Learning How to Save Money as a Student may not be an easy task to fulfill, especially with the pressures around and not having so much with you.
This is because student life can be somewhat hard and tiresome, having to combine education and part-time jobs considering the economic challenges facing the Nation. I know how it feels to be in school, putting in your best to get decent grades, and not thinking like you have enough money to do something. To save money as a student is a difficult task but it does not have to be a mission impossible.
To save in this article does not necessarily mean that you must go hungry, you have to economize and be careful enough to make your money last longer while you are still in school. While some students have rich parents who provide everything for them like handouts, foodstuffs, clothing, recharge cards, other students might be trying to keep up as they provide their basic needs for themselves through part-time jobs.
Regardless, this does not mean you have to be angry or harsh on yourself. Small paid temporary jobs like hairdressing, waitress and some work from home jobs like social media marketing, SEO consultant, proofreading and what have you is a good start to earn from and how to save money as a student leaves something to be desired.
After all, you are still in the training phase and working towards achieving your goals. In as much as being broke sucks, it is somewhat part of a student’s life. When you are out of school, the little saving phase will come to an end while you look for greener pastures in the favoured market. Being happy is part of a student’s life and it is good for you to carry out your daily life living as one.
You don’t have to feel you are broke all the time so I have put together this article on how to save money as a student and have also reached some guidelines to help you save as a student and manage your money better.
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Page Contents
14 Ways To Save Money As A Student
1. Avoid Eating Out And Cook Your Food
To save money as a student, you must learn to prepare your meals yourself. Feeding is so expensive, especially when eating out, of course, you have to eat well so you could study well. Home-cooked food is always economical compared to food sold in restaurants and those who sell food on campus.
The cost of foodstuffs is on the high side these days, but you are in a better chance to save money as a student when you buy and cook your food. Cooking your food as a student is also more hygienic. Because you are the cook, you already know the quantity of the food and the environment it is cooked in unlike the ones prepared in the restaurants or those who sell on campus.
If you are a student who wants to save money to help yourself when the need arises, you should learn to make healthy meals yourself. Know how to buy your foodstuffs in bulk as it lessens the cost and saves time. Learn to shop for foodstuffs in the local market close to the school campus, foodstuffs sold in the local market cannot be compared to the ones sold on campus.
If possible, stop buying from vendors on the campus as they tend to sell costly foodstuffs with less quality compared to the foodstuffs sold in the local market.
2. Make A Budget And Record Your Expenses Daily
A budget is your general spending from your income streams and expenses over a while for the future, for a week, a month, or one-year duration. For you to be sure that you maintain your spending limits your budget should be calculated regularly.
Making your budget, recording your budget and your wastage daily helps you to save money as a student. Put all of the things you think that you spend money on in your budget.
Here are some ideas:
- Food
- Groceries
- Textbooks
- Clothing
- Data subscriptions
- Airtime
- Recreation/sports
- Relaxation
As soon as you have put down a clear budget, you need to estimate. Put down your expenses daily and also calculate immediately to know if you spent out of budget. After calculating, you can begin to squeeze or change things up to become even more effective.
3. Have A Roommate And Maintain Your Possessions
Renting hostel apartments or lodges as a student can be a big cost. Look for a roommate that you would be safe living with and find out affordable and quality apartments together within the school premises. Sharing the cost of rent between two to three persons can save you a lot of money on rents and bills as a student.
Taking good care of your belongings will improve your stability and help to lessen the need to always replace them which could go out of budgeting and by so doing, saving money as a student becomes an easy task. If you don’t have to spend your money rebuying items all the time, you will be saving more money as a student.
4. Saving Electricity
- At home, there are several means to cut down the electricity bill, and already the least behavioural change can help. Here are the most popular options for you to save money as a student.
- Defrost the fridge and freezer regularly.
- Heat water in a kettle and do not fill in more water than necessary.
- Pre-heat the oven only when it is truly necessary for the success of the dish this is slightly the case, anyway
- Use the other heat of your hot plate when cooking.
- Always cook with the lid on the pot and pan.
