Tired of Being a Skint Student?

In one of my previous posts (which can be accessed here) we talked about the importance of creating a budgeting plan to aid in some sensible financial planning so you don’t spend all of your student loan in a crazy few weeks (which is easily done).

There are free budgeting software out there on the market to help you actually set-up and track your budget, also they allow you to make some changes and carry out some analysis on your spending habbits.  Downloading and installing a free budgeting software is a great idea to simplify the budget creation process, so below I have highlighted some of the most popular free budgeting software out there on the world wide web at the moment.

ClearCheckBook - A great tool which offers many fantastic features such as comparing your actual spends to your budget, it’s all done and stored online so it’s accessible anywhere, even via your mobile phone.  I would say it’s one of the best free free budgeting software out there at the moment so please do check it out.

Free Budget Planner - If you have excel or open office, Martin Lewis at the fantastic MoneySavingExpert.com is offering free templates for a budgeting plan, simply download and open with your favorite spreadsheet software, it’s pretty comprehensive and include most important aspects, you can always add anything which isn’t there, there is also an online version available if you don’t have spreadsheet software.

DIY Spreadsheet - If you can create simple spreadsheets, then you should consider creating your own budget on Excel or OpenOffice.  You can tailor the whole thing to suit your needs and include what you want.  Sit down at the end of every day or week and input all of the data so you keep ontop of everything.

Those are my favorite methods for keeping a budget electronically, there is always the chart on a piece of paper method but it’s not so easy to keep up-to-date.  We would love to hear from you if you have anything to add here.

Here at the Student Finance Blog would love to recieve some feedback from you, if you have some pressing financial issues or have any questions regarding financial worries whilst at University or College, please fill out the form below and we will attempt to help everyone out with some sound advice, you could even trigger or contribute towards a post here on the blog.  You can mention any number of worries you may have or any questions.

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If you’ve only just joined this discussion, please read this post first. For the rest of you, here are some useful links to help you get started as a freelance writer on a part-time basis whilst at University or college.

Firstly, I would like to offer some basic advice before you get head to toe in this.

• Decide on how many hours per week you can afford to dedicate to this, remember to put your University work first.

• Don’t take on too many projects. This can result in missing deadlines and your University work may suffer.

• Set your rates as realistic as possible, different online markets have different prices, set your rates accordingly and know what you are worth.

• Don’t take on anything you really don’t think you can do.

• Write out a pitch to win over those clients.

So let’s get started with the links you’ll need.

Learning about freelance writing

• Freelance Switch – A great blog with some fantastic advice for freelancers.

• writing.org – Very good advice for writers.

• Freelance Writing Tips – Exactly as the title says.

Software

• Microsoft Word – Very popular but expensive, the most widely used and can be bought as a package in Microsoft Office

• OpenOffice – In my opinion, the best free alternative to Microsoft Office.

• Abiword – A great word processor, best of all it’s free.

• Google Documents – A great office suite which is all hosted and saved online, no need for bulky software and it’s 100% free. All you need is a free Google Account

Finding Clients

• Elance – A very nice bidding site, head over to the writing section and find some projects you may be interested in. Easily bid on the projects along with an informative and appealing pitch. All the transactions are handled through the on-site escrow service.

• ScriptLance – Similar to Elance but it’s hard to find well paid gigs here. Make sure the project owner has uploaded the funds into the on-site escrow system before handing over the goods, many people get scammed by trusting members too much.

• People Per Hour – My personal favorite, you really can find some high paying clients here and targeted more towards UK writers, make sure you read the fees involved in winning a project here.

• Digital Point Forums – A huge forum, allows you to offer your services and promote your sills in the Content Creation category. You can also create content beforehand then sell it in the Content category. The only criticism is that there is already huge competition on Digital Point, as a result you have people offering to do the projects at ridiculously low prices.

• CraigsList – An online classified ads site, take a look in the writing section under jobs and the writing gigs section. A huge number of scams happen every day on CraigsList to vet your client thoroughly and ask for details such as address and phone number, I would even ask for payment up-front.

• Get a Freelancer – Very similar to scriptlance, although the jobs are even lower paid here.

