Surprise, surprise, I come to write about something else that I've managed to colour code and create a database on Notion for! In my desperation to manage (or at least keep track of) my growing spending habit, there is an entire page in my academic planner dedicated to financial goals and budgeting. It's hard to organise so many other things on top of studies, but I suppose I bring it upon myself by indulging in so many high-maintenance hobbies.
Planning is sort of my favourite thing, if you haven't guessed already – the sheer number of notebooks stacked in size order in the second drawer down under my desk is slightly concerning. Keeping track of my finances has also meant that I caught someone ripping me off when I wouldn't usually have noticed – and I got my money back! My notion page is absolutely bursting at the database columns with the ridiculous amount of things I bought last month, sitting prettily right next to the list of goals I have to save up frankly unrealistic amounts of money. But you only want things so much because you already have them in the future, right? I'm trusting the process.
The amount of energy I put into the maths loaded onto the little page on my tablet is a penny in my bank of financial independence. Having moved out, I get little to no money from my parents, which means that I have a filing cabinet in a corner of my head dedicated to how much is coming off my bank card every time I hear that obnoxious little ding taunt, "You can't justify buying this!" This means that whilst everyone else is out almost nightly I'm saving up so I can recover from the number that was subtracted from my bank account in freshers week – I still don't quite think I'll get over that.
I’m also starting to regret having such expensive hobbies; I’m absolutely buzzing because I finally have enough money to buy a new pair of pointe shoes this weekend! It only took me 6 months to save up for a new pair. And music too – it's taken 10 years and literally thousands of pounds investment to get to the level I play at just now, yet it's still not good enough to let me continue with lessons, so I have to wait until I can hopefully get a scholarship.
Credit: Louise Millar.
In order to manage paying for everything myself, I've had a job since the first week I arrived in St Andrews. The people I've met through work are the best part of it, but when I see my friends’ looks of bafflement when I tell them I've been working for 2 months already it can set me apart.
Whilst everyone is setting off to Paris for a weekend, I'm taking on extra shifts. I work in an ice cream shop; it's not like I can complain that it's the worst environment. And it pays pretty well too. I'm just saying it can be exhausting – I'm starting to struggle to find time for myself among studying, work, and societies. But one tries to find the thing that makes the days bearable – at least I can fully channel frazzled-English-woman season every time I’m walking to work.
However, even my romcom-style job can't cover the cost of accommodation when I'm financially independent, so I'm taking out part of my student loan this year to help me actually live. It's scary knowing that I'll be going into society already in debt, but there's feasibly no other way I could manage to fund being at this university. I am of course incredibly grateful to the funding support office and the scholarship donors they parade us around in front of, but I still wish it wasn’t as much of a struggle to gain an education.
So does anyone actually know how to save money when there's so much to pay for? And don't try to tell me to stop online shopping – it's one of the few things that brings me joy just now. I've never been more grateful for my free tuition but, with treating myself to a trip with my best friend this holidays, I have no clue how I'm meant to afford Christmas presents for everybody! I've already picked up some pretty essential life skills that will last me my whole life though.
Looks like uni is much more than being a pretty face and reading in coffee shops, after all.
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