The Vault with Financielle - Tips to Handle Money at Uni (Without the Stress)

Episode Date: June 30, 2025

Send us a textA special bonus episode, brought to you with our friends at Compare The Market 💙We’re talking all things student money: relatable dilemmas, student money mistakes and wise words from the Financielle community. Whether you’re a student or someone who supports one - this episode’s for you 🎓 “Living at home during uni is the smartest financial move – not a cop out” - we unpack this week’s controversial opinion, then dive into your dilemmas:💸 ”Should I quit uni?”💸 ”Why am I so skint?” Got a money win or (totally anonymous) dilemma? Share it via the Financielle app community or email [e-mail] 💌You’re not alone in figuring this stuff out. Get honest, helpful reads at financielle.com 💖The Vault is an entertaining yet thought provoking podcast that answers our community’s dilemmas and confessions surrounding women and money.Visit https://www.financielle.com to download our app.Watch the podcast on YouTube.Follow Financielle for more:▶︎ TikTok▶︎ InstagramAbout Financielle:Financielle is a female focussed finance app helping women to take back control of their money, ditch debt, increase savings and invest in their future.Recorded and Produced by Liverpool Podcast Studios▶︎ Web ▶︎ Instagram▶︎ LinkedIn

Welcome to The Vault with Financial. This week we are delighted to bring a special bonus episode in partnership with our friends at Compare the Market. The struggle is real when it comes to managing money as a student, which is why this week's episode is jam-packed with relatable money dilemmas, the community's biggest money mistakes as students, and words of wisdom passed on from the financial community. This week's episode is not for gatekeeping, so be sure to share whether you're a student, parent, aunt, godmother, family friend, or a teacher. Let's help this generation build strong financial

foundations that they can lean on for life. Let's get into it. This episode is so overdue. I feel like all of us need therapy for the time. Yeah, managing money as a student, like, it's giving chaos. Giving chaos, like, it is the first time in your life where you've got money, like, whether it's from a student loan or you can finally work or whatever it might be,

and people just go nuts. Like, we were talking earlier about, weren't we, like, money personalities at uni, and there's such a wide variety of money personalities. Listen, I'm scared about how long it is since I went to university, because, like because I feel like it could have been like yesterday, and you actually do the years and you go, no, that was that long ago.

Neil dropped me in yesterday, did he say it was like 18 years since I was at uni? I was like, no. And he was like, Holly, I think it was 18 years ago. As a person, that's someone starting uni. Imagine the date of births nowadays. Oh no. It's like 2000s.

And like for all the different generations, uni or college or apprentice time, it's been different. It's been different based on like costs. Like the stories that we used to hear of our parents' generation was like it was funded and people didn't need to take out loans. And in fact, they were paying you to go if you were gonna go into some areas of medicine or some areas of engineering.

And it wasn't as expensive as it was, especially because that housing was also cheaper at the same time. And so it went from that to then, you know, I do remember a big boom, especially when new labor came in and it actually made it really accessible at university for a long time, was not accessible to working class people. It is now pretty much completely democratized and because you can get access to finance, you can get in there and get to university.

But the costs that a lot of people are coming out of uni with are quite high. And so it feels like there's never been a better time for students to need this help and to have extra help. You get access to student loans and overdrafts and you're not under your parents' roof and suddenly it's like, woo. Even Wolf of Wall Street. I, you know, the street, I went to uni at my met and the streets just used to be full and you knew it was payday for everyone, student loan payday.

The bars would be full and pouring out. People would be taking away care. Boogie restaurants, like, grab a nice meal, really nice meal, and go to student loan day. Drinking the Prosecco or having the gin or whatever and you'd be like, mate, in three weeks time, you are not having a gin, like in that really nice wine bar, you are gonna be having like cider sat outside.

No, it's a Tesco bottle of vodka. Yeah. Labyrinth. Yeah. You're gonna be on the cheap, like anything. And the pasta's coming out. Yeah, pesto pasta. Pesto pasta.

Pesto pasta. Jack of potatoes, cheese and beans. Pesto pasta. Like, you know it's paid like loan day. You just know it. Yeah, and they're incredibly squeezed. And so, everyone's got different experiences. And actually a big mixing pot of flatmates.

I get this, Matt, I remember the first time meeting really wealthy people, and they're like, oh, okay, you don't need to work? No, oh, I do. And just the differences in having to navigate, study, time off, stuff like that. What did you do with your student loan? What did you spend it on?

Because your fees, the fees when you went weren't so high, were they? No, so my maintenance loan, I again, super privileged, got help at uni from parents to pay for accommodation. And I used to come home at weekends and mum would send me back with a Marks and Spencer's food. Sure. The most middle-class story I've ever heard in my life.

In a Marks and Spencer's bag for life, like, here you go. And then I'd unpack it. And all your friends when you walked in would be like, what are we having for tea? What's picky bits have you got from a nurse? What's Trisha sent you back with? Steak probably. Don't lie, I remember her buying you steak at Unit

in the halls. She did. Can you imagine? Nana would sometimes send me back with a pie, which my Nana's pies actually were amazing, considering like they weren't homemade at all. They were homemade and they weren't, so she thought they were homemade,

but basically it was like Marks and Spencer's chunky steak and then a pastry lid on top. I remember one time, like my flatmate, Jenny, she was like, here's one for you and Jenny. I was like, oh, she's a vegetarian. She said, she'll order a chicken one. No, she can't have that either. One's just really thin. Yeah, there's not much chicken in it.

So I used it for some food, but I got sent back with this bag. So then, night's out outfits, I used to work, I used to work at Topshop actually, and I used to spend all my wage there on clothes, so I didn't, so I needed the loan money. I bought a ski trip with it, the student ski trip, which was like, you in the first few weeks,

and you're like, again, you're just not thinking this money's coming out your hands quicker. It's got a stretch so far. And then suddenly you've, oh yeah, I've paid for the ski trip, I've paid for this, and then you have to budget. You think it's literally this boom and bust because the loan comes in,

you pay for things you need to pay for, and if you've not got a handle on it, you very quickly need to find savings everywhere. So what about you? I genuinely, it's like a blur. You need such a blur. Yeah. And travel like standard. Yeah. I worked in, I did fashion.

So you kind of have this expectation that you need to look at it and wait. You may be in by certain things and being on top of the trends. Cause that's part of your degree. But I actually did a four year course and I went and worked in industry and I got, I had to pay to work that year.

