On Mindful Spending…
As a college student and someone who will likely be in school for what seems like a very long time, the ability to conserve my financial health before I start earning full time has been on my mind a lot lately. While scholarships are great and indispensable options for ensuring you are able to cover the larger costs of college, saving is an integral part of my everyday money management and essential if I am to stick to the budget I make. Here are a few ways I cut costs as a student.
Wait 24 hours before you buy anything: The accessibility of shopping with the advent of websites like amazon is good for the soul, not so much for the wallet. The number of amazon orders I used to place every month for purchases that were definitely not worth the price or things that I didn’t use for very long after I bought them (like this yodelling pickle I had to prevent myself from buying). You would be surprised at the money rethinking impulse purchases saved me that I instead put to other purchases that better suited my budget.
Keep Track of your expenses: While I use old-fashioned pen and paper, in a personal expense tracking book , to track my daily expenses, Apps and online Excel Templates also are great (and no to little cost!) options. It barely takes 5 minutes to input the information daily and is a good way to stay organized and be mindful of your expenses. It is also a good way to track recurring payments that you might have forgotten about.
Minimize take out: As a college student, cooking at home is the best thing you can do for your mental, physical, and financial health. Eating out is 5 times as expensive as eating at home according to this article. I am not surprised- . I personally spend about $20 on every meal I eat out but only $8 (if not less) for the food I cook at home. Cooking for yourself is a surefire way to cut costs, a good way to take a break from studying, internships, or working and can be very personally rewarding as you get better at it. Besides, it makes the meal you eat outside more of a treat.
While these are very tangible and effective ways to spend mindfully, I use them in conjunction with a more holistic habit I have picked up- developing a mindset of abundance rather focusing on what I lack. Money management is not as cold and calculating as it seems to be. Instead, I see it as a journey to better organization, a practice in mindfulness, and lessons in gratitude.
