A College Student's Guide to Responsible Spending

By Christine Ascher on July 19, 2018

For any student, the cost of college can be daunting. Creating a budget and managing your spending can be difficult, especially as a college student when you’re on your own for the first time and aren’t used to paying for all of your necessary living costs. Keeping your expenses under control will require a good deal of thought and planning, but if you’re able to stick to a budget and spend responsibly, you’ll save yourself a lot of stress later on.

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Create a Realistic Budget at the Beginning of Every Month

The most important thing for you to do if you want to become a more responsible spender is to create a budget for yourself at the beginning of each month (or as often as you find helpful) to take into account all of your necessary purchases during that amount of time and the amount of money you’re comfortable with allocating to extras, such as going to the movies or going out with your friends.

Make sure that you’re realistic when you’re drawing up a budget, as if it’s impossible to stick to, you may not be motivated to even try. Don’t forget to take into account all of your necessary expenses, such as groceries and your rent and utility payments, as these will likely constitute a large portion of your budget—and because you won’t have much room to scrimp when it comes to these areas.

Grocery Shopping:

When you first start doing your own grocery shopping, you’ll have to figure out how to limit your costs based on the food that you purchase, how much you buy, and how often you need to do your shopping. While much of this you’ll have to figure out by trial and error, there are some ways to plan your grocery shopping from the start to help you keep the cost under control.

Make a List Before You Shop

Grocery shopping without a list is a major hazard to your wallet, as it can lead to all sorts of impulse buys of items that you really don’t need or won’t end up eating. Before you go to the store, take note of what is already in your kitchen to avoid unknowingly purchasing something that you already have, and then make a list of the items that you need. Once you get to the store, make yourself stick to that list as much as you can. This will go a long way in helping you manage the costs of your groceries. Sticking to a list will also help you predict how much your regular grocery shopping will cost so that you can budget accordingly; otherwise, you might end up spending more than you had planned for and either blowing your budget or having to scrimp in other places in order to stick to it.

Infographic by Christine Ascher

Clip Coupons—It’s Worth It!

Clipping coupons may seem old-fashioned, but it’s a simple and effective way to save money on your everyday expenses and to thereby keep your spending at a minimum. If you don’t have access to newspapers, you can find plenty of coupons online on websites such as Groupon. Make a habit of checking online for coupons before you go shopping, as you may be able to find some great deals that you won’t want to miss out on.

You can also become a more responsible spender by saving the coupons that you get from your grocery store after shopping to use next time. They’ll usually be targeted towards items that you’ve already purchased, so they may come in handy if you’re repurchasing the same or similar items during your next shopping trip.

Split What You Can With Your Roommates

While some grocery items you might reasonably want to keep all to yourself, for others it will make more sense to split with your roommates. Items that you want to have around but may not necessarily finish before they start to go bad, such as a gallon of milk or a carton of eggs, are great options for sharing.

If you’re constantly repurchasing groceries that you never finish, you can end up wasting a lot of money. In contrast, if you share some items with your roommates, you won’t have to pay the full cost and it won’t go to waste.

Use What You Have Before You Buy More

One tough part of grocery shopping as a college student is the fact that when you’re only buying food for one person, it’s hard to finish everything that you’ve bought before buying more. You might find that you’re having to eat a lot of the same food—for instance, if you buy a whole package of lettuce, you might feel like you have to eat a salad every day for a week in order to finish it all up. You can avoid the monotony of eating the same thing all the time while still resisting the temptation to buy more, different food before you need to by researching some new recipes online that use similar ingredients.

You can also stick to buying basics that can easily be used for different kinds of meals—that lettuce, for example, can be used to make salads and sandwiches. Try to look up some recipes for meals that you want to make before you go grocery shopping, and group them together by similar ingredients so that you’ll be able to reuse the same items in different ways until they’re gone. Switching up your meals in this way will also make you less likely to eat out, as your meals won’t be quite as monotonous!

No Grocery Shopping on an Empty Stomach 

Another simple but effective way to make sure that you’re spending responsibly, especially when it comes to your regular grocery expenses, is to avoid grocery shopping when you’re hungry. You’re more likely to buy food impulsively—and to buy items that you don’t really need—if you’re shopping on an empty stomach, so you can save money just by avoiding this mistake.