So I did get a salary. You didn't pay fees? Yeah. No, that's worse than Lucy's story. You pay for a foundational degree, it's four years. And you're basically paying for your tutor to like check in with you and do the paperwork and all that kind of stuff.

Wow. Yeah, so I went and worked. So I did get a salary for one of the years. So that was quite a good year for me to get. That's a good tip actually for people to think of. I would always recommend, if you're at uni offers a foundation degree, go and do it because getting a year in industry,

it sets you up as well. Like you're much more confident when you graduate to go for a job interview and go, because you have to interview for it. You couldn't just like, uni didn't set it up for you, you have to go and find it. I just feel like it got me ready for the world of work and budgeting a salary as well.

But then going back to uni for the last year, I was like, I bet. So mum and dad were so privileged, really I'm acknowledging it, helped me out in the last year, they're like, we don't want you to work. It's your last year, like head down. I'm gonna get out first.

Worth it, pays off. Thanks Trish and Paul. Okay, today's controversial opinion is, living at home during uni is the smartest financial move, not a cop out. And on that privilege note, Holly, where did you choose to go? You told me about Manmet and why did you choose Manmet? Well we could have lived in Didsbury.

Like is that what you were going to say? Well you still lived at home in the first year. Yes, so I never went into halls, God no. I would never go into halls. I did, it's just Holly's relevant privilege. Well, I chose to live near, that was the degree I wanted to do. I wanted to stay near home.

I had a boyfriend who is now my husband. So I didn't want to go far away from him. I am very much a home bird. So if I ever felt like under the weather or poorly, whatever, I'd be like, I'm just going to go home and be left by my mum because I just like being close to family. And Ava was born, my niece, so I wanted to be with her.

So it was a very different situation for me than probably the girls that I ended up being friends with. But I did actually live with them in the final year. So in Didsbury, West Didsbury. I had a very bougie student life, but then I had my year out as well. So my student life was very mixed. It wasn't like I'm gonna go move away to Newcastle

or Leeds so I'm forced to find accommodation. I lived half an hour away from home. So it was kind of like, why would I put myself through that expense? I could have a nice balanced life where I can spend time with my uni friends. And they ended up living, the friends that we met in first year

all lived together in second year and got a house. So I spent time there with them, stayed over a couple of nights. Yeah, I felt like I had the best of both. And then I went to an industry. Fortunately, the job was half an hour from home, so I could live at home again, very privileged. But in my final year,

I moved to a really nice townhouse in West Didsbury. So I feel like I had a really good mix. I remember at the time, lots of people saying, oh, you should live away and you should get the experience. And I think it was a, now I'm older, I don't think you need to. But at the time, I did embrace the, I went to Leeds so I could go and come back.

And I lived in halls and lived in a house and then lived in an apartment the last year. So definitely had a different living experiences. And I think it's more, it's good to be able to live independently from home rather than you need to go away. Now for some people, I imagine if you are from like a really rural part of the country, if you are, you know, it's come from a small school and a small college and you want to go to university, or you fancy going to a city. I could imagine like it's a great time to get experiences and to think about where you want to be, but I don't think you have to.

I think some people can be very tactical with the, with the cost of university nowadays. I'm, I'm very pro university if it's for the right courses in the right place and I wanna support students to be able to go. And so some people can make that work by living at home during that time. Like you said, best of both worlds. You don't have to go, I have to go there

and I have to spend this and I have to do this and I'll say I'm not gonna go to uni because I can't afford it. But if you could make it work from your local one. Yeah, does that work? You just, on a Lux podcast, it covered some of the things that she talked about in some of our blogs,

but she was talking about like, uni was a chance for her to like reinvent herself, like she'd been through quite a traumatic childhood, and it was her first kind of dose of freedom where she could go away and escape and create this kind of like new life for herself, create a circle of friends, and she was like, it was the best time of my life.

So I also see that and I'm like, it means more to people than just. Yeah. And she was like, it made me independent. Like I made my own money. It's not just the education point. And that's so true. Like I felt like a lot of them,

a lot of my gay friends at uni were able to finally feel, they could meet people like them and realize there are a lot of gay people if you're from a really rural town and it was a time when it was a bit more difficult. Like I was on the rugby team and suddenly people were able to feel like they could be them and maybe they were then a different person

when they went home and I get that actually. Or they could have had bad time with friends and the ability to find like your people, because everyone's in a club and everyone's doing like different societies and different courses. And you did learn again, and I think you don't learn this in work,

the ability to have lots of different sets of friends. So you'd have your course friends and you'd have your housemates and you'd have your sports. And a lot of people keep these friends for a long time. And maybe some of that is harder to do if you're at home. You made it work, but you only had course friends. So you didn't have house friends

and you didn't have sports. Like we met them at the social. I'm not that person anyway. I'm not joining the club. If anyone's still got an idea, I'm still looking forward. What do you think, Lucy? I don't know because I always planned to move back home in my third year.

And then once it got back to that, I was like, no, I'm staying. I can't, I don't want to move back home. And I just never ever moved back home since moving out to uni. Obviously I wasn't far either, like probably an hour down the road, like an hour and a half train. So I was always popping back home and like just

kind of getting the best of both worlds. Yeah, like getting a shop done for me. We'll just like the comfort of seeing your parents. Yeah. But I think now it's so expensive to live out. Like I was trying to think back and I think I paid like 380 pounds a month for my room in our like student house, which was a lot cheaper than my, in my first year, my halls were so expensive. Like they're so expensive.

Like especially the, we were in like, is it independent ones? Like not on campus or like not attached to the uni or in any way. And like that was so expensive. I remember when I first went to uni, I was panicked and I was like, dad, I want to drop out. Like I'm coming home, I'm not.

Cause you didn't want to do the living with strangers. No, just everything. I was just so out of my comfort zone and like panic attacks on the phone. Big change. I want to come home. Yeah. And my dad was literally like, I've paid so much money.

It's a combination. You're staying and thank God he did. Yeah, he did a bit of tough love. Yeah, so it's so different and like, but now I think it is so expensive. I think it's like. It's like 150 pound a week. Yeah.