• Your own website – Creating your own website creates an online presence where the clients can come to you. On your website you may promote your services, display rates and provide samples of your work. It really does make you seem much more professional.

• Rent-a-coder – Very similar to GAF. Not as many writing jobs here though.

Getting Paid

• PayPal – My personal choice and the most universally used. Low fees involved but very safe.

• MoneyBookers – Very popular and low usage fees

• Cheque

• Bank Transfer

• Google Checkout – Google’s answer to PayPal

Other Resources

• Google Calendar – Manage your time

• Thunderbird – Great email client, free.

• Gmail – Sign up to a free Googlemail account, I personally use Gmail, it’s a very robust email package.

• Kontact – An all-in-one free organizer, address book, diary, email client, calendar and much more.

• Invoice Templates – A great template for Excel so you can provide a professional bill for your clients.

I hope you have found these links very helpful, please let me know what you think and if there are any links you would like to pass on.

Around a week ago we discussed the possibility of utilizing your deign skills to earn some extra cash on the side to help pay for the bills at University or college. Well today we will be talking about how to earn some extra money online as a freelance writer.

If you’re a good University student and are a generally bright person in general, the chances are you will already possess a high level of written English. It’s easy to get started and all you need is the necessary qualities and any word processing software such as OpenOffice, Abiword or Microsoft Word.

What Skills do I Need?
To successfully become a part-time freelance writer on the internet you will need to possess some skills to make you an appealing person to hire and of course completing projects accordingly to a high level of satisfaction for the client.

• Good level of written English

• Good research skills, you will often find yourself writing about topics you have no experience of, so before starting you will need to be fully clued up in order to write about it effectively.

• The ability to sell yourself and win clients.

• Self-motivation abilities, you may not feel like doing some more writing work, but completing on time is essential for repeat custom, client satisfaction and more importantly getting paid.

• Time-management skills. Clients will usually set a deadline or a time frame to when they want the project completed. It’s important to stick to these deadlines for obvious reasons.

• SEO and experience of creating content for on-line use. Some clients will require content to be written specifically for search engines and for the promotion of their site or services, so an experience or knowledge of SEO would be advantageous. If you don’t, simply do some research and type in SEO on Google.

What do Freelance Writers do?
Freelance writers are required on the Internet for many reasons. Content is mostly king for a huge number of websites (including this one), so web masters are continuously looking for talented writers to provide quality content for their website if they don’t have the necessary skills, desire or time to do it themselves. Here are some services you could offer as a freelance writer:-

• Articles for Websites

• Forum posting, a forum owner needs posts to promote their forum

• SEO content. Content written especially to promote their website to the search engines in order to attract more customers.

• Content Re-Writing. A person may have a bunch of articles, but would like the to be re-written so that it doesn’t fall into content duplication. They can then pass the content off as their own or submit to article directories.

• Review writing. Many sites deal with reviewing products and/or services. This aspect is interesting because you are giving your opinion on physical or digital goods.

• Press release writing. Web masters will submit press releases in order to promote their site or services to the masses, highlighting their offers and qualities.

• Newsletter writing.

What are the Steps Involved?

1. Searching for Clients.

2. Winning clients.

3. Agreeing on a deadline, price and other details.

4. Completing the project.

5. Sending the project to the client via email.

6. Await client feedback.

7. Getting paid.

8. Discuss future work.

9. Repeat from point 1.

I’ve given a simple overview and guide there, next I will be posting some very useful links to get you going on the road to become a part-time freelance writer and make you some extra cash to make your stay at University much more pleasurable. Stay tuned.

It’s generally a given that most people who go away to University for the first time will put on a few pounds (or stones) in the first couple of months or year.  Hopefully after the first year you’ll be more settled and start to take note of your health and physical fitness.

Here I’ve compiled the top 6 reasons a student will gain weight whilst at University or college.

