By: Marie-Elise Milius
Managing your money is not fun but is a beneficial element to saving money. As college students, we tend to make purchases very often. Eating out often, text-books, shopping for superfluous items and extra-curricular activities all add up. Sometimes we spend more than we notice.
Check out these tips to spend more wisely:
- Prioritize your spending: It’s important to prioritize what are the must-haves for spending. Some examples are rent, car payments, and utilities should be paid first. Write each payment day down in a planner to ensure you pay them on time, to reduce late fees.
- Budget, Budget, Budget: To stay on track of your spending habits, keeping a budget can help you allocate a good amount of money to each of your expenses. Budget sheets often help with this method. This is a useful strategy to implement now and throughout you life.
- Rent or Buy Used: Let’s face it, textbooks are expensive! Instead of buying new, you can purchase a used textbook or even rent your textbook. Sites like Chegg, compare the original price to their reduced prices, which can be up to 70% off.
- Sales and discount codes are your best friend!: Whether it is apparel, grocery shopping, or electronics, it’s best to buy it during a sale or with the use of a discount code. Towards the end of the year, you can see the most prominent sales and free items.
- Take Advantage of your School I.D and Macaulay Passport: Many restaurants offer discounts to college students with College I.D.’s. Your Macaulay Passport offers students discounts and free access to various cultural institutions focused on art, culture, and history.
The earlier you keep track of your money, budgeting and methods on ways to spend less – the better you will perfect these skills for the future. You’ll be happy when you’re older that you saved towards buying your own home, car, start a family, or even pay off debt. In the future, you will be more inclined to saving first, and spending later. With the correct saving plan you may even be able to retire early!
Go from:
to:
*Websites advertised were of the judgement of the student. We were not paid to publicize any site or product*
—-
Interested in writing a blog for the Career Development blog? It’s open to Macaulay students and alums. If you would like to contribute or have any questions, feel free to email Jamie.Ruden@mhc.cuny.edu.