It's a lot of money isn't it? When you've got to stretch that. When you're studying, like when it's to study, so typically people won't have jobs. You have to get lots of different methods of finance to open up that world to you. And again, I think not everyone's the same. And I think you definitely feel for those

that have no help whatsoever. You have to finance and or work it all. And depending on the course that you do, if people do longer degrees and stuff, like it's such an interesting time for people when if you've not had any finance help or budgeting help and you're suddenly landed and dropped in this place, which is like, here's a load of money,

here's a load of expenses, make sure you work really hard, have a nice time. You know, it's like what? So it's, yeah, it's a, it is a financial decision. It's an investment in you as a person. Lorna Luck's example of like, you know, you never know what could come out the other side and you get out what you put in as well,

but from these experiences. And there's a financial return in terms of an education return, which is to do the job I want to do, this is the kind of course I would need to do. And so having like, I feel like a matrix, do you like where you like list, okay, this is what it would cost to go here, living at home, away, da da da.

And having then like a math decision and emotional decision and back it that way, but. It's not unlike I think the question like, is it a cop out? I'm like, yeah, it's not, it's not unlike, I think the question is it a cop out and I'm like, yeah, it's so, it's not a cop out either way. It's so individually, it's down to the individual and circumstances. But I think we've just proved that you can have

a lot of different unique experiences. You've all done it differently. You've all done it very differently. And we all had a great time. Yeah. Really positive like experience of university. And then look where we work now. Like, yeah, look at us.

It worked. Okay, time for our first dilemma. Laura, do you want to know my secret to wealth building? Sure, go on. It's about working smarter, not harder. Basically, be a coffee cap. Well, as your older sister, I can see how you would think that.

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212 is a great place to start. Head to the link in the podcast description to get started. Should I quit uni? Hi ladies. I'm halfway through my uni degree and I feel totally lost. I've realised I don't enjoy the course at all. I dread going to lectures. I'm not passionate about the subject and I can't imagine working in this field long term. But here's the issue. I've already

taken out a big chunk of my student loan and spent most of it. If I stay, I'll have to take out even more debt just to get the degree I don't even want. But if I drop out now, I'm left with thousands of pounds in student debt and nothing to show for it. Either way, it feels like a financial mess. Should I stick it out just to have the degree or should I cut my losses and walk away?" This is a really interesting one. Can I first pass this one to you

because did you like the degree that you were doing? So I started doing a geography degree. It was geography and natural hazards management. I'm not judging geography, but I don't see you doing it. No, neither do I. I literally just chose it because I liked it at A level and I was good at it. Okay.

Which a lot of people do. That's what they told us to do. That's what they told us to do. Logically pick a degree because of what you're good at in your GCSEs and then A levels. Started the degree, realized like, I was going to be in the lab a lot of the time. I was like, this is not me. This is not like what job was I even, I wasn't even thinking

about what job I would do after uni. Like I just chose it because I liked it. And then I literally remember going to the like office thing and she handed me a list of degrees that I could like choose from. And I literally remember going through it and it was like, I also really liked English language and English literature at a level. And I was like, journalism. Cause I was like, surely that's a more like modern version. Yeah, never looked back.

But I was too late in the year to change. So I had to do four years at uni. Right. So what did you do for the rest of your first year? You continued with the degree, even though you knew you weren't gonna do it? Yeah. Ooh, that's painful, isn't it?

It was fun. She just literally sat like this. Yeah. In the labs. You want me to sit in the labs? I'll sit in the labs. Knowing that there's no pressure, because who cares for that year.

What are you going to say about that? But you did do that thing where you switch, like we do hear this a lot and this is the dilemma, is it like she's a year and a half in- That's a lot, it's like that, what is it, sunk cost? Yeah. Fallacy. Yeah.

Like what, it depends what you want out of the experience and life. I'm sure Neil did two years of the experience and life. I'm sure Neil did two years of a degree and then changed. Or a year and a half. I think you'll never look back and be like, didn't you do a sporty one and switch to a business? No, he did quanta surveying. Go figure.

He's very quanta surveyor like. So I can see why you picked it. And then went and did some sort of sports one, he's obsessed with the Olympics, like, I still don't know what possessed him to do the first one. He got it paid for because he was a professional athlete and they wanted the really good, they wanted the athletes to have something to fall back on.

So it's seen so many people not continue, as Neil didn't with a professional career in sport. And then they were like, what the hell do I do now? And they ended up being like laborers or whatever it might be and really tough jobs where they didn't manage to make a lot of money. So they wanted to ensure that the academy or whatever were all had good education.

So you got that bit paid for. So I don't think when he went back himself, he had to then kind of pay for it. But I feel like. So she doesn't share the subjects and what she wants to do because some of this is linked. So there's an element of this, which is she talks about, I'm just not passionate about it

and I'm not really enjoying it. And lots of people don't actually love the thing they're studying and they're not passionate about it. And you can have a non-emotional decision about this, which is if you're okay at it and you're doing okay and you're not like failing and there's a combination of, I hate it and I'm really bad at it because there's an element there about why, you know, you're not likely to pass this degree or it's going to mentally really damage your mental health. Again, I do think there's an element of we can let it damage your mental health. Again, I do think there's an element of,

we can let it damage our mental health, unless you have mental health issues, you could say, I'm just not enjoying it, and a year and a half in, that's not a six months in decision like you, where you've really tried, and it's just not for you, it's you're a year and a half in. Yeah, I'm like, why at the earmark didn't you go,

this isn't for me? Why has it taken a year and a half?. Yeah, I'm like, why at the earmark didn't you go, this isn't for me? Like, why has it taken a year and a half? Yeah. You're like, what's changed? Maybe it's like the workload, like first year workload. Yeah, it's like wrapped up. And it really matters this year, because your first year, you just have to pass it.

It doesn't count for, but what I would be looking at is really having to think about what you'd like to do after uni. What I love nowadays is you don't have to pick a forever career. But the thing that you're doing the degree in does that contribute to the thing that you want to do. And it's worth doing work on that.

It's worth speaking to people. Like the number of people that don't speak to the people that do the job that they like to do and work backwards. They're like hung on. Like I wanted to look after monkeys. So I should have gone and spoke to a zookeeper and been like, what do you think about? Well, luckily you didn't pick a zoology or biology degree.

Cause that, you know. Do you know what I mean? Like as I was younger, I wanted to do that. So you'd go, well, you should go and speak to people like Laura did, like you wanted to be a lawyer. So you went and spoke to lawyers and you worked out what they did every day. Like, would I actually like do that at the job?