• Takeaways - Students often substitute normal meals with takeaways three or four times a week which does them no favours in the health or financial department
• Drinking too much - Freshers week is a 7 day constant bender and the first year does seem to be one long party.  The average pint of beer has around 180 calories and a glass of white wine has approximately 120 calories.
• No Exercise - How many of you have joined a gym (and actually go) or participate in regular physical fitness activities?
• Strange Sleeping Patterns - With all that drinking and staying up late, you probably have an odd sleeping patter which consists of being awake until the early hours.  It’s a proven fact that a lack of sleep boosts your appetite.
• Eating after a night out - Even though you’ve had your tea (and even pudding), most still grab a takeaway or even cook yourself (dangerous, naughty naughty) after a heavy night out of boozing, the problem is that it tastes so good.
• Constantly Eating Crap - Students are usually a bit strapped for cash, so cheap pot noodles and microwavable meals are on the menu most nights which are not very healthy at all.

So there you have it, my top 6 ways a student will gain weight at University, I would love to know if you would like to add anything else to this list or if you disagree with something there.

Living away for the first time often means you will be on the phone frequently to friends, family and loved ones, even if you’re on a contract mobile phone deal, you can still run-up a hefty bill without realizing.  In addition, most students don’t have access to a land-line, so using your mobile phone is the only option, or is it?

It’s not a new technology, neither is it a revolutionary idea, but VOIP is becoming much more popular and therefore much more accessible.  VOIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol, it’s simply a voice conversation conducted through your broadband Internet connection.

One of the most popular and recommended VOIP providers out there are Skype, all you have to do is download the software, plug in your mic and away you go.  The best thing is that calls from one Skype user to another is absolutely free anywhere in the world and for as long as you want.

What do I Need?

• An Internet connection, broadband really is highly recommended if you want to conduct high quality VOIP conversations.
• An Internet/VOIP telephone, these are widely available and cheap, especially on eBay where you can pick up an earpiece with mic for a couple of pounds, you can even get handsets for under 10 pounds.  If you have an old computer microphone lying about, this would also work.
• Skype software which can be downloaded here.  It’s all really easy to use and install.

Once you have everything set-up, you can get going with making your free phone calls, just make sure the person you want to call also has a skype account on their computer.  Even if you want to call a mobile phone or a landline, Skype’s rates are much cheaper than BT for example, so you’re in a win-win situation, you can do this by topping up your Skype credit and opt for SkypeOut.

Skype isn’t the only option out there for VOIP.  MSN, Google, SightSpeed, iChat and VOIP Buster are all fantastic alternatives.

Please leave a comment if you would like to add anything to this post or email Goldie if you need any help with VOIP.

Catch Up: Accommodation for Students - Part 1- The Search
Accommodation for students - Part 2 - Student Halls

After experiencing the comfort of your 1^st year at student halls, the time will come for you to get out there into the big bad world and find yourself a student house. Welcome to the third part of the Accommodation for Students series and you probably have already guessed that we will be focusing on student houses. If you would like to catch-up on previous posts in this series, check out the top of this edition.

After completing you first year, you will probably have to find your very own accommodation, the two most popular options are privately owned student halls and private student housing, as we have already talked about privately owned student halls, this post will be dedicated to student housing.

How do I find a Student House?
We explored the methods used to find student housing in the first part of this accommodation for students series and the post can be found here, but to recap you may use University provided housing and accommodation services, local agencies who specialize in student housing, newspapers and the Internet. Get in touch if you need any more of my help on this issue.

You will usually move into a student house will people you already know, either for years or from University and the 1^st year. Therefore you will likely to be already well acquainted and communication should not be a problem.

Student homes are vastly improving in quality, more and more landlords and agencies are realizing that there is a lot of money to be made with well furnished student homes, no longer are student satisfied with living in a smelly pit (well, most anyway). There are some bargains to be had also, it’s all a case of looking through your options and thoroughly researching the market as a group to come up with a short-list. Remember that things are much more likely to move smoothly if everyone involved has an input. Student housing can be found from one bedroom bed-sits to monstrous 11 bedroom multiple occupancy homes with 3 bathrooms and two kitchens.

Bills, Bills, Bills
One of the first things you should ask is whether the bills are included to the rent or if it’s your responsibility. Make sure to enquire about water, electricity, gas, telephone and sometimes satellite television. You really don’t want any hidden expenses and have any nasty surprises.

