NotAnotherOne wrote:I'm surprised no one has said this.
Value Village is your friend. It may look like a poop-tastic store, but there's actually a lot of like-new clothes there. Sweaters you'd pay 40$ for at Bluenotes are easily 5-10bucks.
Don't splurge on things like haircuts/hair dye/hair products. If you're brave enough, get a friend to cut your hair for free.
Don't carry a debit card/credit card with you. Taking cash with you will make you want to spend less.
Buy in bulk. Buy those giant bags of trail mix. It keeps you full and tastes great and usually lasts a long time.
QUIT SMOKING, DARNIT. You save SO much it's not even fit. I know it's difficult to do so, but being poor as heck is motivation to quit.
Don't drink/drink very little. Your liver will thank you and you'll save more than you think.
Download music. Get a cheap MP3 player rather than an iPod.
Avoid getting a cell phone, if you do get one. Use Pay As You Go. That way you don't have to count minutes. Or one that's good for long distance calls if you're away from home. If you're away from home, your parents are gonna want phone calls and that adds up really fast.
As everyone else said; budget! Budget! Budget!
Bluenotes: HEYHEY... you CAN get cheap clothes at Bluenotes IF you go there when they are trying to clear investory. T-shirts which would be $15-25 each eventually come for $10 for 2, and sweaters which would be $40-50 eventually go down to $20-25 if you do it right ;). I rarely buy clothes, but when I do now, I go to Bluenotes when they are trying to get rid of good clothes.
Debit Card: I would say keep it, and have a seperate bank account which you wouldn't touch.
Credit Card: OMG DON'T GET ONE. I have one and still hate it. The concept is nice, until you actually click in your head that it is voluntary *debt* (or think of it as a 'negative bank balance with higher interest'). I only got one because I didn't have the $700 for my Carleton residence deposit, and I'm nearly maxed out now.. and barely paying things off. It's good though if you ONLY use it for purchases that you are SURE to pay off asap.
Bulk: Smart choice, and one I will likely make once I go to university
.
Smoking: Ew. Don't do it. Total waste you could spend on...buying food lol.
Drinking: You *WILL* party/drink at uni, it's unavoidable it seems unless you want to be a social pariah. Mooch off others if you want though.
I will.
Music: Download it. Limewire can be your friend, and I have a Firefox Youtube converter where I can get the pure audio of a Youtube Video and convert it to mp3 in near perfect format
Cell Phone: I agree. I got a plan, and though it's suited well for when I go to uni.. for now it's a total waste of $30-60 a month.
Budget: MY GOD YES. I messed up royally with this, and now don't have much going into summer... OSAP/Grants/Bursaries will take care of 2/3 of what I need I think though.
~~~Accepted offer to Ba Honors English @ Carleton Univerity, Ottawa
~~~
