Everyone knows the feeling when you come to the store for shopping, take everything you need, stand at the cash register to pay for the purchases, and realize that you don’t have enough money. To avoid getting into such situations, follow these useful money-saving hacks.
Plan your time
When you’re a student, it’s very difficult to eat normally and on time: you get up early for school, classes end closer to the evening, there are additional classes, a break is often not enough, and in the evening you are so tired that the forces are enough only to put the kettle or run for a quick meal (pizza and everything like that). But to avoid this, try to plan your time. First, you can have breakfast without being late for school, and secondly, you organize your day properly and you will have time to relax and do your homework.
Calculate your budget
This point will help you decide what you spend more on: food or entertainment. You can have a separate notebook to keep track of your expenses or download an app to your smartphone.
Plan your menu for the week
Make a habit of planning your menu for the week. Before you go to the store, make a list of the foods you need for the week. This will help you save a significant portion of your budget because without the “cherished list” you are bound to buy yourself something unnecessary.
Don’t go to the store on an empty stomach!
Yes, yes, we didn’t misspell it! The fact is that when we go to the store on an empty stomach, our body is ready to buy up everything in its path (edible, of course). So to limit mindless shopping, go to the store full!
Try to cook yourself
This is the most effective way to save money. First, you’ll cook what you want, second, there will be plenty of food, and most importantly, it will be delicious, and you won’t have to puzzle over what to eat for breakfast!
Buy in bulk
If you go to the store every day (or almost every day), there is a chance to spend your budget half the time. So make a list of the groceries you need, calculate how much you need so that you have enough for a week – and go to the store! So you can “kill two birds with one stone” if you buy everything you need at once and spend as little as possible. And don’t forget the promotional items!
Make a mini piggy bank
Have many goals and desires, but no means to fulfill them all? You can make a mini piggy bank. Take a few sheets of A4 paper, glue them together into envelopes, sign each of them (for example, for a trip, for a gift, for a wedding, for a birthday, and more), and hang them in a chain on the shelf. Instead of envelopes, you can use a shoebox, dividing it with small dividers of cardboard and signing the cells. Next, set a budget for your “deductions” to this piggy bank. For example, each month on your scholarship or paycheck day, set aside a certain amount and divide it into these envelopes or boxes. You’ll save faster that way!
Additional Sources of Money
With constant improvements of the internet, making money online has never been easier. You can freelance, watch ads, do online surveys, or sometimes earn money even while you’re sleeping. One of those options is a passive income app Honeygain, which will pay you for doing nothing. How Honeygain works is that you get paid real money in exchange for your unused bandwidth. All you have to do is download the app and register.
There are a lot of ways how you can easily make some cash on the internet, that will cover some of your monthly expenses, so do a little digging and learn about making money online.
Use Bank Cards as little as possible
The more often we use bank cards, the harder it is for us to “keep” the budget. We don’t see that currency, so it’s easier to part with it. So, to make sure our finances aren’t squandered at once, try to pay with real bills rather than electronic ones.
Save money on bad habits
A huge amount of money is spent on satisfying bad habits, like smoking. Just count how many packs a day you smoke, and then translate that into money, and you’re horrified. How can you not think about saving money?
Take advantage of student discounts
Many institutions have special promotions and discounts for students. For example, full-time students can visit the National Museum of Art and Botanical Gardens with a 50% discount – $4 instead of $8 (which is a significant difference!). Sometimes coffee shops, cafes, and various store chains do discounts of 5 to 15% for students. The main thing is to follow the news and announcements, and you can save a few rubles! As you can see, there are many ways to save money, the main thing is the desire and desire to do it. Well, we hope that these tips will help you save your budget!
Reasonable Spending
Buy textbooks online. If the library does not have the books and textbooks you need, do not rush to buy them at the nearest bookstore. You can find these same textbooks much cheaper online or ask McEssay writers for help. You can also find students there who sell textbooks they have already used and no longer need.
Stock stores and secondhand stores. Clothes in such stores are much cheaper. Of course, to find something appropriate there will be more difficult. But you can fool around there with friends, trying on different outfits. Plus, you can find good branded things there.
Groceries at markets or inexpensive stores. It is clear that in the supermarket to buy much more convenient than the market. But markets have their advantages: you can bargain there, the goods are fresh and there are likely fewer chemicals than in the products sold in supermarkets.
Frozen foods. Although they are not particularly healthy, they are practical. Frozen foods are stored much longer, so you can spend less money on them.
Cheap analogous products. Expensive does not mean the best. There are many analogs of products and medicines that are many times cheaper, but no less quality.
Take advantage of discounts. These days, almost all stores have discount and savings cards. Ask the administration how you can get them and use them at your health. Also, there are often promotional days or hours. This is also very advantageous.
Rent a place to live with someone. Live in a dorm, of course, is ideal for your wallet. But often you don’t want to live there, you want to live like a normal person, in an apartment. That’s why it’s very convenient to rent housing not by yourself, but with someone. It is even possible for 3-4 people. So it is more profitable and more fun.
