How I Built My First Student Budget (And Actually Stuck to It)

byJoshua DCosta
-July 3, 2025

Before we start, let me be honest—I didn’t build a student budget because I wanted to be responsible. I mean sure, it started with that intention, but realistically, I built it because I ran out of money in the middle of the month twice in a row and still had groceries, a weekend plan, and didn’t want to be excluded from outings. Luckily enough, I had generous parents who helped me up in those first few months as I was adjusting managing my own expenses, but for those who don’t, they’re forced to take responsibility immediately, which is a big task.

Living in Dubai as a student isn’t cheap. Between random taxi rides, late night food orders while studying, and miscellaneous expenses, it added up way faster than I expected. I knew I had to figure out exactly where my money was going and make sure I had enough left over for the basics, with just a BIT left for going out, and a bit more in saving. So, I sat down, opened a blank page, and started building something that made sense for my life—not a finance YouTuber’s.

This is how I built my first student budget, what worked, what didn’t, and how I actually managed to stick to it.

My Wake Up Call

I think every student hits that moment when they realise they’ve got less money than they thought—and somehow the month isn’t even halfway through. For me, it actually hit the first WEEK being in Dubai. I’d paid for a lot of taxis, ordered delivery a few too many times, and gone to a few freshers parties. By the time I checked my account, it was such a shock.

And the worst part? I didn’t even know where all the money had gone. I just knew I lost a lot of money from savings, still had two weeks of uni left, and didn’t want to ask my parents for a top-up. It was that awkward combo of embarrassment and panic. That’s when it really clicked that I needed to start budgeting—not in some scary spreadsheet way, but just to stop living in financial denial.

So yeah, no finance book or anything like that—just me, broke, annoyed, and very motivated to figure things out.

Before I could even think about budgeting, I had to figure out one simple thing: how much money do I actually have coming in every month? And even though it was fairly clear cut for me, there were a few more factors that I considered.

At the time, I had a bit of everything. I was getting a very generous monthly allowance from my parents, some random freelance work here and there, and the occasional cash boost from doing odd jobs. But it was inconsistent. Some months I felt rich. Other months I was scraping by and wondering why.

So, I pulled up bank statements and recorded from memory, every type of income I’d had in the last two months. The key wasn’t to look at the biggest month—it was to figure out my average. What could I reliably count on? Not the rare 500-dirham freelance job, but the things I knew were likely to come in every month.

In the end, I settled on this:

2000 AED from my monthly allowance
Around 300 AED from tutoring one client
100–200 AED from odd side hustles (which I decided not to count—too inconsistent)

So my monthly budget had to work with about 2,300 AED max. Once I got that number down, things started to feel more real. It was like—okay, this is my total pie. And believe me, this is MORE than enough to live well and save well. It all came to how I divided it up.

Step Two: Tracking Where the Money Goes

Okay, so now I knew how much I had—but I had no clue where it was going. I mean, I had guesses: food, gym stuff, random clothes purchases, taxiing when I didn’t feel like walking. But until I actually tracked it, it was all just vibes.

So for one full month, I did something very not-me: I tracked every single expense. I didn’t use anything fancy—just a basic table in Notion where I wrote:

What I spent on
How much
And why (like “lunch with friends” or “impulse snacks after class”)

It was kind of annoying at first, but also weirdly satisfying. Like, when you actually write down “34 AED – Spanish Latte from campus + shawarma + chips” three days in a row, you start seeing the pattern. You realise how the small stuff stacks up. Even though I was blowing cash on big expenses, I was also slowly leaking it on food, taxis, and random campus coffees.

Here’s where it all added up the most:

Food/delivery – my biggest category by far (Talabat, going out, etc. )
Transport – Careem would KILL my budget, and I wasn’t used to the RTA system at first.
Random spending – snacks, drinks, clothes, parties, etc.

Once I had a full month logged, I grouped everything into rough categories—food, transport, uni stuff, personal, and random. This gave me a baseline: how I was spending without any budget at all. Spoiler: it wasn’t pretty, but it was real.

That one month of tracking gave me more clarity than any finance video ever could. It helped me stop lying to myself about where my money went. And from there, it was time to set actual spending limits.

Step Three: Setting Limits

After tracking every dirham, I had a clearer picture. But just knowing where my money was going wasn’t enough—I needed to organise it so I could control it. The problem? Most budgeting advice I found online threw these huge, complicated categories at me, like “discretionary spending” or “financial goals.” That didn’t feel real for a stressed student juggling classes, work, and an unpredictable social life.

So, I kept it simple. I broke my spending down into four main buckets:

Essentials: Groceries, transport, and uni stuff (I didn’t pay rent)
Food & Drinks: Meals out, uni coffees, snacks, delivery
Personal: Gym, clothes, gadgets, etc.
Miscellaneous: Gifts, unexpected expenses

Then I set spending limits for each—nothing too high that I was overspending, and nothing too low to where I was living poorly – just what I felt was realistic based on my tracked spending. For example, food got the biggest slice because I knew I liked eating out, but I cut back on delivery and snacks, and started cooking a bit more (which led to my love of cooking!)
By assigning real targets to these categories, I stopped feeling guilty about spending on things I enjoyed. It wasn’t about zero fun, just fun with fewer consequences. Plus, it made decisions easier: if I blew my food budget early in the month, I’d know to dial it back and cook at home more.