Council Tax
As a student, you are not liable to pay and council tax, the landlord will need to obtain proof from your university that you are a student to register it as a student house and therefore make it exempt from council tax.

Payment
Payment installments should be sorted out with your landlord before signing any sort of contracts, some will prefer monthly and some will prefer quarterly, so remember to ask these small but important questions. These payments can be made by cheque, cash, direct debit or bank transfer, depending on the landlord’s preferences.

Security
Student homes are heavily targeted by thieves due to the high likelihood of a student home containing multiple TV’s, multiple DVD players, multiple laptops and computers. Therefore it’s so important to check the lock on the doors and remember to actually lock them! Content insurance is also very important, a post regarding this issue can be found in the October archive.

If you need help with any aspect of student housing, most questions can be answered by your landlord or alternatively your University. The next chapter of this Accommodation for Students series will focus on choosing the perfect student property. As usual, your comments and suggestions are welcome via the box below or email.

I know it’s very tempting to just run out and grab that take away pizza, Chinese or kebab from across the road because you either can’t be bothered to rustle something up or you have no ingredients in the cupboard. But I’m speaking from experience here when I say that you will put on a lot of weight and you will find yourself skint. You’ll probably be shocked if you added up how much you spend on takeaways every month, it’s so much cheaper and healthier to cook your favorite meals, especially if you follow some of the tips I will outline in this post.

Group Shopping
It’s a very good and sensible decision to create a house or flat shopping kitty, for example five of you place £10 into the kitty and one person every week will be charged with the responsibility of shopping for the ingredients. You as a group can come up with a shopping list including all the essentials and some extra requests or luxuries which have been approved by the whole group. Arranging a weekly group shopping budget and list can lead to and encourage the next point of group cooking.

Group Cooking
If you have a person in the house who loves cooking or if everyone would like to take turns, it’s a much better idea to cook for the whole group, it’s a real pain when you have 5 or more people in the same cramped kitchen trying to cook five different meals. So decide a group what you would like and do it! This works much better if you have a group shopping list and budget. This also discourages anyone from being tempted by ordering a takeaway. Granted it can be pretty hard to decide on something that everyone likes, especially if there are five or more of you in the house. Next we’re going to talk about how you can do all the above much cheaper.

Change your Supermarket
These days it seems that food prices keep going up as with everything else, these costs have to be passed on to the consumer. But some supermarkets are much cheaper than others, for example shopping and Marks & Spencer’s as a student is financial suicide, but I don’t think many actually do their weekly shop there, if you do I would love to hear from you and what your weekly bill is. Supermarket’s such as Asda and Tesco are very cheap and offer some great discounts, but they can be expensive for some products. If you would like even cheaper, why not shop at Lidl or Aldi, they offer quality products for a very cheap price, despite a negative stigma which is richly undeserved. I promise you won’t be disappointed by the food on offer at these discount supermarket who have reported an increase in sales and popularity during this worrying economic period.

Change your Brands
Are you one of those people who must have everything made by those famous and favourite brands? If so, it really is time to change and open your horizons, you will often find that a supermarket’s own brand these days are of the same quality as some of the popular branded products but at the fraction of the price. Even by dropping the brands on some everyday products such as bread, butter, baked beans, orange juice and sausages etc. can drastically drop your food bill every month.

Following these simple steps and changes can not only improve the atmosphere in your house, but will improve your health, diet and wallet, so give these steps a try and let me know if you find them helpful, or if you already do these things, why not share your thoughts in the comments box below.

Catch Up:

Accommodation for Students - Part 1 - The Search

There are two types of student halls, University owned student halls and privately owned student halls. I would hazard a guess that around 80% of you students reading this post will have stayed at student halls in your first year. We will explore both student halls type in this second part to the Accommodation for Students series, you can catch up with the first part at the top of this post.

