Being a student means living on a budget most of the time as you have no time for full-time work because of studies. However, the need to save funds doesn’t mean that you should deprive yourself of the fundamental life goodies; it only means that you should learn to spend money smarter. Read on to find out great tips for getting more for less.
Save Money on Food
No, we don’t mean eating less or starving! Most students don’t even realize how much money they usually spend on food, either by ordering ready-made meals or by shopping for products at local supermarkets. Our tips are:
• cook on your own (it’s always way cheaper than dining out)
• watch out for sales and happy hours at local food shops (many supermarkets have discounts for evening shoppers)
• Look at the expiry date of the products (prices for the products with approximating “best before” dates are always lower)
By keeping your eyes open for such offers, you can cut up to 30% of your weekly food expenses.
Get Academic Assistance at Times of Need
If you study and work part-time or have a family to take care of, deadlines can get really strangulating. Spending sleepless nights on studies is not a suitable variant as self-exhaustion and burnout can only result in poor-quality papers, low grades, and a final expulsion. Enrolling to a college again will cost you a heap of money, so to save these funds, you can get assistance from a reliable academic writing provider from time to time.
PaperWriter.com is one of those assistants you’ll appreciate in the hard times of exams. The company has special offers for students on a budget and always delivers exceptional-quality papers. Thus, outsourcing your assignments to their professionals will always be the best bang for your buck.
Monitor Your Expenditures
We would all spend much less if we knew exactly how much we’re spending and on what categories of products and services we spend too much. The biggest problem of modern consumers is a lack of financial literacy, which results in chronic overspending and a vague idea of the current status of one’s budget.
To avoid the trouble with spending more than you can afford, make a clear budget to stick to. It’s very convenient to keep the budget-related Excel spreadsheet, recording all your actual and planned expenditures. Complete such a spreadsheet for 1-2 months, and you will see whether you’re in line with your budget or you overspend.
If there are some problems and budget gaps in your spreadsheet, then you should analyze the past expenditures to see where cutting the costs is the least problematic. With time, you’ll learn to differentiate between what you really need and what you whimsically want at the moment. With such a critical insight into expenditures, you’ll be able to plan wiser, saving money for priorities.
Spend Less on Books
While at college or university, students have to spend much money on textbooks as no educational establishment covers their acquisition. But buying all of them brand-new from a local bookstore will cost a fortune! No need to follow this path as you can save on books in several ways. The first option is to buy used ones on Amazon
.
Another option is to rent books only for the time you need them, which is possible at many resources, such as CampusBooks. Finally, you can always copy the textbook your classmates have or buy one book together with a couple of peers, making copies for personal use. These tricks can save lots of money, especially taking into account that you’ll need most of the books only for one semester or less.
Shop Smarter
Everyone needs clothing and household items, so you can’t do without shopping from time to time. Not all of us are shopaholics, but still, the sky is the limit when it comes to purchasing something new. To keep yourself at bay and not to overspend, you can shop at discount centers and stock stores. They sell out collections of previous years with impressive discounts, so you have an excellent chance to get a great thing for half of its price or even less.
For the time of studies, we recommend staying away from well-known brands as most of their items cost 2-3 times higher than a generic item of lesser-known brand costs, with no compromise for quality. Finally, it’s always good to ask for student-specific discounts. Most stores and service providers have some special offers for students, which you may enjoy and spend less every time you go shopping.
As you can see, saving money during the college years is not as hard as it might seem. The key to success is to avoid impulsive purchases, stick to your shopping list, and watch out for exclusive deals and discounts. In this way, you’ll always keep your spending under control, having free money for some leisure activities and pleasures.
