My name is Lauren Bernardo and I recently graduated from the University of Guelph with a B.Comm in Marketing Management. Originally from Toronto  I decided to head out of town to Guelph for some new experiences for my 5-year undergrad b.comm co-op degree. It’s allowed me to be much more independent but required me to be a bit more frugal with my money especially since I was living away from home. 

During the winter break of my 3rd year I came up with the idea for Cheap Students since I always have ideas and know way too much when it comes to being frugal. Being around my fellow university students all the time made me realize that we all don’t have a lot of money and that there are ways to save the most that we can so we can graduate with less debt.

Let’s get this across right now, I splurge on things sometimes when I go shopping, or go out on the weekends, but when it comes to things like grocery shopping, and budgeting as well as keeping my finances in order I can be pretty OCD about it…ask my friends. I’m that weirdo that whips out coupons at the grocery store, but then saves $10 dollars on my grocery bill.So I figured I would share my love of food, my love of saving and working with money and share some tips with my fellow students and blog readers.

The goal for the Cheap Students blog is to bring together a variety of frugal and personal finance resources. Speaking of goals, one of the most important things when it comes to finances is to set goals for yourself. So to prevent myself from being a hypocrite here are some of my financial goals.