Allowances, tuition fee, group outings, house parties, mess bills, exam fees… we’ve all been there! Managing your money as a student is far from easy. All the excitement of breaking out of your parents’ shadows and being free fizzles out as soon as you’re bombarded with real-life responsibilities. You soon realize that adulting isn’t all that fun.
Money is limited, but the opportunities to spend them are limitless. You need to make the right choices and strike a balance between academics and fun. Because, after all, this is the age for adventure. Redowan Nafi, an Engineering student from Dhaka, Bangladesh, can’t seem to agree more. “This is also the best age to pick up the right financial habits,” he says. And, that’s the reason why he turned to Wallet.
Living in a developing country, as a student with a monthly income of less than $150, Redowan says he needs to keep an eye on every poisha (penny). “With the help of Wallet, now I can dictate how much money I should be spending on fun, without feeling guilty about it,” he says. Wallet has helped him stay on track, learn more about managing his money the right away and has taken away stress from the equation.
We spoke to Redowan to know more about how he uses Wallet and what he loves about it. Here’s his story!
Hi Redowan! Could you please tell us a bit about yourself?
Hi! I’m pursuing my Bachelors in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. I’m a full-time student with a monthly income less than $150, which, by the way, is pretty decent for a student in our country. I live in Dhaka, Bangladesh, a developing country in the womb of India.
How did you start using Wallet and what do you mainly use it for?
I was on the lookout for an app that would help me manage my money. I tried out many apps like Pocket Expense, Money Lover, Coin Keeper, Monefy, Mobills…. Actually, I downloaded almost all the budget apps available on the Play Store. I wanted something pretty and clutter-free. Once I started using Wallet, I fell in love with it. Now, I use it mainly to put a leash on my limited monthly expense as a student.
What, according to you, sets it apart from the other apps that you had used?
I was instantly taken in by the aesthetics of the app. Then, I tested it for a week to check out its core functionalities and the ease of use. Wallet is really good at visually representing contextual data via impeccable graphs. I also love the intuitive categorizations of income and expenses. The interactive web app is one of the best I have seen so far.
What are your favorite features in Wallet?
The elaborate graphs for distinctive accounts, intuitive categorization of income and expenses, built-in currency converter, the ease and flexibility of input, and mostly the overall aesthetics. The ability to set custom range is another strong point.
The web version is incredible to get a bird’s eye view of my entire financial history.
Considering you are a student, have you ever used the Group Sharing tool to split expenses with your friends?
Yes, I did try the Group Sharing tool with a friend to plan for my birthday party. We used it for almost everything, right from listing stuff to managing expenses. It worked flawlessly.
Do you follow a budget? And, has Wallet helped you stick to it?
Since I’m a student in a developing country, I do have to follow a strict monthly budget. I have been using Wallet to monitor my expenses and put a leash on my bad money habits for a while. Now that I have an idea about what the loopholes are through which I’m losing money, I used this knowledge to start a monthly budget on Wallet. So far it’s been working as it should, giving me a boost of motivation every morning.
What is the biggest lesson you learnt about money after having used Wallet?
I have always been afraid to monitor my financial habits and I didn’t want to restrict myself with a monthly budget. But I learnt it the hard way that despite having a decent earning, it doesn’t take much to burn all the money on useless stuff and end up with nothing. So I took a more proactive approach to monitoring my financial habits and now with the help of Wallet, I’m definitely going for the root of the problem. I also follow the BudgetBakers blog and now I feel significantly less awkward talking about money, budgeting, planning. Right now I mostly catch myself dreaming about extravagant vacations or buying fancy gadgets. I feel like it’s not too hard to get there if I manage my money right.
How has your attitude towards money management changed after using Wallet?
The answer is simple. I know where my money is going and I can ask myself if what I spent it on was worth it. With the help of Wallet, now I can dictate how much money I should be spending on fun without feeling guilty about it. That is the beauty of taking an analytical approach with the right tool. It takes only five minutes of deliberate planning everyday.Thanks to Wallet, now I’m not scared of managing or tracking my money anymore. I feel more confident about my finances.
What’s your Wallet story?
Share with us your own Wallet success story and get featured on our blog! Send in your experiences to us at jan@www-2.budgetbakers.com. Make sure to write “Wallet helped me!” in the subject line. We can’t wait to hear from you.
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