Now that the spring semester is over with, we will slowly start to head back home to our friends, family and no classes. Now that we are heading back home, we all need to do things that we might not like, such as getting a job to save money for college, living with family and seeing old friends/not-so-much friends. In the following months there will be a lot less things going on, no classes, no roommates and not always being surrounded by people our own age. Our lives will change from the past few months, to that of summer vacation: Fun times, beeches and hot days await us (Unless your from Alaska, then enjoy the cold.)
The thing we are all excited for with the coming of the summer: no 8 a.m. classes. We can sleep in! As we have all just finished exams, we need to take a short break from waking up at the crack of dawn and start regaining lost sleep that was missed over the previous semester. Everyone from middle school all the way up until retirement needs to catch up on their sleep. After your first good 12-15 hours of sleep it is best to start the unpacking phase of your college dorm room items. This unpacking process usually takes a very long time and is hard to handle all at once, so I suggest taking a few days to unpack all of your things. Start with the necessities: phone, computer, tv, chargers and clothes. Once everything is unpacked, all that remains is getting settled in.
Living with your parents is different from your roommates, and the relationship you have can be both good and bad. Now that you are living at home with parents you don’t have to worry about food or keeping track of all your money. You should still keep track of what you spend and how much you make; however, it is a whole lot easier to get money from parents than it is to get money from a summer job. Your money that you make can now have more of it go towards entertainment instead of towards food this weekend. This increase to your entertainment budget should be used to rekindle your old friendships of those at home and other colleges. Go to the movies, get lunch maybe even hang out at the mall; the important thing is that you don’t get to see these people all of the time, so spend some time with them too.
Working during college is very hard for some people to do especially when the major you are seeking is hard to earn. If a school job is not easy to get, or it makes your GPA suffer, then you should try and work during the summer around 25-35 hours a week. Many part time jobs will not allow you to work that long of a time, so I suggest if possible finding two jobs. The majority of the money you make from the summer jobs should be divided toward gas money, (assuming parents don’t pay for that already) entertainment and college savings.
Extra expenses in college run anywhere from 500-1500 dollars depending on what you have to spend money on. If the only thing you spend money on is food, it won’t be high, but if you buy other things too your money will disappear quickly. I suggest using last semester as a trial. Look back and see where you spent money and where could you have saved money. That will help you plan for the upcoming college year.
