Determining a budget boils down to two things: expenses and income. But actually sticking to a budget is where it gets complicated.

As a first-year student, you’re given a new level of freedom. Without your parents looking over your shoulder, it’s easy to overspend without realizing. Try following this process to make a budget before it’s too late.

First and foremost, determine your income. Balancing classwork and a job is difficult, but it’s the best way to create some wiggle room in a budget – or if you’re lucky, your parents were generous enough to leave you with a small weekly allowance.

“When you can budget properly, that little bit can actually go a long way,” said Rebecca Rose, assistant director of financial literacy and education programs at Syracuse University.

For the following example, assume you are receiving a weekly income from a job, parents and a miscellaneous source.

With a busy schedule, you might only work a few hours per week. If you work four days a week for three hours at a time earning the New York state minimum wage of $7.25, you’ll earn $87 per week.

On top of that, your parents are allowing you $25 a week and you’re making $10 per week from miscellaneous income.

Your hypothetical weekly income is now $122.

Next, determine your expenses. What will you spend money on at SU? Takeout food, laundry and entertainment are obvious answers, but don’t forget books and school supplies.

“The books are the thing that hit home for the students,” said Kaye DeVesty, former director of financial aid at SU. “We find some students crumble when they come to school here because they may not understand how much (books) are and often won’t buy them because of that.”

If you order takeout once a week from somewhere like Domino’s Pizza or Wings Over Syracuse, meals will cost up to $20 per person. Rose suggests eliminating takeout orders and eating in the dining hall with a weekly food plan instead, ultimately saving hundreds of dollars each year.

The one-time lump sum for books averages $300 for students, but if you’re unlucky, a single textbook can cost as much as $200. That’s equivalent to spending about $20 a week per semester. Laundry averages out to $1 a week, and entertainment such as going out with friends averages about $50 per week, according to the Office of Financial Aid.

This adds up to just less than $100 weekly, leaving you with about $30 to put into your savings. Not too shabby – if you keep it up.

Obviously, no one’s budget is going to be identical to another’s. But the I Otto Know This! program makes it easy to create a personal budget. On its website — via the SU financial aid homepage — there is an interactive budget spread sheet. Simply enter your income and expenses, and it does the math for you.

In addition to the spreadsheet, the financial aid office offers other tips to save money and how to handle it responsibly, like downloading a free budget application for a smartphone and putting money aside into a savings account.

“If the habit is created early, even if it’s only $5 they’ve committed to saving, those $5 add up,” Rose said. “Maybe by senior year they can pay for books out of pocket.”

Students can download apps like All Budget and Monthly Budget, which track spending habits and warn the user when the budget is running low. Other websites like Mint.com help users control spending.

But saving money on and off campus goes beyond using a balanced budget. Showing an SU ID at certain stores on Marshall Street and Destiny USA will get you a discount. The financial aid office will be releasing a list of stores that accept student discounts during the first week of classes.

When it comes to food, avoid ordering out. Instead, buy in bulk. Take advantage of your meal plan. It’s already purchased and paid for, so use it. But remember that extra meals don’t carry over to the next week, so use what you can and spend the extras at The Warehouse to stockpile on some snacks.

Avoid using credit at all costs, said Rose. Not only is it easier to track how much money is spent when using cash, but credit cards also add an amount of stress that can be hard to deal with in school.

“Using credit, students panic and wonder, ‘How am I going to come up with this money?’” Rose said. “That added stress can really hurt a student.”

Making a budget isn’t the most fun thing in the world, but it could save you from future financial stress.

Published on August 21, 2013 at 12:57 am

Contact Joe: jtinfant@syr.edu | @joeinfantino