Unfortunately for me, I was not born rich. I don't know any Rockefellers. Bill Gates won't return my calls.
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Pictured: Me pretty much every day.
So when I can save money I try to. Here are a few ways that I've saved some dollars in the past. To be honest none of these are fun and none of them are easy but I feel like I owe it to the people who raised me to at least try and be frugal. Shout out Mom. Shout out Dad.
1. Stop buying junk food.
I love snacks. Provided I wouldn't get really sick I would eat snacks all the time without stopping till I died. As a matter of fact I used to go to my local corner store and pay four dollars for eight Hunnybuns and that would be what I had for lunch and dinner. The problem with this is that eventually four dollars becomes eight, eight dollars becomes 12 and so on. At some point through the sticky bun filled haze in my brain, I realized that I was spending a ridiculous amount of money on something that was bad for me in large quantities and to be honest was the nutritional and culinary equivalent of something someone fished out from under the grill.
Pictured: Actually garbage.
I realized that if I ever wanted to have enough money for important things like real food that humans eat; I would have to give up the buns.
OR
I COULD DO WHAT MILLIONS OF AMERICANS HAVE DONE SINCE THE DAWN OF THE SUPERMARKET. You see these Satan biscuits are actually worth about eight cents each. So even selling eight at a time for a dollar fifty is a huge net profit for the enterprising Satan biscuit salesman. Hence why they come in boxes of eight. For a dollar fifty.
Don't spend money on these or any of Lil Debbie's Factory fresh confectionery trash cake. But if you just can't help yourself, I understand I've been there, get them in bulk. They never go bad because nothing in them is real to begin with.
2. Exercise restraint (alternatively don't be places where you know you'll spend money)
So as a college student in his early twenties there is a little mantra that I like to remember when I think I want to go out and have a good time.
"Don't."
Exceptional advice I gleaned from the prolific and talented Bryson Tiller. Like the song it comes from the advice is deceptively straightforward. Don't buy that. Don't go there. Don't talk to them. In my case it's normally don't go out. I've realized the more I stay in doors and do homework, or otherwise attempt to get my life together, the more money I generally have. A shocking concept? No, but definitely something I wasn't trying to hear from anybody including myself. Right now and in the future it is going to be important for me to know how to save; whether its saving money, saving time, or saving stuff. All of those things take patience, planning, and the ability to exercise restraint.
But it's also hard and frankly it's easier to just be a hermit. Pick your poison and stick with it.
3. Look for deals. (alternatively just cook food at home)
If you're going to eat out it's very important that you remember three things; it's not a deal if you don't like the food, there is always some sort of discount you can use, and looking around for them will save you money and time in the future. People want you to buy things from them. This is America, land of the free and home of the dollar bill. Everyone is on a hustle, and that means people are always trying to get a leg up over the competition. Look around before you decide to go out, see what places have weekend specials events, whatever. You don't have to go to the same place all the time.
Or maybe you do and this advice doesn't work for you.
Pictured: me not knowing your life
Well, then it's time to start cooking regularly. In order to do that you're going to have to learn how to budget. Which brings me to the next part of this article.
4. Learn how to budget
We've come to uncharted territory. Personally I am the worst at this, and from what I've heard it takes some doing to get good at it. So I'm not going to directly tell you how to budget. I am however going to strongly suggest you learn how to do it. Look up Youtube videos, ask your parents, spend a little time every day being very worried about what is going on in your life financially. To make things better you need to make them a priority so do it for yourself.
5. Know about your bank (alternatively avoid ATM's and get cashback)
Banks are the worst. From what I've come to understand they are the most frustrating thing about having to be an adult aside from the existential crisis of figuring out what you want to do for the rest of your life. They all charge money for access to money THAT IS YOUR MONEY, and actually add on things they can charge you for. The first step in saving money is knowing the weird particulars your bank has around you using that money, and planning accordingly.
Unfortunately that takes a lot of trial and error, and staying on the phone for three hours to interrogate a bank teller is actually worse for your health than eating a large jar of spider eggs. So know when you need paper money to get it in cash back and avoid atm fees. It's not going to do much for you in the short term but holding to some extra cash when the system is designed to take it from you just feels nice.
6. Do free things (alternatively don't do a lot of things)
This is probably the easiest thing on the list to do. If you have friends hang out with them and go do activities for the free. If you're riding solo pick up a hobby. Like number three this is easier to do if you look around for free things to do in the community you are in. However, if the only free things you can find to do are shuffleboard at the park, or a book club discussing War and Peace than maybe you just want to stay inside and hang out. Life is about priorities and managing those priorities, so think about what you want, when you want it, and try and be proactive about how you get it.
Hope these helped you out, and good luck saving some cash.
