5 Ways to save up money this upcoming Back to School.
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| The picture was taken from the Millennial Loteria website. |
Welcome to Frugal Friday's! I wanted to give my blog a twist, and share with you more lifestyle tips. I want my blog to go beyond beauty and makeup. As many of you already know I am a college student. I pay my tuition out of pocket, so money gets tight from time to time, and if I do not manage it right, I'll be in big trouble. A little background story; I have a part-time job, I am a part-time student, and I sometimes make a little extra cash by selling some crafts. I am blessed enough not to worry about rent or food money most of the times. But when I can I help with the groceries, and with items that need to be replaced around the house. There are fixed expenses that I have every single month, like my car payment, insurance payment, tuition. I learned that is better to be prepared than sorry. So I'll share with you 5 ways I implement to help me save some money.
Summer is almost over, and before you go back to school, hope you keep these tips in mind.
1. Make your coffee at home.
I can't stress this enough. If you need your coffee every day. Stop buying the coffee! I learned to see the money I spend on unnecessary things in the long run. Like for example if you spend $10 on coffee per week, make that $40 every month, now make that $480 on coffee every year. See now that adds up. Most of us already have a coffee maker at home, and If you do not, don't drop a big amount of money of a fancy one, just get a cheap one, buy some reusable coffee filters, your favorite coffee and creamer. And learn to give you sometime in the morning to get ready and prepare your coffee, that way you do not rush out the door and end up buying coffee. In the long run, it will not only save you some money but it will help the environment with all the coffee cups you won't be wasting.
2. Buy or rent used books.
I do not get financial aid. That's a story for another time folks. Anyway, I pay tuition out of pocket, so that means I have to pay for my books too! My first semester I had money saved up and my dad helped me a little so I dropped a couple hundred on my new books. After that I was like this is a waste of money (call me cheap or whatever). But man, it hurt to drop money on books that I used for a semester than after that they were just collecting dust under my bed. Later I found out you could buy used books or even better rent them! Since then that's what I have been doing unless I have to buy a program or an online access code. I know for sure college bookstores offer used books for rent or sale, but if you have a little extra time to do your research, try Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. They often offer books for so much less! But, be careful if you decide to rent them and be aware of the return date, so you do not end up paying late fees.
3. Join rewards programs & memberships that offer discounts to students.
Nowadays almost every store has a rewards program you can join for free, and they even give you discounts or points if you download their app. Take advantage of that. If you find yourself spending money already there then use that to your benefit, you'll end up getting points that will score you rewards money or free items. Places like Chick-fil-a give you points that can get you free food. Ulta gives you points that you can redeem to purchase an item. In the other hand before you sign up for a membership find out if they give a student discount. Amazon does! You end up paying half for amazon prime. If you get Spotify & Hulu with your student account you can pay less than $7 a month for both. But if you're a more coupon type of person I present to you UNYDAYS! Unydays is a platform you have to sign up with a student email, and you'll get coupons for around 10% off up to more stores like MAC cosmetics, UGGS, SAMS, etc. Lastly but not least ebates! they give cashback for every online purchase, and if you link your credit cards, you can even get instore cashback. You just have to sign up and remember to use it. They are certain stores that do not use ebates, so you can download the browser add on so that ebates pops up every time you are shopping at an online store with cashback.
4. Use school resources.
I do not know if this goes for everybody, but my community college, gives free Microsoft suite to students, meaning if you sign up with your student info, you'll get MS Word, MS Excel and more for free, while you are a student. They also offer the adobe suite. This can save you a lot of money. Ask the IT department in your school, see if they offer any free software to students.
Use libraries, if you have to read a book for a class, check with the library first, this way you won't have to buy it. Use the school tutors, if you are having problems with an assignment, seek help, schools often offer free tutoring to students.
5. Re-use old school supplies.
Often we get involve in capitalism and we think we need to buy new stuff every semester. We don't. Chances are you have most of your supplies already lying around your house. As college students, we rarely have to buy school supplies, we mostly need a notebook and pens. Try to reuse stuff you already have, and give it a second chance, you will not only be saving up some coins, but you will be saving the planet by not creating a lot of waste. If you need to buy calculators, tablets or laptops, try second hand. Buy them used, you will save a lot of money, and most of the times they are in great condition. I got my calculator for $40 bucks instead of $100.
Bonus
If you find yourself buying the same snacks every day at school, buy them by bulk. You will end up saving a lot of money. If you buy a bag of chips for $2.00 at the commons and at the store, you can buy a box of chips for $6.00 and it comes with 14 bags. That is 0.42 cents per bag. You will have chips for 14 days of classes. Apply that to other snacks, such as protein bars, juice, candy! I know it might get tedious going to the store and buy them, but you will save up money. Meal prep! Get your lazy self out of bed and meal prep! Find easy cheap recipes on Pinterest, buy the food and meal prep for the week! The days I did this, I was not only saving up money, but I was maintaining my weight because I avoided fast food. Carry your reusable water bottle, this will help the environment, and you'll stop paying $2.00 for water.
College life is not easy, and we are for the most part broke, I am not saying my tips will get you out of debt, but they can certainly help you save some coins. Capitalism has us in this vicious circle of thinking we need everything new. Without thinking we end up creating so much waste for things we use a couple of times. Take advantage of being a student and score free stuff, or get discounts! Anyway, I really hope this post was helpful, and you implement these tips. If you have more ways to save up money let me know!
Read you later bye!
-AR
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