Talking Cash: Budgeting for the school year

School is hard. Between class, homework, exams, essays, waiting in line at the bookstore, waiting in line at the registrar's office, waiting in line in the hallway, waiting in line for the bus and so on, there isn't much time for other things. Even basic things. Like sleeping. Or perhaps maintaining a social life. Perhaps a rather active social life (yes, I might very well be talking about you).

School is also expensive. Way too expensive. Money tends to be at the back of our minds, however, during much of the school year. At least it is for me. Yeah, we notice the massive textbook bill at the bookstore, expensive lunches on campus, that sort of stuff. But it is so easy to lose track of how quickly our cash is vanishing. Personal finance might be the last thing on a student's mind (unless, well, you're a student of personal finance, like me).

The problem is, budgeting is important. Really important. Like, "if you don't do it, you could go broke without realizing it" kind of important. Because if you're a student who isn't working, you're on a fixed income and there's only so much money to last until the end of the year. If you're working parttime, you're still bringing in only a small amount to cover your expenses. If you're working fulltime while in school full-time, well, I guess you're a better student than I because I have no idea how you're finding the time for that. If you're able to go to class full-time and work full-time and be successful at both, maybe you should be the one writing a personal finance column and not me.

The lucky thing about budgeting is that it's easy once you understand it. A budget is simply a forecast of money coming in and money going out over a period of time. It lets you figure out how much you're spending. If you don't have enough money, then you have to adjust your budget to spend less on certain items in order to have enough to cover everything. So easy.

Easy on paper, anyway. Sticking to it is the tough part. That's where most epic failures of budgeting occur (in my case, at least). Sticking with your budget takes self-discipline. Fortunately, I recently stumbled across a site called Mint.com. Mint.com states that it "brings all your financial accounts together online or on your mobile device, automatically categorizes your transactions, lets you set budgets and helps you achieve your savings goals." You can't make transactions or pay bills on Mint.com, but you can track your spending and make a budget. It's also free. It does about 90 per cent of the budgeting work for you. The only thing it doesn't automate is the self-discipline needed to stick with the budget. It would also be pretty slick if it did that, because if my self-discipline were automated, I'd be a much better person in so many ways. Unfortunately, the discipline stuff you have to do on your own, but Mint.com helps with the budgeting stuff, and I suggest you peruse it next time you're waiting in line.

Jeremy Wall is studying Professional Financial Services at Fanshawe College. He holds an Honour's Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario.