A fast way to save money
Many college students seem to be having an identity crisis. They think they're poor, which in most cases, is hardly the truth.
If you work full-time and make only enough to pay for classes, books and bills, then I'm not going to argue with you. You win. Your economic woes are worthy of true pity.
But if your lack of spending money is in part because you stop at McDonald's every day on the way to school, then don't complain to the poor guy. He doesn't want to hear it, especially because it's much easier for you to save money.
Stopping once a day to buy something you could've eaten at home could cost you a couple hundred dollars a month. If you avoided fast food and sit-down restaurants for a whole month starting today, you might have enough saved to pay for an entire class next semester.
I'm a typical guy, so I like to eat a lot. If I were to stop at Subway twice a week, I'd be spending $15 to $20.
That's about $70 a month, or worse yet, almost $1,000 in a whole year. Unless your name is Jared, I doubt you would ever need to spend that kind of money on Subway. I'll take that thousand and save up for a car, thank you.
It may be a challenge for some people to avoid these places, but it can be as simple as eating a bowl of cereal, or making a sandwich, or opening a can of Chunky Soup at home. And the benefits could be surprisingly helpful down the road. Not only would you be eating healthier, but it could free up some money for certain expenditures. Suddenly, the stress that you might normally experience from having to pay for birthday presents or bills would be much less.
It's funny when you look at something like gas prices, because it's an expense that everybody loves to complain about. It can cost somebody $100 a month or more depending on where he needs to drive, and yet you don't hear anybody complain about how they spend the same amount of money at restaurants. They're choosing to spend that amount when they could significantly cut that expense if they bought some groceries and took the time to cook.
This is a trend that has been increasing over the decades. Back in 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food. By the end of the century, that number had risen to over $100 billion (boundless.org). A big percentage of this fast-food consumption can be attributed to college students.
This problem is more common with college students for a few reasons. First, they are busy with jobs and school, and at first glance it would seem to be more convenient to buy food on the run. Also, a large number of students are either living on their own for the first time or spending time away from home more than they did in high school, and many of these people don't even know how to cook.
But cooking is not really that big of an obstacle. Believe it or not, much of the food that you buy from the store has cooking directions labeled right on it. To be a college student you have to be relatively smart, so following three or four simple steps isn't too hard.
With that in mind, you've got at least one good way to trim down on unnecessary expenses. You'll have more money for the golf course, the movie theater, or your bank account.
Before you know it, those days of posing as a poor, suburban bum will be a distant memory. You may even have enough money to loan to some of your old buddies living underneath the overpasses.