And then I did it and interned and then I did exactly. And I was like, yeah, yeah, this is more, you know, but I went and did a work experience with a criminal lawyer and was like, this is awful. So I knew, I'd like to be a lawyer, want to work in business, don't want to do that. But the number of people that think, listen, she might not know what she wants to do,

which is also hard, but there's also no pressure there. Cause if you don't know what you do, you want to do, that's actually a bit easier. You can kind of look for, I recommend people look at brands that they like or creative that they like or engineering that they like and go speak to people. People are always willing to have coffees. If someone messaged me and you might not all gonna do it now,

so now I'm gonna be like, I'm really busy. But on LinkedIn and said like, I really would like to get into law, for example, cause I can't advise on financial, cause I don't know why, you know, how. We don't know what we do every day. We don't know what we do every day, we just have fun doing it.

But if someone wanted to say, I'm really thinking about it, I would give feedback, and I've done that over LinkedIn, people said, oh, my child's interested in doing law and they're thinking about doing law A-level, I'll give the honest view, which is you do not need a law A-level to be a lawyer. Pick the A-level subjects that you like and that you're more likely to nail

and get the good points in. To get into the right university. To get to the right university because it's all about stages. So go think about, I think she needs to think about what she wants to do next, whether it's immediately next or after university, get coffees and speak to people and network because quite frankly, jobs come from networks as well. So it's not lost and get a feel for the impact that completing the degree you're doing would or wouldn't have, because if you need a degree

to get an interview in that space, and unfortunately in some industries you do, or to qualify or to technically do that space, then you either need to then change the career you wanna do if you wanna stop, or you're gonna have to do the rest of it, and that's what needs to happen before you think about money. It's if that's what you want to do.

Yeah, before the money make the right choice. Don't let money be this way. Don't let it be the driver. Because if the answer is you don't need the degree to do the thing that you'd like to do or to do career B or career C, there's part of me that wants to give you permission to stop this, because you've got half to that wants to give you permission to stop this because

you've got half to go and it's, if you get to the end of it and go, I've got extra debt and it didn't help me do the thing. Do you want double the debt and still hate the degree and not do anything with it or do you want half the debt and you go and start- Life experience, chalk it off to, you know, it kind of is what it is. How many people must turn up to the office like you and go, I hate this degree. They'll get it every single day. They've surely they've seen it all

where they can be like, you can switch to this. You can easily switch to that. Like I know that you got that pushed in front of you. But I feel like because there's so many more people at university now, so many more people have come with the dilemma of I'm not happy doing this. What are my options?

Yeah, and hopefully the university will be flexible and be able to show you, like I said, opportunities. And yeah, I think that the finance thing is secondary, which we wouldn't often say, but because you're so far in, don't worry about what you've already spent. It's gone, you've already spent it, you can't change that. But the next one and a half years needs to contribute to the next step. And if it doesn't contribute, let's start making another plan.

Agreed. Okay. Usually about now in this show, we'd read out a financial money win, but for this week's special student episode, we're going to read out some of the community's student money mistakes. So I'm going to pass it over to Lydia or Instagram Queen who has all of our answers from the community. Oh, I'm looking forward to this. We got quite a lot of responses, like things that you wish you had or hadn't done at uni. A lot of people said they wish they'd budgeted properly from the start, which I really related to. I feel like I was just, I tried to be like a student, I tried to be really tight with money,

but I didn't have an actual budget. But then back then they didn't really have like pots in bank accounts. Yeah, that's true. I think that would really help now. So were you like more geared towards, I need to buy things cheap and I need to eat cheaply, rather than knowing actually what the parameters were that you could work within? Yeah, just like being really strict to myself, like just going a little constantly. things cheap and I need to eat cheaply rather than knowing actually what the parameters were that you could work with. Yeah, just like being really strict to myself, like just going a little constantly and like maybe restricting more than I needed to.

For fear of then it running out. Yeah, because you're supposed to be a student. You're supposed to be really strenuous. Yeah, be the student rather than this is the, yeah, that's so interesting actually. Yeah. Another thing was, which I'd tracked weekly spending. Which I'd thought about insurance. Somebody said that their house got robbed in the second year of uni. That happened to a few of my course mates, like all in the same few months, like they all got robbed.

I think it's the laptops, like they get, student houses get targeted. Because of the tech. Yeah. Because they know that they're going gonna have to do the dissertations and coursework and stuff on laptops. I remember- And tech, like phones, headphones. They're expensive more nowadays, aren't they? Can you imagine?

Like Apple Watches and so on. I remember when we were looking at my insurance, my car insurance shot up, because actually it had gone from leafy suburb on a drive, in a garage actually, to on the street in a high crime area. And do you know what? It's ironic actually that this episode sponsored by Compare the Market because that's what

I literally had to do with my existing insurer. It shot up and then we went on and searched for different providers. And that's what I'd be doing today. Cause if you think about it, you need like your gadget insurance, you need your car insurance, home insurance, you probably need contents insurance as well. And again-

Like you said, people getting robbed at uni. You have to be looking at things like, you know, the locks on the doors and it's a rented house or a student accommodation and you'd have to pull that in. And it is worth it because you don't have the money to replace these items. You need a laptop or an iPad or whatever it is

to do your course. If you lose it, you could have been paying a small amount of money to just get that extra cover. That's super important. Definitely, and I feel like students need to be told like you need insurance. Oh my God, definitely. Well, if you've got that like frugal mentality, you're going to be like, what can I go without?

And you arguably want to say, well, insurance is probably not one of those because it's the what everyone always says, it'll never happen to me. It'll never happen to me until it does. Especially travel. Yes. I learned. Well, I didn't learn the hard way because I had insurance and I was really grateful for it, but I got my entire backpack stolen when I went backpacking.

Everything. Everything. How? On my first day in New Zealand. First day as well. I rented a camper van, so excited to drive to a supermarket. It was parked in a multi-story, thought it'd be safe and everything. Went in, I had my passport on me, came out 20 minutes later with some like, you know, bread and stuff and the like door had been jimmied open

and she just walked off with my bag. No. So I had to like buy like the absolute bare essentials. And then I claimed it all back when I was home then. But luckily you had. Why would you? Like, sorry, why would you steal a backpack? Like, you know, it's just going to be like underwear, clothes.