You’ll find it easier to stick to your grocery list if you’re not being tempted by all of the various foods that you’re craving, so try to do your shopping just after you’ve eaten.

Get a Rewards Card Wherever You Normally Shop

If you tend to shop at the same grocery stores and pharmacies, it’s a good idea to get a rewards card for those stores so that you can get points and save money when you shop. Having a rewards card is an easy way to decrease your spending, so it’s well worth signing up for a card and bringing it with you whenever you shop.

If you can, try to do all of your grocery shopping and other regular spending at the same places so that you can maximize your rewards—you can save a lot of money this way!

Limit Eating Out

College students aren’t known for being the best of cooks, and if you conform to that standard you might be tempted to eat out more frequently than you should. Especially if you have a busy schedule or are limited in terms of the meals that you can make for yourself, eating out becomes an infinitely more attractive alternative to cooking for yourself. However, if you eat out too frequently, the added cost of your meals will add up pretty quickly.

While the number of times per week that you purchase a meal will depend on your own preferences, it’s a good idea to set a limit for yourself, either for the number of times you eat out each week or for the amount of money you spend on your meals in that amount of time. If you have a set limit in mind at the beginning of the week, you’ll be able to plan out your meals to ensure that you stick with it, rather than just having a vague idea of trying to control your spending. In addition, if you tell yourself that you’ll only eat out a set number of times per week,  you’ll be less likely to break your own rule and eat out impulsively, as you’ll have a set goal that you’re trying to meet.

Limit Impulse Buys 

Buying items on impulse, rather than planning out your purchases, is one way that your budget can easily get out of control. While each individual purchase may not seem like a lot, if you get into the habit of spending money that you didn’t account for in your budget, your spending may end up getting out of control. If you need to spend money on something that you hadn’t planned for, try to take at least a day or two before you commit yourself to the purchase; that way, you’ll avoid buying something and later realizing that you actually didn’t need it, and you’ll be able to explore other options to see if you can actually save some money on whatever you’re buying.

Limit How Often You Spend Money on Activities or Going Out

For most students, it’s a tough balance trying to find fun things that you can do with your friends and not spending too much money. If you’re not paying attention to your spending, you might end up letting your expenses get out of control without realizing it. A good way to prevent this from happening is by allocating a certain amount of your regular budget to activities or going out with your friends, and taking note of how much you spend when you go out to ensure that you don’t overspend.

Another good strategy to limit your spending when it comes to going out with your friends is by setting a budget for yourself before you leave and only bringing that amount of money with you. That way, you won’t even have the option of overspending. You can also use sites like Groupon to find discounts on fun activities that you can do with your friends—you may even find some fun new things to try this way!

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Utilize Student Deals

For all of the difficulties, being a college student also comes with some advantages, one of which is the fact that there are tons of student deals out there to help you save money. When shopping, ask at the register if the store offers a student discount; these won’t always be widely advertised, so you may have to remember to check with the store in order to take full advantage. You can also find lots of student deals on websites such as Unidays, so check these sites out before you go shopping.

Wait for Sales When Shopping

When you need to buy clothes, items for your dorm or apartment, or anything else that might get a bit pricey, try to organize your shopping to wait for sales at the stores where you like to shop, or until you have a coupon for your favorite stores. For items that you don’t necessarily need right away, you’ll be far better off waiting for sales, as you’ll be able to save a lot of money without sacrificing anything in the meantime.

If there are certain stores where you always like to shop, look up when they’re going to be having sales and plan accordingly. It can also help you keep your spending down a bit if you pay attention to and save those all of those coupons that stores will send you if you sign up for their mailing list. While it can be annoying to be constantly bombarded by emails advertising stores and sales, they can help you spend more responsibly if you use them wisely.

While creating a budget and spending responsibly isn’t necessarily fun, it will be a huge advantage to you in the long run. In addition to saving some money now, you’ll also be able to establish responsible spending practices that you can continue as you get older. The better you become at saving responsibly now, the easier it will be for you to continue these habits in the future.

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