5 Easy Money-Saving Tips for College Students

Picture: Illustration easy money saving tips for college students

You're about to embark on your college career. That means spending lots of money. But if you want to protect yourself against financial stress, there's no better time than now to get started with money-saving strategies. Here are five easy ways you can use right away:

Make a budget.

Making a budget is an important first step toward saving money. You need to know where your money is going each month so that you can make sure it's being spent wisely and on things that are most important to you. 

A good way to start is by creating an Excel spreadsheet that tracks all of your expenses over one month (or several weeks). This will help keep track of how much money goes into each category, and what exactly those categories are. 

Once this has been done, it’s time for some good old-fashioned math: divide total expenses by total income—this will give you an idea at what point in time each category started growing or shrinking in importance relative to other areas of spending needs. 

For example, if there were 100 dollars left over after paying bills but nothing else had changed since last month except for new textbooks being purchased by students who don't yet know how much they need—well then maybe these textbooks aren't as necessary any more than buying something like chicken nuggets from McDonald's every night would be!

Read Also: 5 Money-Saving Tips for College Students Living on a Tight Budget

Track your spending.

The first step to saving money is tracking your spending. The easiest way to do this is with an app like Mint or YNAB (you can find more on these apps in our article on personal finance tools).

Once you've got that down, the next step is making good decisions based on how much you're spending and where that money goes. 

For example, if one of your biggest expenses is food (which many college students are), then try cooking more at home instead of going out every night—and save some money in the process! Or maybe instead of ordering pizza every Friday night with friends after work: make chicken wings instead!

When using these tips as a student—or even just taking time off from school for vacation—it's important not only to figure out ways to save money but also to use those savings wisely so they'll continue paying off long term

Get rid of unused subscriptions.

If you have subscriptions to magazines, books, or other things that are no longer useful for your life, cancel them. You can do this by logging into your account and clicking on the “subscriptions” tab. Find the subscriptions you want to cancel and click “cancel the subscription.”

If a subscription is worth keeping, just keep it! But if not—and especially if it's something like Netflix or Hulu (which I'm guilty of)—you may be able to find a cheaper alternative by going straight through their website instead of through an app or platform like Amazon Prime Instant Video which has subscriptions built into its service.

Find free activities and food.

• Find free events on campus. Many universities offer free community events, including concerts, lectures, and plays. Look for these in your local area as well as at the school itself—you may even be able to find them online! 

If you're looking for something specific, post an event on Facebook or another social media site that's popular with college students (such as Yik Yak). 

You can also ask around about what events are happening near you; many colleges have programs where they partner with local businesses to provide discounted tickets for their customers who are also students.*

• Search for deals at the student union restaurant. The food may not be homemade but it's usually cheaper than dining off-campus anyway so why not take advantage of some savings? 

Check out all of their specials before eating there because sometimes they're offered during certain times of day only which means if someone else wants one too then there won't be any leftovers later on when nobody else wants anything anymore...

which means nobody gets anything except maybe some leftover rice crumbs from whatever was cooked last time around since nobody ever eats those anymore either...so basically nothing needs changing here at all!

Take advantage of your school's resources.

• Use your school's library.
• Use the free tutoring services.
• Use the free career services.
• Attend a career fair, or even better—a mini-career fair in your school’s cafeteria! You can get information on internships or other opportunities at local companies that you might not have thought of yet (like Starbucks). 

Ask them what kind of skills are needed for entry-level positions in their field and whether or not there are any special programs available for students like yourself who want to get into those jobs sooner rather than later!

Use these tips to learn how to spend wisely at college.

• Make a budget.
• Track your spending.
• Get rid of unused subscriptions and services you no longer need.
• Find free activities and food at school or in the community that can help you save money on dining hall bills, textbooks, etc.

Conclusion

College is a great time to learn about finances, but it can also be challenging. Whether you’re just starting and don’t know where to start or have been keeping track of your expenses for years, these tips are a great place to start!