College Budgeting Tips for 2011

For many students, college is a time to be free and independent. Although this freedom and independence is usually seen as fun and exciting, it can also come to be difficult, especially when it comes to money. If a college student is unable to budget and manage his money properly, he may find himself free and independent yet also broke and struggling. In order to avoid this, here are some college budgeting tips for 2011 that will help you save big:

Keep track of your money: simple yet extremely effective, writing down the amount of money that comes into and goes out of one’s wallet can be a very big help. Most of the time, people are not conscious of the amount of money that they spend in a day, especially if it is spent in little amounts at a time; what happens is that while they are spending a few bucks here and a few bucks there, they never realize how much money they have spent in total. By keeping track of your expenditures, you can make yourself more aware of it and hence more in control.

Rent textbooks: as important as textbooks are to one’s educational experience, one need not purchase new textbooks every semester. Instead, one can opt to rent them from campus stores or online rental sites. Easy to do and very practical, renting one’s textbooks are a great way to save some cash.

Pack your own food: although it may be tempting to purchase food at a nearby eatery or at the school cafeteria, bringing packed lunch and a water bottle can be a big help on the budget. One should keep in mind that packing food need not be a daily practice, unless one is truly trying to save up. Otherwise, one can simply choose two or three days out of the week wherein food will be packed and treat oneself to purchased meals on the other days.

Get a part-time job: though college life seldom leaves time for standard part-time jobs, there are many alternative job options to explore, especially online. Using the internet and just a little bit of effort, one can make a substantial amount of extra cash. Whether it be selling old items, freelance writing or basic tutoring, taking an online job is something one should definitely give a try.