Living on an irregular income in college

This past week was Student loan/grant payment time for those studying in England. For many it was long over due.  Often students find themselves really struggling to budget with such an irregular income resulting in them going overdrawn or having to borrow from another source. However, there are a number of simple but effective ways to deal with an irregular income. 

1. When your student loan/grant comes in divide it up into the number of months that it needs to last you (usually 3 or 4) and put everything but this months money in a easy access savings account. This way you can pay your self a monthly pay cheque making it much easier to budget as you know how much you have to spend over shorter periods of time as well as long term. This essentially provides you with a regular income through an artificial means. Though it requires self-control to do this is really pays off and aids budgeting.
2. Try to have all bills frequent and rent infrequent. If you are fortunate like I am my landlord lets me pay my rent when student finance comes in, allowing me to pay 3 times a year. If you let your landlord know this before you sign the contract they are usually fine with it. For bills try to have them monthly. Quarterly/biannual bills are awful because it is so easy to forget about them, they are hard to budget for and it is hard to change your usage habits if you don't know how much you are using. 
3. Try to have fixed bills. For example at the moment my internet bill is a fixed monthly amount. This allows me to budget this easily as I know exactly what it will cost each month. Whereas my electricity bill is not fixed and so it is much more difficult to budget. If you don't have a fixed bill try to produce an average and allow a little more (about 10%) so as to give you some flexibility.
4. Splurge at the end of term, not the beginning. So your bank account is fuller than it has been in months. Stop, and think about much more rewarding it would be to have a treat at the end of term. Try to budget to leave your self an 'emergency fund' but if your are lucky and there are no emergencies this term you should have a nice pot of money to treat yourself or invest.
5. Stay out of your overdraft. Yes they are often charge free and interest free in student accounts but this is a habit to build for life. At the end of the day it is not your money and therefore do not consider it part of your student 'income'. This may be difficult but with careful budgeting (and potentially increasing income through part-time work) it is possible
6. Try to add a regular income into your budget. The best way to do this is to take up part time work. Adding some routine into your budget will make things easier and more manageable plus you'll have extra money to work with. You could use your part time work income specifically for bills to aid in the creation of a financial routine. 

Happy saving :)