Being forced to live on a student’s budget has its upsides (believe it or not), in that it provides a physical lesson in the real value of money. You learn all manner of ways through which to stretch every last pound and squeeze every bit of value out of every situation you can.The savings as a result come in a number of different forms, from catching the free bus to and from campus which only operates at certain hours of the day, right up to walking a couple of blocks just so that you can buy your supplies from a cheaper vendor.
The savings as a result come in a number of different forms, from catching the free bus to and from campus which only operates at certain hours of the day, right up to walking a couple of blocks just so that you can buy your supplies from a cheaper vendor.
At some point however, it can all get a bit time consuming and a bit confusing because you essentially have to keep up with lots of little twists and turns to any sort of budget you may have going on. What happens when there’s a long, long line at all the cheap printing spots on campus while you have an assignment due in a few hours and so you have to go and print at a more expensive place? What if you suddenly have some unexpected guests who drop in on you and ordering a pizza delivery seems to be the only way of sorting out dinner that makes sense at the time?
Cue the Money-Saving Super-Week Tradition
Since all the bargain hunting and careful budgeting can get rather tiring at times, especially since it’s all done on top of all the studying you have to do, instead of it being a prolonged effort, concentrate your money-saving efforts into one week out of every month.
You’ll have to go really hard though and in effect seek out savings out of every single aspect of your student life. If it means having whole wheat bread with peanut butter and a glass of milk for three consecutive dinners, then so be it. The aim is to save as much as you can in that one week so that you can give yourself some leeway to stray from your strict money-saving regime for the rest of the month.
It takes some real effort to constantly second-guess each and every decision which you have to make, since every decision you do indeed make has some sort of impact on your fragile finances as a student.
Instituting a money-saving super week each month will teach you lot about making every last penny you have at your disposal go further, for future reference as well.