Yeah, clothes I've been wearing for five months. There's going to be nothing fun in there. You know what I mean? Like of all the things you're going to steal, like. Like, you know it's just going to be like underwear, clothes. Yeah, clothes I've been wearing for five months. There's going to be nothing fun in there. You know what I mean? Like, of all the things you're going to steal, like a student, obviously someone that's traveling, like they're going to have the bare minimum stuff. Yeah. It was all my warm clothes though,

because I've been in hot weather for five months or whatever, and then I bought all these warm clothes for New Zealand, and then they just took it. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. So like, at least you had it covered. And a lot of people, like Holly and I used to work in travel and so many people and students are the worst for this again

because you budget it. And they put off the travel insurance. They don't get it, which you're meant to get. But also they don't get it at the time of booking. You get it, oh, I need it before I go. Need it before I go. Someone sat on this sofa. Really?

Is really good at doing that Lucy. Lucy, what did you do? The last, it was the first time this year when we went away, we were literally about to turn our phones on airplane mode on the plane. And then I went to Alex, we've not got travel insurance. Super quick, literally like taxi into the runway. I was like, go go go. Oh my God. We got it. But it probably didn't cover anything because we had already booked everything. Well, it would probably, it would be covering you.

Even in country you can buy it, but it's the worst time. It's better than not at all, but we always recommend it, especially in travel, is before booking travel insurance is first because if you needed to cancel something after booking, or if the person that you booked with becomes insolvent during that time, airlines have failed, there's lots of issues with like, you might get your money back later,

but insurance is your first port of call. That going, like I said, going on something like Compare the Market, searching for travel insurance that covers the destinations that you're going to, crucially, like I said, going on something like compare the market, searching for travel insurance that covers the destinations that you're going to crucially, also activity type, because I was obviously a lawyer in travel and for a lot of people just buy the cheapest they can find. But when you go skydiving and you're like,

scuba diving or like skiing, making sure that your equipment is covered that you travel with and your gadget insurance, but also the activity that you're doing, which everyone loves to do like, yeah, you bungee jumps and you skydives. If you search for that properly, do a proper comparison, get it the cheapest for the right level. It's a combination of both. You don't want to under insure.

It's like a sweet spot, isn't it? And get it in. And usually as a student, I find like we do like to travel. Like even if we're talking about budgeting, you'll find money for the trips. You probably need annual policy anyway. So rather than one off policies for trips, you get an annual one and then you go, right, let's book. And so that booking is then covered on the travel insurance. Whereas if you book it, what it'll do, what you'll do is you'll put it off,

life admin, I'll get around to it, I'll get around to it. You sat on the plane. And you'd be like, yeah. So in the test, so for example, if it was like a ski holiday and you'd broken your foot running, you've not got insurance.

So I know you're like, I know mum. No, but only up until recently, like literally last month was the first time we both got annual policies. Like I've always just done it like night before the trip. Like it's just on the to-do list, get travel insurance the night before, like for that trip. Just remove the life admin and like you say, get it done annually. And now fill.

Annual, financial app, policy renewal date, because it's in now. So you've got your annual and then you can shop around because what some people then do is just go, oh, just stick with the same provider. Don't pick the same provider. No. They'll literally take the pick, like get a-

Shop around and your circumstances change. Like I said, sometimes you need special ones for cruises and some people might do a cruise suddenly or you suddenly do Asia and you've been used to like a European one. Even I did it with Breakdown recently, like we keep every year renewing the same Breakdown cover and then we always go to France and always need a top up.

And I keep, at the time I go, okay, when it's on renewal, I remember. It doesn't cover Europe. You have to get a special, so I get a top-up policy instead of doing a proper comparison and getting the right one. I've done it right this now,

so we've got the right insurance. Yeah, well, I only have European trips planned this year, but I got a worldwide one to manifest. Worldwide. Okay, we're manifesting. Pitbull. Yeah. Worldwide. Pitbull, what manifesting. Pitbull. Yeah. Worldwide.

What else do people say? A popular one was, I wish I'd said no to things I didn't really wanna go to. Yeah. Especially in Freshers, I bet you get pressured into spending like 15 pound entry on some like really shit night out. Really bad DJ tickets.

I remember going to my first Freshers night, I was the tallest person there. Were you tall? my first Freshers night. I was the tallest person there. Were you tall? Well, you are tall, but were you tallest? No, I'm not like extraordinarily tall. I'm five foot eight. But it was Freshers, so obviously the guys that went, it's like they hadn't hit puberty.

I was literally the tallest person. I remember just walking in here like, this is gonna be fun. I was literally like, like seeing people. You might have had heels on as well. I had like two heads above people. I was like, what is going on? It just put me off. I was like, I this is gonna be fun. I was literally like, like, seeing people. You might have had heels on as well. I had like two heads above people. I was like, what is going on?

It just put me off. I was like, I feel like the oldest, but I felt really old. Maybe you were in a school disco back then. That was school disco back then. But I'd already lived out my freshers life through Laura. So she went away to uni, I was like, I'm coming up. Yeah, she did, yeah.

So I did all the fun stuff with you. So I think as well, that's why with you now it was a bit more chill. Like I don't need to go and do the halls because I saw Laura's halls and I don't really wanna do that. I liked going to stay in Laura's house with her mates for one night and then I could go home.

So I feel like I could do it. So it wasn't a big exciting deal to me because I'd already kind of done it. I had an NUS card, I think you queued up for me. For an NUS card, oh you did. So that was like my fake ID. Yeah. So I could get into clubs as well.

There was so many like random events. Yeah, I'll fake ID. Yeah. So I could get into clubs as well. There's so many like random events. Yeah, I'll go that. Yeah. I remember it was in the, I remember buying tickets to the Leeds University ball, picked a knee length party dress, but a formal dress. It was in a field. It got a clutch out of Leeds.

And it was in a field. I was like, this is not a ball. And I was like, what ticket price was this? And really didn't want to go. And the dress. And it was in a field, I was like, this is not a ball. And I was like, what a ticking price was this? And we didn't want to go. And the dress, and the hair, and the makeup, and the accessories. Got my makeup done at Matt, because like everyone did. Iconic.

I was like, yeah, I'm glad I did that. Speaking of dress, that was another one. It's like, I wish I didn't keep buying new clothes for nights out, especially like themed nights, you know, that you never wear again. Oh yeah. Fancy dress. I never did that.

