<p>Does anyone have any personal finance tips? i.e. What should young college students avoid doing? How does someone with no experience find a small job? Best credit cards? Reducing costs in general? Best ways to balance one's budget? etc...</p>
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<p>Don’t smoke and don’t eat out all the time. Smoking is not only bad for your health but is also quite expensive if you ever consider the price of packs / cartons and how frequently smokers smoke. Nothing wrong with eating out with some friends for a celebration or if you are running short on time, but avoid eating out excessively because it can add up quickly. Case in point: a week’s worth of groceries–vegetables, fruits, meats, milk, eggs, yogurt, and bread–never cost me more than $60 a week at Publix in Atlanta, and many times I was leaving with a bill under $50 a week. That’s $50-$60 for twenty-one meals. Some of my friends “cooked on their own” but often ate out for long stretches of time; one week’s dinners (ie. seven meals) was already $70. They spent more than I did and got less food, though the quality was better, I admit. If you’re going to cook on your own to save money, make sure you actually do so. Otherwise, a meal plan may be the best in terms of making sure that you’re fed at a reasonable expense.</p>
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<p>Keep your eyes peeled and keep applying until you get one.</p>
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<p>For better or worse, the Credit CARD Act of 2009 makes it harder to get a credit card than it was before. You may have to ask your parents to co-sign a card. Just look for a card that doesn’t have an annual fee. I’m a big proponent of credit cards because if used properly, they actually save you money. The company is basically giving you a thirty-day loan that has no interest IFF you pay the statement balance IN FULL before it is due. So instead of paying for today’s purchase with today’s money, you pay for today’s purchase with next month’s money, which is nominally the same therefore less in real terms due to time value of money.</p>
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<p>Don’t get something unless you really NEED it. Simple advice that is often discarded. (I’m guilty of doing so at times.)</p>
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<p>I think mint.com does a good job of helping you keep track of your budgets.</p>
<p>^ very good advice! I’ve always thought that about smoking, and it’s true about eating out. Little expenses can add up SO quickly!</p>
<p>If you like soda just get it when cans or bottles go on sale at the store instead of paying $1.25-65 every day for one from the vending machines. </p>
<p>Buy textbooks online.</p>
<p>can a secured credit card help build credit? also, any tips on how to save on housing?</p>
<p>A secured credit card is a good way to build credit if you have none. It also helps you learn how to manage a credit card since you can’t spend more than you have the card secured with. As far as housing, no great tips. Sometimes prices drop as you go farther from campus. Also my D will live in an apt. that is managed by a company. We were able to find the owner of the apt. and deal directly with him instead of going thru the management firm. He charged $200 a month less for the apt. than the management firm did ($50 each split between 4 girls) as well as $1000 security dep instead of $2000.</p>
<p>Smoking isn’t that expensive. You can get cartons for between $30-$48 online. Don’t bring a credit card to the bar- bar tabs can get out of hand. Alcohol can add up if you go out a lot or drink beyond just parties. Don’t go on shopping sprees. Get a job and save money- you don’t need to spend money just because you have it. Don’t get parking tickets. Avoid trips to the ER. If you just rolled your ankle or sprained something, make a Dr.'s appointment, don’t just go to the ER. The co pay can be fairly high. Keep a budget/keep track of how much money you have. Don’t overdraft. Take extra food from the dining hall- ie fruit, drinks (fill up water bottles with milk/juice/pop), cuts down on groceries/eating out. Use vending machines sparingly.</p>
<p>yeah, but for a really lite smoker at only a carton every other week, that is almost $1000/year. For a carton a week at $2000/year- that is pretty expensive; at least I think so. I can’t even imagine anyone wanting to smoke anyway and the cost is just one more good reason.</p>
<p>On smoking: depends where you life. In NY, packs now cost like $10 w/ tax…but if you hope across the (state) border…the price pretty much is cut in half.
