Hello everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful week and had some chance to enjoy the warm weather outside. Having had the opportunity to spend my summer in the UK this year, it is dawned on me that summer is the best time to enjoy the scenery and get the most out of the UK. Unlike Taiwan, where the rainy season fell into summertime, and the weather tends to be humid and hot. The summer in the UK is dry and warm, with the breeze it is the perfect temperature to be out and not get sweaty. Whereas, sometimes during July and August it can get very hot, but during the nighttime, the weather cools down and can get a bit chilly. During this period, there will be more occasions to go out, so I think it will be interesting to share how I budget my money during the summertime and discount tips.

Living cost Budget

For me, the best way to budget is to separate necessity costs, including groceries, laundry, medical anything necessary to maintain the quality of living. From that, you can add to the variable cost that you consider reasonable. With that, you will be able to work out roughly your monthly spending and be able to control and gauge the expense. Personally, I alternate between two banks, the online bank and conventional bank. These allows me to separate the expense and saving, which helps me to control and be more conscious about spedning. The online bank allows me to easily transfer money, split the expense and keep track of the types of expense; whereas, the traditional bank is the one that I use to save my money and tuition fees, as it provides better security and structure.

A rough estimation of my monthly living expense would fall around £450- 550, excluding the rent. I think part of the growth journey in University involves managing your money wisely. To achieve that, the first step is via identifying the wants and needs and budgeting the expense thus learning how to manage money wisely.

Discount tips

Another great way for me to save the money is via student discount. Unlike Taiwan, in the UK there are plenty of affiliated shops that offers 10 % off discount for students. This involves wide range of shops from restaurants, cosmetic shops, clothings and electronic devices. And from time to time, there will be promotion around summertime, Christmas, black Friday and cyber Monday…etc. These shops gave generous amount of discounts around the holidays seasons which is another good timing to clear your wishlist.

Generally speaking, the living cost in the UK did go up after the Covid-19, yet with those tips provided I was able to mange my expense around the same amount since second year. I hope the information i shared today will help you or any other international students to get to know more about the UK and be able to enjoy the life and have fun while staying with in the budget. Until the next blog, I wish everyone a lovely summer holiday!