- Dry laundry on a fall dryer rather than putting it in the dryer. First and foremost when buying new appliances, such as TVs or refrigerators, pay attention to energy consumption.
- Switch off the devices completely when not in use and do not leave them on standby.
- Use a fan instead of air conditioning on hot days.
5. Buy Used Devices
Keeping things longer is not only good for the surroundings, but it also saves you some money. If you are not already living in a completely furnished and new student apartment, you can purchase used household items on various online platforms, such as Jiji, most things offered are affordable for a student to save money.
There is also some student marketplace on Facebook groups, which discount free furniture. If you do not mind that the devices have slight flaws such as scratches or even a mark, the Jiji marketplace is the right place for you to go to. They sell all kinds of used and unused products necessary for a student to use while your stay in school till you graduate and this helps you to save as a student.
You can even find instruments and sports equipment there. Not only do you save money as a student, but you also do something good regarding your books, handout, and safe-care
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6. Know-How To Sustain Yourself Judiciously When Buying Food
As a student, you have to eat to enable you to read and assimilate for good grades, you can save money as a student when shopping with a plan or list provided you discipline yourself to not go beyond.
Some Shopping guidelines:
Develop a weekly meal plan: Think about next week’s meals. Maybe you are already aware of which days you are going to eat out with friends or cook in your house. This will assist you to think through your purchases. Because going into the supermarket without a plan/list means purchasing more than you want which leads to wasting some of the food.
Write a shopping list: You have already planned your meals for the next weekdays. Now you can think about which foodstuff you want to purchase. Writing everything down carefully can assist you to save money as a student that is the fact.
Reviews into the fridge and the kitchen shelf to avoid needless double purchases. The reason is that you only purchase what you want and avoid food wastage. This is a win-win situation on how to save money as a student.
Check brochures from supermarkets: often, the several leaflets in the post box can be annoying and it will not help you to stay on budget. But they assist you to spend less money on food shopping. This is because with those discounts you can often save a good amount of money as a student. If you do not like or don’t receive leaflets, you can also look for the recent discounts on the respective supermarket website.
Check if big packs are less costly: I think that bigger packs will help you save money as a student. However, constantly check this on the price tag and compare the price of grams or liters with the minor packaging units to be truly safe.
Write down purchases: Collect a receipt when purchasing food and write down the amounts. When you spend a small cash record, you always have a summary of how much you spend on food.
7. Save While Eating-Out
Particularly restaurants and bars in university areas tend to offer special deals for students, which include things such as a lunch table or a happy hour. Good offers are usually spread among students. Sometimes it is reasonable to ask left and right before buying to avoid embarrassment.
Another way to save as a student when it comes to eating out is if you are a customer, some food vendors usually discount to maintain a customer. Food sharing also works with your friends or roommates to help you save as a student
8. Save On Travel
Presently, there is a high cost of living, and transportation is one of the most expensive things. As a student, you possibly go home one or two times a semester or take a trip with friends. Even being at the place of study usually costs you some money so you travel to save money.
Owning a car is not just somewhat costly due to the fuel scarcity and increment, maintenance costs, and high parking fees in the cities. It is also not very economical. Being sure of the route and the accessibility of your destination, you can save money as a student with the following tips:
Buy cheaper tickets for public transport at your place of study: This is the basis for most students anyway, but unfortunately only applies to students until the end of their 26th year of life. Those who are older have to look for other ways to save.
Use your bike: this is particularly appropriate when you are moving within the school town. You can also avoid finding a parking space, waiting for the bus and annoying traffic jams. It is also healthy and allows you to move daily on the way to university.
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9. Save On Student Account
But what do you do now with all the amount of cash that you have saved so hard and want to put on the side hustle as a student, to open a student account of course? Most banks already offer free solutions for online banking, account management, and ATM cards for students.
Another hot tip: Many banks give you a recommendation reward when you recommend them to others. So talk to your fellow students when a change is coming. Maybe even the cash registers will ring for you.