I don’t smoke due to health reasons, but I’m sure as hell not gonna start now either due to price.</p>
<p>At $.15-$.20 a cigarette, cigarettes are far cheaper than buying a coffee at starbucks even twice a week, which would be a stimulant alternative to nicotine, or eating out once a week or getting fast food twice a week. It’s really not that much money compared to what other people spend $10 a week on. A carton would last me about 4-5 weeks, and I would get a carton of American Spirits for $46, meaning smoking wasn’t expensive for me, between $10-11.5 a week, which isn’t much money. Cheaper than having 2 or 3 drinks as a substitute. My friend always said I’d save a bunch of money by not smoking, but that money, which would be about $10 a week, would just be re allocated to alcohol or food. It wouldn’t really be “saved,” it would just go towards a more expensive stimulant substitute. People spend $10 a week on pizza. I don’t think smoking is really an expensive habit, especially since you can buy cartons online from reservations.</p>
<p>buying cigarettes is completely not necessary IMHO; besides it’s not healthy at all…</p>
<p>Save Save Save. I can’t stress this enough. I know this seems like common sense but you’ll never know when there will be a “rainy day” and you’ll need immediate access to money. Especially if you had a summer job this summer, I would save a minimum of $500. I didn’t realize how important saving was until my mom and friends stared to explain why it’s so great to save.</p>
<p>I’m willing to save on other stuff etc but I can’t give up on my cigarettes. I’m not addicted, I don’t think. A pack a week should tide me over nicely. I think it’s a good compromise.</p>
<p>Eating in is overrated. I’d rather save myself the time (buying food, cooking, cleaning, etc.) and just eat better food at a restaurant. There are plenty of lost-cost eateries in most college towns.</p>
<p>tiff brings up a good point about how expensive coffee is.</p>
<p>If you’re a coffee drinker, don’t buy coffee from starbucks- make it yourself… it will save you a ton of money.</p>
<p>Personally, I’m a money hoarder- I save nearly all that I make in my campus job (since my parents are paying for school). I have this one thing I want to buy in a couple of weeks (that costs ~$500), and because I hoard money that’s not even going to put a dent in my checking account.<br>
Also, as a girl I rarely spend money on alcohol (no, I don’t go to bars, so it’s not like I’m having guys buy me drinks). The key is to go to parties, and not host them yourself.</p>
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<p>I never found a restaurant near Georgia Tech that even came close to matching my twenty-one meals a week for $50-$60. Mind you, my meals weren’t cereal and milk or sandwiches three times a day, either.</p>
<p>The key is to make sure more money comes in than goes out.</p>
<p>Most meals at college restaurants are around $5-6. That’s about 10-15 meals for $60. $60 for 21 meals at the grocery store won’t get you much more than PB&J regardless, so I think your number’s a little low to begin with.</p>
<p>Factor in the time for going to the buying dishes, going to the grocery store, time in the store, carrying your groceries back, cooking, cleaning dishes, and the cost of utilities of heating / cooling your food. In addition, unless you’re a good cook, restaurant food is most likely much tastier. Compare this to the local sandwich place with $5-6 dollar sandwiches – walk in on your way back from class, wait 5 minutes for your food, eat and throw away the trash. Done.</p>
<p>You may save some money in a purely economic sense, but overall I prefer to simplify costs and save time for meaningful activities by just eating out. You can always make more money – the same can’t be said for time. That said, I still buy fruits and foods that don’t require cooking.</p>
<p>“In NY, packs now cost like $10 w/ tax.”</p>
<p>I thought ~$6-7 here was crazy, that’s insane. </p>
<p>Personally, I buy a coffee cup in the morning, and can fill it up at a few places here for free throughout the day. In the end I easily drink 8 cups a day, for $1.35. Starbucks won’t let you refill for free, but places inside your school may let you. I don’t think that $1.35 is a big deal, especially when if I were to make it myself and carry it around, I’m probably paying almost that if not more, and then I lose all convenience. </p>
<p>I eat out a lot, and usually spend ~$450/month on food, and maybe another $50 on drink (non-alcoholic, I don’t drink). That can be cut down, but it does not bother me to spend that. Eating out is very convenient (especially since I commute), and I like the diversity of different restaurants rather than the same 10 meals I can cook. </p>
<p>If you do want to save money, one tip if you go to a big university. Look for events, talks and such. They often times have food out, very often this substitutes actual meals, other times it’s just some cookies. You’ll find better food at smaller talks, and more food around lunch time. Around lunch time you can just walk around a few buildings and see if you see any food sitting out. This is easily 10 meals a month. This though probably only works at a big university. </p>
<p>One thing that is avoidable that many people do, don’t buy books. You can almost always get around owning one. Borrow one from a friend, use it in the library, download it, whatever. That can easily add up to hundreds a semester in savings.</p>
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<p>I no longer live in Atlanta, but I just came back from a Kroger at a different city and I bought two loaves of bread, a gallon of milk, two pounds of gala apples, two pounds of peaches, four pounds of broccoli, three pounds of chicken breasts, two pounds of pork loin, three pounds of baked beans, a pound of Greek yogurt, two pounds of deli turkey breast, and twelve ounces (one package) of turkey bacon for $62 after tax. My friends are consistently surprised, even shocked, at how much food I can get for ~$60.</p>
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<p>$6,000 a year for just food and drink? How can you afford that?</p>