I know for me personally the beginning of the school year brings some excitement, but mostly a lot of stress and a feeling of being overwhelmed. It’s also true that I’ve realized I’ve taken on quite a lot this semester which was all my own doing, and the reason why I haven’t written a blog post lately. Also my friend’s blog post for one of our classes really made me realize that I hadn’t written a post in a while :S and so here it is…a bit more of a personal type post this time, instead of just providing some helpful savings tips (I know they always are).

As you can tell from the title I’m feeling a bit sad, and overall a little upset that I received my final paycheck last week. There goes the feeling of constantly having money, buying nice beers (I’m back to Sleeman and rum and coke) and going out all the time without a care in the world. It’s time to go back to my extremely frugal ways to get through the next 8 months without adding to my student debt. I’m sure most people feel the same, unless they were able to make disgusting amounts of money over the summer. I found myself asking the other day at a restaurant how much the special cost, and then buying it because it was cheaper than my other choice (it’s crazy because we’re only a few weeks in).

So as a way to say goodbye to your final paycheck, here are some tips and tricks to keep in mind in the coming months so you still have some money in the bank;

• When grocery shopping (yup always the food Lauren) make sure to use online coupon apps like Checkout51, buy what you need not what you want (most of the time) and always look for sales
• Check out bars/the campus pub for drink deals, I know the Brass Taps at Guelph has days with $3.75 tall boys and cheap pints on certain days. It’s nice to save some $’s on drinks
• If you are going to buy lunch at school, I’m a huge fan of Subway (I should be spokesperson or at least get free subs because of how often I go) but it’s a great deal and pretty healthy for you.
• Make sure at least bring snacks to school, it starts to add up
• And also try not to stress about money, the more you save now the less you will stress out about money for food

Hopefully that helps you out a bit at the start of the school year and gives you some tips to save. I’m unfortunately crazy busy but really excited about what’s going to happen this semester and the next.