itself, but we will distil some useful information into bite-size chunks.
Moving into a new student house is an exciting time, particularly if this is the first time you’ve done it.
However, running a student house can be expensive so do not be tempted into turning up the central heating when you could just wear another layer of clothes.
Also, ensure that you pay your utility bills on time or run the risk of damaging your credit rating. This might sound boring and irrelevant but in years to come you may need a good credit rating to get a mortgage or a bank loan, for instance.
Spending your student loan
The time you spend at university will be some of the most enjoyable days of your life, so make sure you enjoy your time but try and not be tempted into spending your student loan as soon as it lands and try to stick to a budget while living away from home; the skills you pick up during this period could last for the rest of your life and ensure you manage financially.
There will also be various tips and advice you’ll pick up as you go along, you may find that paying your utility bills by direct debit every month will bring helpful savings and using energy efficient equipment in your home will also help the environment.
Student broadband deal
Another issue, which hopefully you dealt with when deciding on the student broadband deal you needed, is not having a good enough broadband connection. Someone in your student house may be hogging bandwidth.
This will, inevitably, lead to arguments and friction so it will be worthwhile having an uncapped fast connection and it may also help having a process in place to deal with disagreements. Ignoring an issue will create larger problems further down the line.
However, the best tip of all is to speak with students who have lived in private accommodation to see how they cope with a limited budget while trying to enjoy their university days.
It will also help to speak with the friendly team at Glide who can provide access to cheap student broadband deals and utility bills. They can collect the payment for these every month which will help with budgeting and prevent student housemates from falling out because someone cannot cough up what they owe.
This money saving tips video from UCL Students offers some cracking advice.