The one-off costs that arrive at the start

The first two months are the expensive ones and they are routinely left out: a deposit plus rent in advance, furnishing a room from nothing, a laptop, a travel pass, course-specific equipment, and the cost of the first weeks when everything is new and you are meeting everybody.

Budget the start separately from the rest of the year. Students who borrow expensively in month one are usually not overspending — they modelled month one as though it were month nine.