5 Tricks to Save Money in College

Ciao lovelies! Today, I’m going to tell you 5 ways to save money while in college. It’s harder to save money in college because you want to spend it on stuff like delivery food, online shopping, and comfort food during exam weeks. But with these 5 tricks, you’ll save money in college fairly easily.

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Trick #1- Eat at the Cafeteria.

If your college does meal plans like mine, USE THEM. You’re paying for it anyway, use the thing. Don’t order delivery every night or go out to eat. Not subtweeting anyone here, it’s just legitimately a good money-saving idea. Especially because there’s always a delivery charge with delivery food, and the tip for the driver. It ends up being way more expensive than it’s worth. Do your bank account a favor and skip the delivery a few times. You’ll save a lot of money!

Trick #2- Never Shop for Snacks While Hungry.

Okay, this is a BIG one. It’s inevitable that you’ll need some snacks for your room, so no problem. Just be sure to eat before going shopping for them. If you go snack shopping while hungry, you’ll overbuy, and spend a ton of money on just snacks. Trust me, I’ve had it happen. Make a list before you go and stick to it. This will help you only buy what you intended.

Trick #3- Buy in Bulk.

Laundry Detergent/softener? Bulk buy it. Shampoo and conditioner? Same deal. If you buy big enough, it’ll last you the whole semester and be a lot cheaper than buying a bunch of tiny bottles. Those little bottles of laundry detergent at Dollar Tree SEEM like a good deal until you realize you can only get two loads out of them. TWO. LOADS. That’s not even a full bedding wash day, especially since college washers and dryers are notoriously small. Snacks? Also buy in bulk. And if you can, swap water bottles out for a water filter. You’ll end up saving money that way. My roomie and I have one because her friend bought one for her, but we can’t fit the pitcher into our fridge. Sadly.

Trick #4- Get an On Campus Job.

Do this ASAP when you get to school for the year. Campus jobs let you do homework during your job, which is super helpful and you’ll really appreciate that over an off-campus job. Plus, at minimum, you at least make minimum wage. Some colleges have a max hours you can work per year though, so be aware of this when choosing your job. Also be aware of when they expect you to work versus your class times. On-campus jobs are usually super understanding and work with your class schedule. Off-campus jobs? Well, my friend works off of his campus, and his job has tried scheduling him over class times multiple times. He even told them when his classes are. They just don’t care. On-Campus jobs are definitely the way to go about it, especially in freshman year when you probably won’t have a car.

Trick #5- Learn to Budget.

This is a skill that you’ll use even when you’re all grown up in a house of your own, so learning it now is pretty darn valuable. I personally recommend Microsoft Excel for making a budget spreadsheet. I’ll be posting a full tutorial on that one day, so keep an eye out for it. For now though, the basics are simple.

Put in your costs for the month, and your income. Make sure to include spots for snacks/grocery shopping too. If you’re a girl, include the cost of pads/tampons. All of these things are important.

SIMPLE EXCEL BUDGET TUTORIAL

Step One- Open the budget template

 

Step Two- Put in your incomes (usually 2 paychecks) using the monthly income tab.

Step Three- Put in your expenses using the monthly expenses tab.

Step Four- Go back to the summary tab. You can see the percentage of your monthly income that you spent, as well as how much you have left, and from there, you can adjust your spending habits.

BONUS TIP- Get a savings account, and save a set amount of each paycheck.

Most banks will let you do an automatic transaction each time you get a paycheck that will automatically move a certain amount of each paycheck into savings. I recommend $10 to start, and go up by $5 each month. Go talk to your bank in person (at a local branch) to see if they have this option for you. If not, just do it manually each paycheck. DO NOT TOUCH YOUR SAVINGS UNLESS IT’S A REAL EMERGENCY.

So those are 6 tips on how to save money in college! I will be doing more lifestyle posts like this, I really like them.

Thank you for reading! I hope these tips help you save money! For more money saving tips, check out THIS post by The Stick Vaccums. They've got 76 easy ways to save money!

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Thank you so much for reading, I’ll see you in tomorrow’s post!