Well, if you're in the sports world. Yeah, I remember Alex was in rugby and like they used to all go to like charity shops and buy like old women's dresses. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Everything. I remember like going around to his room the first time. I was like, what's this? What's these dresses? I remember meeting my friend Vicky, who's married her university boyfriend, Dan, I went to, she had a sailor

themed night out for her birthday in Liverpool, always freezing cold, always had no clothes on, like it was always fancy dress, you were meant, you were cold. And it was really cool, actually, it was sailor themed. And then I met her boyfriend out on a night out and he was dressed as Cupid. He was half naked as well. He was all painted white. They all had toga things on and they were all meant to be like Cupid's and stuff.

And that's how I met him. I was like, yeah. No, it's how I met him. Oh hi, this is my boyfriend, Dan. I'm like. Which one? You all look quite muscly, but can't see your face, don't know what you look like.

Yeah. And that was when, because it was Wednesday, he was rugby, the rugby lot were going out as that and she'd picked. That's literally, I met Alex and he was wearing a bin bag. That was the first time I met him. Which means Alex, she really loves you. I knew you when you were in a bin bag. You didn't walk into the room, like,

wind blow through your hair, you were in a bin bag. Get you a man that can pull off a bin bag. Yeah. But we have talked about this before, like the, because of TikTok and Instagram and the pressure to look a certain way, like some of these girls just look amazing, like the makeup's together, the put together,

they're doing the gym stuff. God, I bet it's so much more expensive to be at uni now because of this like aesthetic, like get ready with me. Like the drinking matcha. Like they go do Pilates, getting a matcha, they're in an Adonola outfit. How are they afforded? I would have like fog on Yorkshire tea at uni

just to like save money, do you know what I mean? And they're like drinking matcha and dressed in Adonola. I'd love to actually, if you're listening to this, we'd love to hear stories about that. Like what it must be like keeping up with the University Joneses because it was bad 20 years ago. I'm saying 20, because she said 18 years before and I'm 20 years older.

But for us and actually the lifestyle, I mean, maybe we're not drinking as much. Yeah. But we're drinking flat whites and matcha and buying grass beds. Vodka is cheaper than the lattes. Wagyu steak. Yeah.

Because we're eating whole foods. We're going sushi. Yeah. Oh my God. Grim reality. Anything else? Some others are, wish I'd learned to cook instead of relying on takeaways. Actively searched for student discounts.

I was on that. Like every student. Every student. You're shocked around, other people don't, do they? Because sometimes it's like value adds. Like you can get student discounts and you can get like free stuff. And taking that little bit of time and sharing the hacks

can make all the difference. I won like three recycling competitions and I got Ben and Jerry's every time. I was the only one like. Suck it seriously. You have to think you can take a selfie of yourself recycling and I was like, okay. I went to uni with a lovely Italian girl called Mia and she was such a good cook and like basic cooking, basic

Italian cooking. Like the idea, so how she made a pasta would involve like dried pasta. Like I used to think, oh, they'd use fresh pasta. No, no, no. It's like dry pasta, good quality pasta. And the sauce was always the same. Like this wasn't like she was doing loads of different things, but her tomato sauce would almost always come from real tomatoes that were cooked down. She would use way more olive oil than I was like in my Slimming World era and was like, oh no, you can't use all that olive oil.

Which she didn't cover. Sorry, did you talk about that the other day where you just go like, in the UK, we just go like, what? And it's like the bottom of the pan. In the Mediterranean, they're like, bloop. She would use real, like, I'd never seen a garlic peeler, a crusher in my life, and I do it the way she does it now. I still remember her doing it and,

and chill it. And she'd just cook that down. Didn't need meat in it. It didn't necessarily need this. And actually it was such a cost-effective meal, but she, she taught me, or I watched about an eight. But if you think about learning how to cook, it would set you up for the rest of your life, not just then, but I remember, this was before like delivery and stuff, people delivering, they would deliver, like the takeaways would deliver, they'd have their own delivery men

because that's how they would survive. You could order anything to your door, you would just ring the takeaway directly and it would just arrive and you know, like you just end up really unhealthy, but spending so much. I think things like delivery now are really bad and what are just arrive and you know, like you just end up really unhealthy but spending so much. I think things like delivery now really bad and what are the ones where you can just deliver

from like the corner shop like, so you can have like a Lucas aid and Toblerone and Toblerone. Random order. Holidays. Lucas aid and Toblerone. Sorry, I forgot where I was then. Lucas aid, a boost bar, packet of crisps and a vape. Milk because people want a brew.

Yeah, and you don't have to go. It's all alone. Wasn't your best moment. No, it wasn't. But you can get a vape delivered if you want a vape. It's just gone crazy. It's crazy. We didn't have that.

We had to get off our arse and go and get it ourselves. It is much harder for students now. It's the temptation of, again, with the off our arse and go and get it ourselves. It is much harder for students now, is the temptation of, again, like with the Uber thing, like we would walk or get the bus. Sorry. And you got a taxi back, but now it'd be Uber's, cabs are here. Oh my God, that was my uni.

I used to watch Jersey Shore. I remember watching Jersey Shore. Never ever. Do you know what Jim Tam Laundry is? No. Got some homework for you. I've nearly finished the hills, so that can be my next thing.

Oh yeah, so that's Laura was at uni when that was happening. I was like, she's giving Lauren camera. Yeah, yeah, that's what my outfits were like all the time. Always Lauren, never Heidi. Like just you were, it was the way they were positioned. It wasn't Heidi's fault. Anything else, Rove?

Yeah, there's a few. I wish I'd got a part-time job. Someone else, like I worked, but I wish I'd saved money instead of spending it all. I wish I hadn't taken out a credit card for non-essentials. I wish I didn't ignore money altogether because it stressed me out. I get that. Yeah. And hadn't fallen for a YOLO mindset. YOLO was such a thing. Yeah.

I feel like that was just what uni was. And I feel bad that people feel bad about their behavior at uni and their spending habits because we were just in this like bubble and you just thrust into it and you're just trying to find your way. There's loads of regrets. I do think lots of people, including myself,

especially with the loans and finances is, you just want to tread water until you get out and you think, and you're right in some respects, when I get a job, I'll sort it out then. And what it means is you deliberately just don't look, you don't look at your loan, you don't look in your bank account a lot, you don't, you shy away from your finances.

