Tag Archives: goals

New Year’s Resolutions

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Most students when they think of new years resolutions think about getting fit, losing weight, getting better marks at school, but its less likely that the first resolution idea that comes to mind is becoming healthier financially. Unfortunately one of the reasons why students struggle with money and in turn debt after university is the lack of planning and often crazy spending habits throughout the year. So of course because it’s that time of year, I’ve decided to go through my new year’s resolutions and some things you should consider about your own.

One of the objectives I hope to achieve with this blog this year is to further develop content that is more specific to help students really save money, it’s been about a year and I hope to continue to offer unique and helpful content to university students.

Some things students should remember over the next year;

  • Despite how irritating budgeting can be develop some sort of one budget or make use of online resources to do so.
  • Review your previous spending habits from last year and get a good idea on what you did well and what categories had your highest amounts of spending. These are the places you can work on, or continue to excel in in order to save more money in 2013
  • Start thinking about summer jobs, yah I know its a jerk move on my part to even start mentioning that
  • Figure out how much money you will have to spend on tuition, books and other school related expenses and figure out employment accordingly. Do you need extra cash? Maybe find a part time job for next semester.
  • Do you want to try and reduce spending on credit and paying bills in full?

Long Term

These are some goals that need to be measurable, make sure that they are even possible as well. These goals could be related to a variety of topics

  • Amount of money you hope to have in your savings account by a certain date
  • When you want to start paying off your student loans and within what amount of time

It’s important to set goals, both long and short, I know personally as a student I tend to think much more day to day, which leads to surprises at the end of the month when you look at both your chequing account, savings account or your mastercard/visa bill. January is the time where everyone reflects on their year and tries to improve for the new year. Make sure your not one of those people that flakes out on their resolutions, it may not seem as important now, but once you graduate you might wish you had of kept your finances on track.

Financial Tips for Students

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This blog post is short and sweet, but consists of a list of financial tips for students that I choose to follow and hope you will think about as well. As usual this isn’t an exhaustive list, and it’s not something that you need to swear by. But it’s a list that is meant to make you think. Am I making the right choices with my money? Am I prepared for all the expenses of the school year?

If there’s anything you feel is missing or off the mark feel free to leave a comment on this post. If it’s an awesome tip I will definitely add it to the list.

1. Be conscious of the debt you have. Keep track of your student loans, lines of credit and credit card bills.
2. Always save, keep money stockpiled in case of emergency.
3. Coffee and food purchases at the cafeteria at school pile up.
4. Keep track of what you’re spending-the more conscious you are of your spending habits, the more likely you are to fix them and try and spend less.
5. Make expenses aside from tuition as low as possible. That includes rent, cable/internet, food, “entertainment”
6. Spend cash when you can. Take out what you need and don’t bring your debit card along. Debit cards make spending much easier, only when you check your statements do you actually realize how much you spent. It tends to pile up pretty quickly. aka try to avoid starting a bar tab when you go out.

7. Find ways to get rewards for purchases. Ie. Air Miles Mastercards, PC point Debit Cards (for groceries) etc. These can add up to extra benefits and save you some cash. Why not get benefits from the purchases you already make?

8. Always pay off your credit card balance in full! Not just the minimum payment. You probably already have student debt, try not to add any further debt on top of that.
9. Come up with a student loan repayment plan. How much do you already owe? What do you estimate you will owe by the end of school?
10. Set your educational and career goals. Do you want to travel? Can you afford going to grad school right away?
11.Never buy if you don’t have to. Borrow from friends. Sharing is caring. This is always good when it comes to textbooks an unfortunately very large investment unless you put the effort in.

Additional Reader Tips

  • Try to get as much free entertainment as possible. Have a BYOB board game night or poker tourney using snacks as betting chips. Look into free concerts at the school; often in the faculty of music but also young artists starting out nearby. Try karaoke, or a trivia night at a local pub (with a strict drinks/food budget). Look for film screenings in the area or at the library.
  • Many schools have course books on short-term loan at the library. If you are diligent enough to not leave a semester of reading to the last week you can avoid buying the book all together. Especially for books that are only needed for homework questions (ie math, physics etc). I photocopied the pages I needed. Also think about sharing a book with a roommate or trusted friend.
Tips via Twitter
@NewGradeLife Start Saving as soon as you can and let the nest egg grow!  
@lyss090 Load up a store gift card card and set a time frame to reloading it. Eg, #Starbucks - $10/month on the 1st of every month. 

  • @CheapStudents additional notes for @lyssa090′s tip-Make sure to only put that amount on, use it as a way to limit your purchases to that certain amount per month at that establishment and not use any other form of payment to make purchases at that store.
What are rules that you live by when it comes to your finances?