You may be one of the many college students who are working at least part-time during their winter break. Since most students have up to five weeks off between fall and spring semesters, many use this time to put bucks in the bank.
It’s easy to go a little nuts spending when you finally have a healthy bank balance again after living on Raman for the last few weeks. But you can make sure that your hard-earned cash and college fundslast for the whole upcoming semester if you plan ahead.
Don’t Impulse Shop
This is tough not to do, especially when every store is having pre and post-holiday sales! But impulse shopping gets many people, not just college students, in trouble. If possible, when you see an item you think you can’t live without, wait a week to see if you really still think it is important to own. You may be surprised at how many “got to have that” items you totally forget about within a week’s time.
Do Stash your Cash
Open a new savings account—one that is not connected to your checkingand that pays interest. It’s so easy now to transfer funds from savings to checking that even the most thrifty college student can find themselves totally broke by week 10. Consider getting a savings account set up through a different bank than the one you use for your checking or debt access. This makes transferring funds just difficult enough to make you stop and rethink a desired purchase.
Even though you probably won’t begin the new semester with thousands and thousands of dollars, every little bit helps. There are several trustworthy online banks that offer better interest rates on savings accounts than your average brick and mortar bank because of their low overhead. Let your cash work for you by investing some time into setting up a new higher-interest savings account.
Do Make a Budget
Yeah, I hear you. This is boring, right? But deciding on a budget before you get back to school is a big step towards your financial independence during the college semester. Determine how much money you can spend each week and still have your funds last the whole semester. If you overspend one week, just make sure to spend less the next. There are lots of great free apps out there that can help you keep track of your spending.
Do Take it with You
Sometimes it’s worth it to pay for convenient, but grabbing a coffee, water bottle and snack several times each day can easily send you running back to mom and dad for a loan before midterms. Consider investing in a small coffeemaker, reusable to-go cups and on-the-go snacks. It will only take a few minutes in the morning to prepare these things so that you don’t give into temptation later. Then, when your schedule is crammed with studying for midterms and finals, you will still have some extra cash stashed to pay for the convenience of grabbing food and drink on the go…the higher price you pay for accessibility will be worth it then.
Jacqueline Myers has been guiding college students through the murky waters of writing and research for many years. And she can be your personal English instructor if you visit her on her blog Nitty-Gritty English: The complete site for tips, tricks and techniques for the UN-enthusiastic English student. Jacqueline is a proud member of the AEGC writing staff.