And I think actually we should be, we should like give students permission to forgive themselves a little bit that, or like go into it eyes wide open. When you're doing this for a period of time in your life, you're not saving. If you could not add extra debt, you're doing better. If you can just, you're gonna be having student debt.

If you can work and save a little bit of savings, but like at what cost, because the cost, the rate at which things cost money, I can't see anyone coming out of uni with savings and that's okay. Yeah, it's okay. But what a lot of people end up realizing is you don't just come out and go,

okay, I'll pay it all off again now. Like, it's tough and it's accepting that, like, there was value in that experience, educational, job, life, personal, and that's kind of the cost. Comes with the cost. Yeah. I'd imagine it's really difficult for a lot of people, especially with a really intense courses to like work part time as well.

Yeah. To have the brain power. Depending on the course, like you need to have lab time. Yeah. To have like a lot. Lucy. Just so she know it. But like it would be wildly different.

Some of my friends are doing like history. I remember it being like four hours a week. And then self study. So like four hours of lectures or seminars. Go away and do that. Yeah, first you have to have the discipline and secondly like you have much more capacity to be able to work, but then other people having to do

lab time and or seminar time, lecture time, and then do the reading and the study. Do you remember it was like reading week and you'd be like, you don't know anything those weeks. You meant to read. Went on holiday probably. Read subtitles. The Airplane magazine. Okay, time for our next dilemma. Why am I so skint? Howdy. I think I need some big sister financial wisdom. I'm constantly broke at uni, like living off pasta and hoping my car doesn't decline broke. But the thing is I don't feel like I'm spending loads. Yes, I go on nights out most weeks and I do

love a cheeky bottomless brunch or an Uber when it's raining. But I also buy supermarket owned brands, I've got my financial budget set up and I tell myself I'm being good with money. Still, my maintenance loan vanishes within a couple of weeks and I'm dipping into my overdraft more than I'd like to admit. It started off as just a safety net, but I'm now relying on it every month and I'm low-key worried it's becoming a habit I can't break. Are student overdrafts just a normal part of uni life or am I sliding into debt without realizing it? My friends seem to be managing fine, which makes me wonder, am I just bad with money or is everyone secretly struggling too?

Ooh, this is a good dilemma. It is, and nodging back to what you said earlier, Lydia, about the student way and the student mindset was disconnected to the numbers. This is what's happening here. So she feels like she's doing well on what basis other than you're making good choices some of the time, you know, some cheeky choices some of the time that might feel a bit bougie to her, but she's no idea if she's not setting a budget. And the big thing about a special university is, in fact it's true of

any time, but especially when you're a student, there is a maths game to this and she says she's doing a financial budget. She can't be because she's not, she might be setting a bit at the beginning, but she must be doing her actuals because she does, she's having to top up. So let's walk back a bit and go, what guidance would we give to someone who's going to uni to try and make sure that you can manage? And what you need to do is work out what your costs are. And so sometimes you have like a fee-based loan.

And so the maintenance loan is for your costs. So it doesn't sound like out of her expenses, she's having to pay for university, that'll be covered by, because I think that goes straight to university. I think it comes to tuition fee. Tuition fee loan, exactly. So let's park that one. So her maintenance loan is to help her get through

and pay for all her expenses. And so let's say that they tend to come quarterly, which is the issue for lots of people. So is it like three times a year? Yeah, there's three. There's even less. When you start the start of the year and then your final one.

Stretching it a long way. So what she needs to work out is, and I would be doing an extra budget for this, do from the day that the money comes in to the day, last day before the next one comes in, and work out all your accommodation costs, all your bills, all your subscriptions, your transport costs, and your food estimates.

And this is a hard one but you have to do it like it's your job. Do this really big budget and I suspect because most people couldn't make a maintenance loan only cover that whole four months. I don't think it's possible. I challenge anyone. Now if your parents were paying for your accommodation and then fine. But apart from that, I don't think most people could cover it. So even if you're doing really well and even if you're on pastas and pot noodles and walking and not doing anything else, I don't think you're going to be covering it. So when you say you're dipping into your overdraft, what

a lot of people find they have to do is supplement their maintenance loan with either student overdraft, this is where the 0% credit cards tend to come in for people, or they get a job. And so that's the math that needs to be done. Then what you're doing is you're holding on for dear life and just thinking, if I cook for myself and if I be frugal sometimes, it's going to work out. And that's like crossing your fingers and it might not be your fault. This might be a mass situation where there is a deficit. And so if there's a deficit, and then I think what I always recommend is work out the loan length one, so the four months, but then divide it into monthly and really get you into a

head about, okay, if my loan's divided into four and it's across four months, for example, then actually this is my income for this month and these are my expenses this month. We've talked about doing a pay day, haven't we? Like maybe weekly. Because student life's so transient, like even a week, you can't go wrong in a week.

Or if you're wrong in a week, you've got three weeks to make up for it. Whereas if you pay yourself monthly as a student, like I feel like- Yeah, so. But I think so working out that cost, I think there's gonna be a gap. So then what she has to decide is,

do I want to supplement that gap with credit? And this is a no judgment situation. Like it's a fact that she's just not gonna have enough. Is she gonna use her overdraft for this, whatever. Or could she get extra job, get bar work? I think when you know what the amount is, it's easier. Yeah, and you should, you say, oh, I'm dipping into my overdraft.

Well, if you did a proper financial budget, you'd know exactly how much you're dipping into. I know that I dip into my overdraft 300 pounds every month. Or that I need to, because there's a gap. Good deal, what did you do for extra, we talked about it the other day, what did you do for extra income at uni? I wouldn't recommend this if you're allergic to cats

like I am, but I did a lot of cats in. That was good. And because you knew you need, I know you said you weren't all over the numbers and you just in your head lived a student life, but you knew you needed more. Yeah, I was just trying to do any extra stuff. I think like dog walking and I wanted to do that anyway.

I did tutoring as well. So like, I think there was a website called like My Tutor or something. And I was teaching like, I was just tutoring like GCC science and maths and stuff. And that was good. It was like 11 pound an hour, which was pretty good at the time.

