Conserving

            We have all heard this many times before college students are always broke. Our families were always telling us as we grew up to start saving now. Did we listen? Of course not, it obviously went in one ear and out the other. So here we are at college enjoying our freedom and that first electric bill rolls around, your jaw immediately drops to the floor. What to do know? I know the first thing I would do is call my mom, but that fails all she has to say is I told you so, or barks off a list of things I can do for her. WOOHOO! A chore that’s exactly what I want to do, NOT! So now what? Well there are several things you can do to save the money you do have so that this does not happen again, and you can stay independent.

            So time to save some cash, first thing first, buy the cheap stuff! Go generic, you’re in college you don’t need top of the line shampoo, food, or even alcohol (for those partiers). Also you can limit the amount you eat out, or go out. Secondly, take all your change, like pennies, quarters, and such and hide them in some kind of container, and when it’s full take it to the bank. You will be surprised on how loose change can accumulate.  Another way you can save is to go to the five-dollar movie bin at good ol’ Wal Mart instead of going out to a movie. Movie theaters are insanely expensive and I’m sure you will all agree with me. Yeah most of the movies in the five-dollar bin are lame, but sometimes you can score big! So why not try it. You can also do many things around your place of living to conserve some cash too!

            Cleaning supplies, towels, or even kitchen wear can all be found at the Dollar Store for only a dollar!  Instead of going to Wal Mart and spending three bucks on a cleaner go to the Dollar Store and save your self two bucks. Also I’m sure you have heard this before but I’m going to use it as one of my examples, TURN OFF THE LIGHTS! Seriously it works, but what if you have lazy pesky roommates that don’t know how to turn a light off, buy sticky notes and post reminders for them, sounds nerdy, but I actually did this and it worked! Also you could find a night of the week when all your roommates are home and make a large dinner for everyone and rotate every week on who buys the ingredients. You will get a couple free meals this way. Another thing that you can do is instead of watching a movie at night on the TV. slip a DVD. into your computer, it saves more electricity.

            So here is the tricky part, you all know of several ways to save your money, but will we really do it all the time?  Probably not because we are the typical lazy college students, but you can try to for starters and maybe sooner than later it will become a habit of living, like everything else it takes a while to get use to change.