Steals and Deals

Many of us college students struggle to make ends meet from month to month. The money we earn from our jobs is being spent, resulting in us living from paycheck to paycheck, the students loans and grants are quickly being used up, and our allowance from our parents or guardians is quickly dwindling.

Photo from Flickr.com by epSos.de

Unfortunately, for the average college student, most of this money is being spent on wants instead of needs.

I know if I were to take a look at all of my transactions on my online banking account as well as cash receipts from this past month, they would most likely be from restaurants and fun nights out. Not that taking a break from the sub par dining hall food and having fun nights out aren’t necessary… they definitely are, just in moderation.

A man named Adam Carroll, author of the book Winning the Money Game came to speak to students in the Daniels College of Business this past week at the University of Denver and he talked about a very similar notion that I’m discussing above.

He talked about how students spend money on their needs instead of their wants over their college careers and as a result come out with mountains of debt. Fortunately, he also discussed how not to fall into the money trap.

Carroll’s number one tip was to save. If you are bringing home a paycheck, save 15-20% of that. Put that money into a place like a money market account or into a successful and longstanding company’s stock that is not only affordable, but that will pay you dividends on a quarterly basis. By putting a portion of your money into something that cannot be immediately accessed, you will make more of it without having to do anything. Also, you won’t fall into the trap of turning your savings account into a “give and take fund.”

While I think Carroll’s idea of saving is a great idea and while a lot of people do it, I still love knowing how to save a few bucks here and there when I’m looking to go out to eat, go shopping, or go out to have fun. I came across a ton of websites that allow me to just that.These sites vary from commonly known sites such as groupon.com and livingsocial.com which provide a variety of discounts on restaurants, places to go, things to see and do, as well as products. There are also sites such as ideeli.com, ruelala.com, gilt.com, refinery29.com, myhabit.com, dogfunk.com, whiskeymilitia.com, the clymb.com and onekingslane.com that have tons of men’s and women’s shoes, clothing, accessories, outdoors equipment, sporting goods, as well as home items, and travel excursions for a pretty discounted price. If you’re looking to get discounts off of your items on major retailer websites, a site called retailmenot.com has thousands of online discount codes available.

So, hopefully by using some of the above sites to satisfy your cravings as well as needs to get out, you can still save some of your money for the future and even watch it grow.