When you’re in college, you’re usually pretty focused on your grades. It’s an important time in just about anyone’s life, and the grades that you earn while you’re working on your degree are going to have a huge impact upon what happens to you for the rest of your days. College can be a pretty big deal for most people, but it’s also usually a time when money is pretty tight. College students don’t typically have a lot of extra money lying around. When you do have some money in college, it can be tough not to spend it on the many things you need just to be able to make it through your higher education. Sometimes we could all use a little bit of help when it comes to budgeting money. When you’re in college, it can seem especially tough. We’ll talk about five great ways that you can make sure you’re budgeting your money while you work on earning your degree.
1. Write out a Budget. The first step towards managing your money is knowing how much of it you make every month, and how much of that you must spend every month. Take the time to sit down and write out all your financial commitments. Compare this information with how much money you make on a regular basis, and this will tell you how much money you can afford to spend on leisure activities each month.
2. Use a Smartphone or Tablet App. These days, just about everyone has some kind of smartphone or tablet computer with them. If this sounds like you, there are a ton of ways that you can be using this to help you save some money. There are a ton of applications like Mint that are specifically designed to help you budget your money and make sure that you’re able to save more of it.
3. Get a Transit Pass. Riding the bus or taking other forms of public transportation can get pretty costly. If you’re a rider of the bus on a pretty regular basis, you might want to think about getting something like a bus pass. This might very well save you some serious money, leaving you with a little bit more financial wiggle room each month.
4. Buy Yourself a Bicycle. Even better than public transportation is your bicycle. Whether you go to Pepperdine University or Cal State Fullerton, it’s always free to ride your bike. Public transit is great, but you don’t have to pay a dime to ride your bike from Point A to Point B.
5. Cut All Unnecessary Spending. When all else fails, have a look at your budget and cross out anything that doesn’t need to be there. If money is especially tight, maybe you don’t need that monthly Netflix subscription after all. There are a lot of ways that you can make sure you’re saving money while you’re in college. These five tips will help to make that effort a little bit easier.