Just Pitsching Ideas: How do I Save Money in College?

Dear Madison,

How do I save money in college? I’m tired of being a broke college student!

Being a broke college student is the not enjoyable. All you want to do is go out and have fun with your friends. The catch is that everything costs money.

Sure, money might be tight, but that doesn’t mean you have to completely sacrifice doing all fun things.

There are a few habits you can pick up to start saving money that can easily transform into lifelong savings habits.

Budgeting is a skill that college students need to develop. Look at your spending habits. When do you spend the most money? How do you spend your money? Dinner dates? Movie tickets? Online shopping? Write it all out and see how you spend your money throughout your week. Plan for it. Maybe some weeks you will splurge a little bit more, and the next weeks you will spend less. Plan your withdrawals and expenses around your budget.

It’s important to check up on your bank account periodically. A good way to know where your bank account stands is to download your bank’s mobile app on your phone. If you are ever out, and don’t know how much money you have, you can easily consult the app to see how much you have. There are also budgeting apps that you can download.

A savings trick that I like to do is save all coins and all five dollar bills. As soon as I get five dollars back in change, I put it in a jar with all of my coins. And then at the end of the year you have all of these five dollar bills and mountains of change. That’s an easy way to pad the wallet.

Lastly, always keep some emergency money tucked away. It’s nice to have 20 dollars to fall back on when times get tough. You can keep it for true emergencies, like running out of gas, or you can keep it for college emergencies, like reallllllllllyyyy needing a Kit-Kat at 2 a.m. I digress.

If you have any questions for the advice column, email them in to madison.pitsch@cune.org.