This system gave me control and flexibility—two things every student budget needs.

What I Got Wrong (and Had to Fix)

This bit’s all about the mistakes I made – maybe not something everyone would admit to, but I’m not above admitting I made some crazy inferences. Now, building a budget sounds great in theory—but actually living with it? Yeah, that took some learning.

The first mistake I made was trying to be way too strict. I told myself I’d stop eating out completely, spend almost nothing on fun, and save 30% of my income. Ambitious? Sure. Realistic? Absolutely not. Within the second week, I cracked. I ordered Baskin Robbins after a long day, bought an iced latte while waiting for class, and suddenly my “perfect plan” was ruined.

What I learned: a budget has to work with your life, not against it. So instead of pretending I was going to meal prep every day, I budgeted realistically for 2–3 meals out a week. That way, when I did grab food with friends, I didn’t feel like I was “breaking” anything.

Another thing I got wrong? Forgetting to budget for one-off stuff. Things like birthdays, random uni expensives or pharmacy runs really do add up. The first time one of those came up, I’d get frustrated because it threw off my plan. Now I have a little “buffer” category—just 50–100 AED/month—for the unexpected.

Oh, and I also tried tracking every single dirham for three months straight daily. Don’t do that. It’s exhausting. Once I had the rhythm, I switched to weekly check-ins instead. Much more doable.

So yeah, I didn’t get it perfect. But I didn’t need to. The goal wasn’t to become some kind of spreadsheet wizard—it was just to stop feeling broke and confused halfway through every month. And for that, the imperfect version totally worked.

The Tools That Helped

Once I had the basic structure of my budget, I needed something to keep me consistent. Not obsessed—just *on track*. And honestly, I didn’t want to spend more time managing my money than actually earning it.

Here’s what ended up working for me:

Notion – This became my main hub. I built a super simple table with monthly categories, spending limits, and actual expenses. No crazy formulas—just columns for:
- Budgeted amount
- Actual spent
- Notes (like “went over because of friend’s birthday”)

I liked that I could customise it exactly how I wanted. Plus, it *looks* nice, so I didn’t mind opening it every week. I even made a little progress bar for each category. That visual feedback? Weirdly motivating.

My Banking App – This one was underrated. Most UAE student-friendly bank apps have built-in tracking—like Mashreq Neo, Liv, or Emirates NBD. I have FAB, so I set up notifications for every transaction so I could stay aware without needing to manually log everything. Even though you know exactly what you’re spending on in theory because most of your purchases are in person, you may have digital purchases such as subscriptions which you’re unsure as to when they’re due.
Weekly Reminders – I set a 10-minute reminder every Sunday to log my expenses and check in on my budget. Just once a week—nothing more. If I skipped it, I didn’t beat myself up, but having the reminder kept it in my routine. That consistency made the biggest difference.
Optional: Finance Apps – I tested a few like Spendy, Wallet, and Goodbudget, but honestly? I always came back to my Notion + banking combo. The apps were nice, but too many features just made things feel overwhelming.
These tools didn’t make me some budgeting wizard overnight, but they made things simple enough that I *stuck with it.* And that’s what mattered.

Conclusion

I didn’t build the “perfect” student budget. I didn’t follow the 50/30/20 rule, I didn’t automate savings into five accounts, and I definitely didn’t stop spending on coffee (let’s be real). What I did do was make a system that worked for how I live, not how finance influencers think I should live.

Building my first student budget gave me control—not in a restrictive, money-hoarding way, but in a “hey, I know what I can afford this weekend” kind of way. It made my spending intentional. And once I figured that out, the stress around money basically disappeared.

If you’re a student and you’ve been winging it like I was, you don’t need a big dramatic overhaul. Just start. Track your income, write down your expenses, and give yourself limits that actually make sense. You’ll tweak it along the way—and that’s fine.

At the end of the day, your budget should feel like a safety net, not a straightjacket.

FAQs

1. Do I need to use spreadsheets or Notion to make a budget?
Nope. Pen and paper work too. But using Notion or your bank app just makes it easier to check in regularly and stay consistent.

2. How much should I be saving as a student?
If you can save even 10–15% of what you get, that’s great. But don’t stress if it’s less. Cover your needs first, and save when you can.

3. What if my income changes every month?
Base your budget on your minimum reliable income, not your best month. Anything extra is a bonus.

4. Do budgeting apps actually help?
They can, but only if you’ll use them regularly. I found that keeping it simple (Notion + my banking app) worked best for me.

5. I always overspend. What should I do?
Try adding a “buffer” category into your budget. That way, if you go over, it doesn’t wreck everything else. Also, don’t aim for perfection—aim for awareness.

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Joshua DCosta

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