Being a student is not very commonly associated with being extremely secure from a financial point of view. However, this does not have to mean that students don’t need to (or cannot) save money. If you are a student and if you have decided to live frugally, you’re in the right place because we have gathered some great tips to help you save money – so read on and find out more!
Bye, Bye Coffee Shops
For a lot of people, their college years are also the years when they are introduced to drinking coffee on a regular basis. Sure, coffee shop coffee is attractive and it can be really delicious – but have you ever calculated how much you’re paying for it throughout one month only? Good news is that you don’t have to quit coffee (or tea) altogether if you enjoy it. You can simply buy a coffee maker (some of them are quite cheap and they do a wonderful job) and a travel mug (so that you can “pack” your coffee to-go).
Pay Attention to the Plastic
…the credit card, that is. Specialists estimate that a large part of the college students owe no less than $2,000 in credit card debt. Add this to your student loans and you will realize that $2,000 can make a huge difference. The key here? Avoid paying with the credit card (and keep it at home if it’s too tempting). This way, you will be able to save quite a lot of money!
Get a Budgeting App
If you are like most people in college right now, you probably do own a smartphone. Getting a budgeting app for your smartphone is a really great idea because it will help you keep track of how much you spend and how much you save. This way, you will be able to maximize your savings more efficiently and you will be able to eliminate any kind of habits that are costing you too much. Both Android and iOS support a large variety of budgeting apps (and some of them are really great AND free at the same time too) – so you will definitely be able to find something that suits your needs.
Free Entertainment
For every costly entertainment option, there’s another one that will cost you nothing (or near to nothing at least). Music can be listened for a small subscription every month (and a lot of the songs can be found for free online on services such as 8Tracks too), movies can be watched on Netflix (which costs $10 and is much less expensive than renting the movie or going to the cinema) and all of your other entertainment preferences have a “budget-friendly” version for sure as well!
Find a part-time job
While most students cannot get full-time jobs, all of them can get part-time jobs on campus. Usually, these jobs are quite fun and the employers are more than happy to allow you to build your own schedule so that you can go to school as well. Even more, some of them will even allow you to do homework or study when you’re not busy with your work-related tasks! A part-time job will add quite a lot of money to your budget, so you will be able to save more.