The words "financially struggling'" and "student" are fairly common words to see together. Here are some tips to help you struggle less. Here are some tips to help you avoid financial difficulties.
1, Make a list of your monthly expenses and another list of your sources of income from family, scholarships, loans or part time jobs. Don't include selling your blood plasma as this is not a good thing to do on a regular basis.
2, Next high-light your life-or-death expenses: Tuition, food, electricity, heat, books, etc. Subtract these from your income and you have a picture of what your needs are. The wants' come later.
3. Go through your want/need' list and trim off as much as you can. Consider eating more beans and rice (or the obligatory Ramen Noodles) at home and less take-out and fast foods.
4. Do an eco-check on your dorm or apartment. If you pay your own utilities and have drafty old wooden windows, add some plastic sheeting. Checkout the local thrift shop and buy heavy drapes to keep your heat inside.
If you have an empty room, turn off the grate, close the door and wedge a towel or blanket across the bottom. Make sure no room-mates are inside. No need to pay heat or electricity for a room you won't use.
Bake an oven load of food on the very coldest days. Roast a chicken, bake potatoes or fresh bread (frozen dough works well and is relatively inexpensive). Invite your friends for a feast and have the comfort of the oven heat as a backup to your wheezing heater. Try to fix that drippy faucet or constantly running toilet - or ask the super to get them fixed.
5. Think about changing your coffee habits. You can blow $10 a day on only two cups of double-mocha-half-caf-latte with minty sprinkles. So, stop it! Or at least cut back on the number of cups. Invest in a coffee maker and a take-along mug. Again, excellent coffee pots are cheap and plentiful at the Goodwill. This can save ten dollars a week or forty dollars a month. Better yet, switch to your herbal tea and do your body and mind a favor at the same time as you pump up your budget. If you feel you need caffeine, green tea is filled with the stuff.
6. Make ahead meals. Mix up a big batch of salmon or tuna salad; chop up a celery stalk, 1/2 a small apple, half a small sweet onion, and chopped parsley, a pinch of salt and pepper and maybe toss in a few seedless grapes. Add two tablespoon of Miracle Whip. Nothing helps you avoid ordering a pizza like having food prepared and waiting for you when you get home from a long day of classes.
If you have only one small cooking bone in your body, you can make healthy, inexpensive meals as a fraction of what they cost in the deli or local fast food restaurant. Mix up a batch of chili, soup or stew. Ask that cute Italian student to show you how to make lasagna and you'll have enough for several meals and may end up with a new friend, or a really-really good friend.
7. Hold a Mustgo Party in your building once a month - preferably at the same time everyone's money has run out. Make a communal Mustgo stew from the food in everyones dorm that simply Must Go. Aging carrots, geriatric peppers, orphan onions, flaccid celery, tins of kidney beans, tomatoes, potatoes and even that lonely blue box of mac and cheese that your little brother left behind on his last visit. Go door to door and present this as a community treasure hunt with a party at the end of it. Many times we ended up with the most delicious Mustgo meals you can ever imagine. People would bring cans of corn, a fresh winter squash, or alphabet pasta, whatever. This would provide sustenance for a day or two while we studied and waited for our checks.
8. There is no shame in begging for goodie packages from your mom, grandmother, aunt or sister. Okay, the stuff baked by a cranky sister you left behind might have some questionable outcomes - you make that call. Grandmas are great at providing necessities like underwear, socks, school supplies and even cash. I'm a Granny now and do this on a regular basis.
9. Shop for clothes and household items such as toasters, coffee pots, irons, dishes, pots and pans and blenders at the Goodwill or garage sales. You'll save a lot of money and sometimes end up with some cool, funky stuff to decorate your dorm with.
10. Trash-Day and Dumpster Diving are ways to find cool stuff for free! This is especially true at the very end of the month when people move out and get rid of a lot of valuable items rather than haul them away. I have an antique porch swing, a floor lamp, a drop leaf table, desk, chair and even a rock-tumbler all found at the curb. Garage, estate and yard sales are excellent places to find just about anything you need.