When you start college, you will see so many things change so quickly. You will be in a different environment with a freedom to make your own decisions. You will also have to learn how to live independently while keeping your expenses under control. Here are some useful budgeting tips that will help you manage your money better.
- Always create a budget considering your monthly income. You need to consider your wages, savings, and parental allowances and then determine your estimated expenses for the month. Be sure to take into account costs such as food outside your meal plan, school supplies, laundry, and personal care items.
- It is very important to learn to separate your wants from needs. Know how much you can spend on laundry or how much money you think you should spend on non-meal plan food.
- Open a checking account to avoid fees on fund transfers and withdrawals. Be sure to select a bank with ATMs convenient to your campus. This will help eliminate any out-of-network charges.
- Learn to be a smart credit card user. You need to use your time in college to build a better credit ranking, which will help you in future when you want to purchase a vehicle or even lease an apartment. But, use your credit card carelessly and you will end up with an enormous amount of debt while in college. Meet your business professor during office hours to find out how to make the right use of credit cards during college.
- Know how much financial aid you truly need during college. So many college graduates find it extremely difficult to balance student loan payments against declining wages. Do your homework before applying for a loan and know how much student loan debt you will have upon graduation.
- Learn to shop smart for your textbooks. You will be spending so much money on textbooks – a new edition of biology book may cost you more than $300. If you learn to bypass the campus bookstore at the start of your new semester, you will end up saving a good amount of money. Consider downloading your books and buy a Kindle or iPad to read them. You can also buy used textbooks to save money.
- Use an essay writing service with affordable rates. There will be times when you will have to use essay writing services to ensure you don’t miss the deadline and still submit top quality work. To avoid wasting a lot of money on a writing service, you need to conduct some research and compare a few sites before finalizing a decision. Look for sites that offer better first order discounts. Some sites like http://www.essaywolves.com, can find for you a paper writing service that provides free features to make it possible for you to get your essays and assignments written for less money.