It can be daunting as a prospective international student thinking about the financial costs associated with moving away to study. The added costs of flights and additional luggage, as well as international fees can be a stress, but here is how I navigated it: Plan what you’re bringing in advance: I personally found it a lot easier to have a plan on what I was bringing over with me, and what I was panning on buying when I got to Liverpool. I bought a diary a few months in advance before I moved over in September. I made a list and separated the things I needed into different categories i.e., bathroom necessities, kitchen necessities, bedroom necessities, uni supplies (stationary). Once I had this list, I checked off what I was going to bring with me, which left me with what I needed to buy once I got here. If you are flying, I don’t think it’s a good idea to bring heavy stuff with you or things that will take up too much space in your suitcases, such as pans, pots, lunch boxes, beakers and bottles, cutlery, duvet and pillows, towels etc. You can buy these really cheap once you get here. Primark does a duvet and pillows in a bag for really cheap, less than £20, depending on the size you’re buying (single, double, king etc). Home bargains and B&M do really affordable options of all things I mentioned above, it really shouldn’t cost you that much and more than likely costs more to add additional suitcases onto your flight. I did bring one duvet cover set with me so I only had to buy one when I got here, and the duvet sheets really don’t take up that much room in your suitcase. Plan your weekly spending: It would be beneficial to create a list of your expenses, the money you have now, and any income you may get from work, student loans, birthdays/Christmas etc. Expense list examples include rent, tuition fees, laundry costs, phone bill, Spotify bill etc. What I do is write out the money I have now, and then take away these expenses, for example: To keep it easy, let’s say phone bill is £10, Spotify is £5, laundry is £7, then if you multiply these by the amount of weeks you will be here in Liverpool. So, if you’re here for 40 weeks, then £10 x 40 = £400, £5 x 40 = £200, £7 x 40 = £280, then add these expenses together. So, £400 + £200 + £280 = £880. So if you have £4000, then minus £880 = £3,120. Then to figure out what your weekly money allowance is, divide the amount you have left after accounting for expenses, by the duration you will be here. So, £3,120/40weeks = £78 per week for food/coffees/discretionary etc. Obviously these are just examples and you could have more or less expenses but this is just a working example of the best way to try to sort out your weekly money allowance to ensure you don’t run out of money! I prefer to write these out in a diary but you could chose to do all of this on Excel instead. Where to food shop: There are a lot of options in Liverpool as to where you want to do your weekly shop. Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, M&S, Waitrose and much more. Where you chose to go is going to dictate how much money you spend on food. I find Aldi the cheapest, followed closely by Lidl. They’re located really close to one another so you can switch it up each week if you liked. For me, an average food shop in Aldi can be anywhere from £30-£45 maximum. For context, I am a powerlifter and would eat a lot of food and this is how much I have spent each week so far. Except for the first week I moved here. This is expected because you need to build up your fridge and press from scratch – buying oils, seasonings, herbs, sauces, flour etc, but this was my first and last expensive shop since I’ve been here! Asda is really handy if you want to get your shopping online and I have found it the cheapest online retailer over all the other shops I mentioned. With Asda online, you can choose the day and time slot that you want your food shop delivered, and the time slots have varying prices so you can make it as cheap as you like! Food staples: Preparing what you eat for the week and bulk buying and then meal prepping can really help save you money. Once you find what you like, its easy to rotate foods weekly and keep costs at a minimum once you’ve tried out those meals. I find porridge oats the best option for breakfast. I rotate the fruits that I buy and so I have different toppings each week. Some weeks would be banana and blueberries, others would be raspberries and seed mix, the following would be blackberries and jam. It’s a really easy and cheap breakfast staple that you can easily and cheaply switch up each week! Some more staples that last a while would be eggs, pasta, noodles, rice, chips, frozen vegetables, peanut butter, canned beans, honey, potatoes: and remember you can freeze bread and wraps if you aren’t going to use them before their use by date! I probably only have 3 months maximum left living here in Liverpool, and have been here the last 6 months, and have found £85/week is enough for me, included in that is grocery shop, gym membership each month, nail appointments etc so it’s definitely do-able! But if you have any more questions, feel free to ask! 😊 Gemma