Tips for Saving Money in College

Having trouble taking care of your budget in college?

As a student, it’s very hard to maintain that money you’re getting especially when you first moved there on your first year.

There’s a lot to think about now that you’re living on your own – eating, laundry, games and of course, partying.

The worst advise someone gave me before if to stop having fun and save money essentially on food which was terrible because as a student, socializing is very important.

Unless you’re doing Masters or PhD thesis, you need your friends because there’s a lot of team work projects that you’ll be getting and you wouldn’t want to be the odd one out right?

Here’s some useful tips that I personally use in college and so should you:

1)  Check several bookstores before buying

Stationary stores know that it’s a gold mine to open up their businesses near universities and schools.

Unethically, they also know that we students NEED books so they will charge high for books and a lot of students will just buy because they thought those prices are reasonable and plus, they are desperate.

However, there are always several stationary stores at college because surely other businessmen would want a cut of that gold right?

So because of that, these bookstores will compete with each other to get students and their best strategy? Lowering the price!

So when you are in need of books, do check several stores first before buying as some stores have a cheaper price.

Don’t know which shop should you go to?

Go to book stores that are NOT located in a corner lot because 99% of the time, those stores will charge the highest because they have the better advantage of visibility.,

So due to that, all the other stores in the row who have lower visibility will often charge lower to attract money-conscious buyers so there’s your best bet.

2) Make as many friends as possible

EVEN those who you particularly don’t want to approach.

This is because you will never know that any one of those will have some connections to get you certain advantage that other freshmen won’t get.

5 years ago while I was in medical school, I managed to save $2,500 (Medical books are a LOT) solely on books because a friend that I made there turned out to be a senior.

She brought me to her uncle’s bookstore which sells books cheaper by 70% of what other bookstores are costing.

And better yet, the storeowner really liked me and he sometimes gave me free books can you believe that!

I stopped going there after he asked me to marry his daughter but you get the idea ;).

3) Try out dieting

Okay I’m kind of a lazy person so I don’t actually diet properly.

Meaning that I don’t count all those complicated calories and check which food should I order and all that complicated steps dieters take.

Instead, I make sure that I ONLY eat breakfast, lunch and dinner without those unnecessary snacking.

Because of that, I saved a pile of money by not buying burgers and hotdogs whenever I get a break or whenever I see an interesting store.

Beware though, it can get a bit uncomfortable on your first few days because your body needs to adjust back.

I actually started my proper breakfast lunch dinner routine after coming back from France because over there, everyone will look at you weird if you walk around with French fries and coke.

You need to be classy and only eat according to the proper timing.

Besides, doing this in college will also make you look classy enough to be recognized by the other students and who wouldn’t want that?

You could be a hot stuff most talked about in college!

4) Doing a small business

Doesn’t have to be a market flea sale though, you can just do everything online.

Online business is all but the rage today and back in school, I used to sell apartment items through Facebook for new college students.

It’s good business and each week I get about a minimum $500 which I would say not bad at all for a student!

You can start building your own viable online business for free today at Wealthy Affiliate.

Believe it or not, this helps you sharpen your entrepreneurial skills too as in class, my ideas when it comes to projects tend to improve the more I involve myself in business.

Everyone lives in a business world today so if you don’t at least have a go at it while studying, you’ll lose out on some valuable experience when you get older!

5) Make full use of your campus facilities

Sometimes we can get too obsessed in buying stuff that we tend to forget that we can actually get that for free.

For example, I used to pay for expensive gym memberships and social events and clubs to fill my time and usually those costs are monthly.

But after scouring around the campus grounds, I almost forgot that my college actually have a free movie night entry and a free gym too for students.

So before paying for all those unnecessary facilities outside, do check your college facilities first.

They may vary on facilities but you’ll be shocked at what you’ll find!

 

Conclusion

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Your student life is your most valuable and fun life because all you need worry about is studying compared to when you’re already working and married.

Therefore do make full use of your time save your money on unnecessary things so that you can do more for your future and of course, to enjoy at the same time.

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