10. Acquire A Skill
A skill is an ability that you have through training. Not all skills require a big amount of money to learn. You have the opportunity to learn a skill free of charge just by going to assist a hairdresser or seamstress or whatever skill you are passionate about during your leisure.
Then again, Technology has made this very simple as almost every piece of information can be accessible within seconds with a single tap on your mobile device provided you have data. Social media platforms such as YouTube have a variety of videos on various skills that can be accessible with the use of your smartphone and data.
After acquiring the skill, you should try to put them to use as they can help you to live and to save money as a student without any help from your parents. Aside from learning a skill, you can also engage in petty trading in your school town to help yourself.
A student can engage in the buying and selling of some products, especially those noticed to be in hot demand in the school area like pens, books, snacks, water, and what have you.
This line of business can especially be lucrative in student hostels as there is always something students want to buy but cannot have easy access to it.
11. Get A Per-Time Job Or Internship
These days, if you have a skill, you can easily get a per-time job or internship. As a student, you could save thousands of naira if you have opportunities that bring in extra cash. Earning more will eventually help you save more as a student.
Here are some jobs you can take off to help you to save as a student
- Social Media Management
- Content Creation
- Hairdressing
- Make-up Artistry
- Virtual Assistance
- Software Development
- Design
- Thrifting
12. Get Cashback On Almost Everything You Purchase
Whenever you shop online, get some of your money back by knowing how to use cashback sites. Check out some cashback sites to help you while you save money as a student. You will be surprised at just how much you get back to save money as a student.
But it is not just online shopping that gives cash back. Free food and sometimes some cleaning products and pet food, too can be captured through supermarket cashback apps.
13. Avoid Credit Or Debts
There is something about debts that persuades you to keep spending even when you cannot afford to pay back, especially when you have someone who will always loan you with ease. If necessary, avoid borrowing from friends and family members. It decreases your chances of saving money as a student.
Debts can discourage you from your goal as they set you back and keep you from achieving your financial goals. The money you are supposed to spend on your needs will be used to settle outstanding debts and the cycle continues.
Borrowing can likewise be addictive. It makes you comfortable spending above your budget since you know you have someone to always run to for assistance. Debts can lead to unnecessary stress because it keeps you to be concerned and thinking about how you are going to make your payments.
Stress from debts can lead to severe health problems such as headaches, migraine, heart attacks, high blood pressure, and even depression. Credit and debits are not good for a student who wants to save money.
14. Avoid Unnecessary Relationships
Relationships can be financially soaking, either romantic, casual relationships. Avoid any relationship with friends who always want to eat from you and not give, such people can ruin you academically and otherwise. To go into a romantic relationship in this digital world, you will need to go out on dates, give out gifts. This stuffs needs money and time that should be used to achieve better things tomorrow.
A student who wants to find his path financially should try as much as possible to ignore this sort of relationship, especially relationships where one will be doing all the giving and not receiving. Another kind of relationship a student who is aiming for financial freedom should avoid is those of irresponsible friends who don’t think of what tomorrow will bring.
Friends who spend their money partying and buying unnecessary things should be ignored as friends tend to affect your decisions, knowingly or unknowingly. There is a saying that goes, show me your friend and I will tell you who you are.
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Conclusion
As a student try all means to save money as much as you can while in school as it is a very tough world outside school. Having some money saved as a student after school can help you to know where to start in life after graduating.
If your dream job is not upcoming, you can start a business with the money you saved and skills learned while in school. Even with a job, you can still have a business to do as a side hustle with the money you saved.
It makes the way for you for a good life financially, and who wouldn’t want that. The time to start is now, while still under the care of your parents or guardians. To save money as a student from now will go a long way to developing that habit and will be very helpful later in the future.
The importance of saving cannot be overemphasized. It does not matter how little you save money as a student, just start now. As a student, you should have the discipline of saving, even if you have parents who provide everything for you. Your parents or guardians become proud of you when they find out that you save from what they give you.
It will give your parents a sense of fulfillment knowing that you, their child, or ward are now maturing into an adult and have become more responsible and accountable.
