Money – Grad School Chic

As a guilty shopaholic, foodie and social butterfly I know saving money while in school can be tough. Temptations wrestle with responsibilities and you find yourself asking how your entire paycheck disappeared in less than a week. Work on developing these helpful habits and you will be pleased to find a little bump in your bank account.

Student Discount!

If you’ve got it, flaunt it! The few months between college and grad school when I didn’t have a student discount were dark times my friends, dark times! Your student discount is your golden ticket to savings. Many popular retail stores, service providers and even some restaurants offer student discounts. The one catch, you have to ask. Most places won’t tell you upfront that they offer a discount, but if you ask, nine times out of ten you will find that they do. Here is a great list of places that offer student discounts.

Free Trials

Take advantage of the free trials that are only offered to students! Amazon offers a six-month free trial of prime to students. Kindle Unlimited offers a 30-day free trial. Absolutely take advantage of these, just be sure to cancel these before the trial is over to avoid being charged.

Use Coupons and Rewards

Seriously, these will save you hundreds of dollars if you do it right! I recommend using both paper and virtual coupons. I use Ibotta to find coupons at the stores I frequent.

Do you go to the same coffee shop every week? Buy all your groceries at Target? Sign up for the rewards program! My personal favorite is the Target Red Card, 5% on every purchase really adds up, plus! You can get the Red Card as a debit card so you don’t have to worry about your credit.

Thrifting

Yes, this does require a little extra work when it comes to digging through the bins, but you can score some majorly awesome stuff at places like Goodwill or ARC. Last week I found a $400 Adrianna Papell gown for just $10 at my local Goodwill! It is also a great place to find homeware, furniture (just stay away from the mattresses), and general supplies.

Second Hand & Consignment

So you’re not down to do the Goodwill dig? Thats fine! Use app’s like Poshmark, Threadup, and Vinted to buy and sell gently used second hand clothes. These sites are great because you can find high-end clothing and jewelry for a fraction of the retail cost. Clean out your closet once and month and list everything you’re getting rid of on one of those sites to earn some extra cash.

Online Surveys

There are tons of sites out there that are willing to pay you just to take surveys for them! It only takes about 5-10 minutes and voila! You have some extra weekly cash. Check this out for some ideas.

Free Events

Every school has tons of events going on every day. Swing by, stay a little while and then steal some food! When I was in college I started carrying an empty mason jar so that when I stumbled upon those events I could fully optimize the free food situation.

Don’t Go Out

So you want to hang out with your friends? How about you make dinner at home instead of going out. You can feed up to four people with box of pasta and a can of sauce for $5, so why go out and spend $30 on dinner and drinks?

Happy Hour