7 Ways to not be a Starving Student

Everyone who is in university, college, or any other sort of equivalent out there understands the need to have a few extra dollars (unless you come from a stinking rich family who gives you large sums of money, in which case you suck, go away! ). You spend your whole summer trying to make enough money to get through the year. Your year starts. The heavens open up and money flows like water. How long does this veritable oasis last you ask? Not long at all. By November your feeling the pinch and by Christmas time your cleaned out to the point that you swear you hear echoes when speaking in the presence of your wallet. I have collected the following 7 tips tips to help you stay out of the poor house when you’re running low on cash:

1)    Coupons and fliers. I always made fun of my parents for picking restaurants based on which one they had coupons for, but now I understand. When you get those annoying newspapers shoved in your mailbox, GO THROUGH THEM! You find out where stuff is cheap, and then you go there and stock up.

2)    Related to stocking up, the freezer. Freeze things. Do not let food go bad. Freeze bread if you have to, and then use it for toast. I cannot tell you how much food I wasted my first year living in my own house from all of it going bad and getting moldy. Ignore anyone who tells you fresh food is healthier. Frozen food lasts longer.

3)    Sign up for all the grants that you can. People will give you money. Usually the government just takes your money, but when you’re a student, they will give it to you. For free. If you live in Ontario there’s a new textbook grant, and all you need to do to get it is be a student. Last year it was $150, I hear this year it will be $300.  And there are all sorts of other grants you can sign up for. Find them, and take advantage of them.

4)    Don’t buy your textbooks at your campus store unless absolutely necessary. Campus bookstores are the biggest rip off in the history of ridiculous rip offs. There are sites like amazon where you can buy books, but a better option for buying and selling books is myusedtext.com. They let you buy and sell books without charging a fee for using the site, whereas amazon will charge you to sell.

5)    Also, sell your used textbooks. Don’t store them in your closet; you spent hundreds of dollars on them! You should be able to get a good portion of that money back. And again, don’t sell them back to the campus bookstore. Sell them online or to a friend, both you and the person buying them get a much better deal.

6)    When you go out, pick the bar that has the cheapest drinks that night. Some have cheap drinks on Mondays, some on Thursdays, some on Sunday night. If you must, plan you nights on around which nights have cheap drinks. It can be the difference between spending $50 on drinks and spending $10. And that means you can drink 5x as often.

7)    Most people take this as a given these days, but in case you haven’t caught on yet: Drink BEFORE you go to the bar. It is far cheaper to buy yourself a 26 and mix your own drinks than it is to go buy drinks at the bar. If possible, do all your drinking at home and don’t buy any drinks when you’re out.

By: Kathryn O’hare