And you don't have to be out and about. You can do that from home if you want to. It's flexible. Cause I didn't really want to commit to, I was like, my course was very like nine to five, Monday to Friday. So I didn't want to commit to like a Saturday job or something because I knew I wouldn't, I'd burn out.

Yeah. You wanted the flexibility. Seriously, like you got like a bar job or something because I knew I'd burn out. You wanted the flexibility. Seriously, you got like a bar job or that's suddenly a long day and then you're on a shift and if you're not feeling it, you got the shift. Yeah, it requires like a commitment. But these were kind of like gig economy. So it was like, if someone's going on holiday,

you just go and look after their cat for a bit or whatever. I looked after a very high needs dog at one point as well. That was not worth the squeeze. High needs dog. It couldn't be left alone. He'd cry. He was like, like serious. I'd be like, so he's extra.

Cause he's really needy. But the shows you can supplement your, you don't have to go and do the, I'm going to go and work in Topshop for seven hours on a Saturday. You can look at other ways to supplement your income around your uni work. RIP Topshop. I hours on a Saturday, you can look at other ways to supplement your income around your uniware. I know, but they're talking about bringing out

new standalone Topshop stores. I saw that as a rumor the other day, I was like, oh my God, I'm there. I'll be there. But doing the budget and the actual, doing a realistic budget, right, that reflects your needs to be able to enjoy yourself a little bit and seeing what that gap is, that can then help you go, right, I am down at 250 pounds a month, so I will either be going to

my overdraft and taking that. And we want these credits to be a last resort. We want you to be able to try and, as we said, like healthily tread water, just like swim a little bit even, not even actually tread water. You can really start to see how, oh, that's 50 quid a week or like 60 quid a week, whatever. It makes that gap jumpable, like it makes it achievable.

So, oh, I think I also means, I think I could cut back by 50 quid a month. I don't need to get a job. Yeah. That can really help you go, I'd rather not. So I'm going to be better and I'm not going to do that meal out that ticket out. Less night student prices two nights out a month.

Yeah, exactly. I think so nowadays. It's like one of those. You can't have it all. So which do you want to do? Which do you want to do? And so, but she is. Or do you wanna go and get a job? It's like one of those, it's like, you can't have it all, so which do you wanna do? Which do you wanna do? And so, but she didn't mention any numbers, which makes it even though she's set good intentions

and set in the budget and well done, the actuals, when you are back against the wall, are important, then less important when you've got room to move and stuff. Like I said, with pots nowadays, we should be able to divide our money up into the different weeks and pay as you go. And if you have a bougie week,

you pull it back the next one. And the best thing we can do is limit the debt that we leave union, because we're already leaving it with a tuition fee loan and the maintenance loan. Like some of the people we talked about earlier, they said, I wish I'd have saved. It's like, if you saved, like Grace Beverly managed to like start the business.

Like we're not all able to do that. Just if you can get out a bit unscathed, then you're already doing amazingly well. And hopefully you've been able to live a little bit while you do it. And just making sure you don't see the overdraft as free money. Like a lot of people said,

I wish I hadn't seen it as free money because it's your own money. Definitely. You can probably ask to get it removed as well I wish I hadn't seen it as free money because it's your own money. Definitely. You can probably ask to get it removed as well if you actually don't need it. If yeah. Do you know then the temptation is not there? But a lot of people don't actually need it,

especially if you've got another part-time job or income coming in or you're managing. If you can say no and not use it. If you can remove the temptation, then maybe we do that. You've got free will, like I've loved that TikTok trend where it's like, when you realize you've got free will and someone just walks in,

I remember it was Easter time, a girl just walked into the supermarket, got an Easter egg off the shelf, went back into a car, just ate an Easter egg. She's like, when you remember you've got free will, I was like, I've got free will. I can't remember not paying. She didn't steal it, it was just the,

I can go and eat an Easter egg whenever I want. I don't have to wait for the Easter bunny to deliver, I can just go and eat in Easter Egg whenever I want. I don't have to wait for the Easter Bunny to deliver. I can just go and eat in my car. That's me and mini bars are expensive vending machines. You got free will and you have money. Go have the cold Diet Coke out the mini bar. If you go to London, it's literally like a tenner for a Diet Coke. It's so, and all like five pounds for a bag of like knobby's nuts.

And the mini bars do with me. Yeah, and the v five pounds for a bag of like knobby's nuts. And the mini bars do a video, yeah. On a vending machine as well. Should have walked out of Crookes in London before like nuts. I just can't, even though I've got free will, I just can't. Yeah, to grow an adult. It's my money. If it was my parents, I'd be like, shh. Nuts. Okay, any final words for all of our students out there?

Oh, there's so many. Like it is tough. Yeah. Like don't feel bad on yourself and don't feel pressure to come out of university in a financially positive situation. But having debt and having, you know, had a tough time is not financially negative either. That's expected. So go into it with eyes wide open. But the little, I think to your point, lady, like finding joy in the little hacks and the little wins, tracking some of the numbers as you go,

like not having high pressure on yourself. You're setting yourself up for later, if you can, not going like absolutely boozy, blowing, blowing spends, putting yourself into- You don't sabotage yourself financially. Because you'll come out and what has everyone said, the way like everyone, you know, if you listen to this and you're not a student, but you're like one of us, you will have said, I wish I'd have and sabotaging is really interesting. I think it's like that self-sabotage point.

Like, yes, you're at uni and you're forgiven for not being like the most financially well you're gonna be your whole life, but there are things you can put in place that means that you can be better. It's like making sure you've got a budget, making sure you shop around for the best of the all. Shopping around, being savvy, cooking your own meals.

These are things that compound, like across the different products and across the different foods choices. And you can build a treat into the budget. I think that's the thing, you can build the night out into the budget. In fact, we've got a really good article, haven't we, around how to stick to, not sabotage your budget

on a night out. There's things you can do when you break it all down, but when you just kind of like, la la la la la, I'll be fine, I'll have pasta once in a while. It's like, no, no, you need to, you've got a bit of work to do, but it will set you up because we promise you it will change. You will get income coming in. You'll get jobs. You'll not have to live like that forever. You will reminisce about, do you remember when we were shooting and we ate like this,

and now we're like kings, maybe, but it's not forever. Yeah. Okay, that is all for this episode. The vault is now closed and thank you to Compare the Market for sponsoring our special student episode. And just a quick disclaimer, the vault is just a chat or online for many topics

we're not giving financial advice.