University Owned Student Halls
Nearly every university in the UK offers student halls as a means of accommodation for first year University students, some even offer rooms to second year students, it all depends on demand. The chances are though that you will be asked to find your own accommodation for your second year. Most Universities will automatically allocate you a room in their student halls upon successful entry onto a course, but it’s important to make sure of this a couple of months before attending University. So let’s talk more about student halls, basically you will be thrown into a building with thousands of strangers, luckily there is always the freshers week to make as much friends as possible with your newly acquired neighbors. Some Universities have come into criticism lately for the standard of their student halls and have had to make major improvements. A student halls room will usually consist of a room, a desk, some shelves and a sink with a shared toiled and shower room along the corridor. You will find yourself living in very close proximity to other people, so it’s important to be as friendly as possible, maybe leave your door open on the first day or say hello to a couple of your closest neighbors. Catering is usually provided in a large canteen in a University owned student hall and should come included in the price of your rent.

Privately Owned Student Halls

You may have seen some of these around the large university city’s by specialist companies such as Unite and Liberty Living. I’m a big fan of privately owned student halls, it’s possible to find some very nice flats for a reasonable price. You can live in a privately owned student hall in any year and can choose to live in a flat as a group of friends or ask them to lump you in with strangers. Bills are usually included in the price but it’s important to check these facts with the company or landlord. Because every-one’s a student, it’s easy to make new friends and a lively community is built in safe surroundings with high security features. Some rooms even come with en-suite and a double bed, the strange this is that they can be cheaper than University owned student halls, despite being much nicer.

Keeping yourself Safe
Moving away from home and the prospect of living with strangers is a scary thought, it’s very important to be a little bit cautious and don’t trust people too much to begin with. Lock your door when you are not in and keep valuables away from windows and visible areas from outside the room. Also, don’t leave anything of high value in communal areas, otherwise someone can walk along and swipe your new Ipod or mobile phone. These tips can be relaxed if you live with friends you know well etc. Student halls usually have great security features such as a patrol officer, electric gates and around 3 sets of locks in between the outside and your room. If you are worried about something or someone, don’t hesitate to tell the on-site security staff or employee.

I hope this post has helped some of you out there who had any queries regarding student halls, if you have any further questions or suggestions, please leave a comment below or fire Goldie an email.

The next instalment in the Accommodation for Students series will be focusing on student homes. Again, please get in touch if you would like to contribute to the post.

This post has been written thanks to an email I received from a reader regarding the Kit out your pc or laptop for free post. The reader asked if I had any good sources for free antivirus and spyware software, which is something I should have and had intended to include in the original post.  Anyway this post is dedicated to highlighting the importance of possessing a good antivirus and some free alternatives.

Why?
With so many viruses, trojans, adwares and spyware’s out there, it would be very stupid indeed to surf the Internet without any protection.  These viruses can vary in severity, some are just plain annoying and do silly things, but some can allow hackers to gain access to some personal information you may have stored on your computer.  Whether it’s commercial or free software, everyone needs it to stay safe and keep your PC or laptop healthy.

Commercial Antivirus Software
There are some very well-known and very good commercial software out there on the Internet and in your local retailers, but what puts a lot of people off is the price-tag, which leads them to take their chances, which is really not recommended.  Below is a list highlighting some of the best commercial software and the average price.

• Norton Antivirus 2009 - £29.99
• Mcafee Internet Security 2009 - £29.99
• Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009 - £19.99

Remember that these are some basic examples and are some of the lower-end products which just provide protection against viruses, you may need additional software or a different package entirely for a more comprehensive protection solution

Free Antivirus and Spyware
Everybody should know that there is no need to spend all that money on commercial software for PC protection.  There are plenty of free alternatives out there which do a similar (if not better) job than the glossy ones you see on the shelf.  Links and details are provided below for your  money-saving pleasure.

Antivirus

• AVG
• Avira AntiVir
• Avast

Free Firewall Software

• Zone Alarm

Free Adware and Spyware Software

• Spybot Search & Destroy
• Ad-Ware free edition 2008

Please don’t hesitate as usual to get in touch if you have any suggestions here, comments and emails welcomed.  Tomorrow I will be attempting to add another chapter to the Accommodation for Students series.  Hope you enjoyed this guide on free antivirus and spyware.