How do I budget a maintenance loan?

Subtract rent for the term from the instalment, divide what is left by the weeks until the next payment, and spend to that weekly figure. The template and the spend-per-day calculator do the arithmetic.

Should I include my student overdraft?

Track it as a debt with a 0% rate and note when the interest-free period ends after graduation. It is a useful buffer and an expensive habit.

Yes. A plain CSV, no sign-up, usable in any spreadsheet or in The Income Tracker.

Free student budget template

By The Income Tracker · Updated 16 September 2026

In short

The maintenance loan arrives three times a year and has to last until the next instalment. This template works by term: loan and any job income in, halls or rent out first, then the weekly costs. Download the CSV, put in your own figures, and divide what is left by the weeks until the next payment.

Download the CSV template ↓ Open the tracker instead

Opens in Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers and LibreOffice. It is a plain CSV, so nothing is locked, tracked or macro-enabled.

What is in the template

Date	Description	Category	Money in	Money out	Term
2026-09-21	Maintenance loan instalment	Income	3150.00		Autumn
2026-09-21	Part-time job (monthly)	Income	320.00		Autumn
2026-09-22	Halls rent (term)	Housing		2100.00	Autumn
2026-09-23	Phone	Bills		12.00	Autumn
2026-09-24	Food shop	Groceries		42.30	Autumn
2026-09-26	Course books	Study		65.00	Autumn

Columns explained:

Date: When it happened. The loan instalment date is the anchor for each term.
Description: What it was. Keep names consistent so the same shop is easy to spot.
Category: Income, Housing, Bills, Groceries, Transport, Study, Going out, Subscriptions, Health, Savings.
Money in / Money out: Two columns for easy totals.
Term: Autumn, Spring, Summer. Filter by term to see whether the loan will last.

How to use it

Download the CSV and enter your maintenance loan instalment and any regular job income for the term.
Put rent for the term at the top. What remains is the money for everything else until the next instalment.
Divide that by the number of weeks in the term. That is your weekly number, and the spend-per-day calculator can break it down further.
Add spending as it happens, or import your bank CSV into The Income Tracker each month and let it do the sorting.

The January problem

The autumn instalment has to cover Freshers' Week, Christmas and the gap until January. Most students run short in December. The fix is boring and works: set the weekly figure in September, move a little to a savings pot each week, and treat December as two months.

Discounts that change the numbers

A 16-25 Railcard, student bank account overdrafts at 0%, student plans on streaming and software, and council tax exemption for full-time students all shift the budget. Put the real figures in the template rather than the headline prices.

The Income TrackerSkip the spreadsheet. Import your bank CSV and the totals do themselves.

Open the tracker →

Frequently asked questions

How do I budget a maintenance loan?: Subtract rent for the term from the instalment, divide what is left by the weeks until the next payment, and spend to that weekly figure. The template and the spend-per-day calculator do the arithmetic.
Should I include my student overdraft?: Track it as a debt with a 0% rate and note when the interest-free period ends after graduation. It is a useful buffer and an expensive habit.
Is it free?: Yes. A plain CSV, no sign-up, usable in any spreadsheet or in The Income Tracker.

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