One of the biggest challenges for college students is shopping responsibly. It’s hard to maintain a balance of the things you want and the things you need.
Fortunately, there are many ways students can save money.
We all know it’s hard to shop for things with a low budget. For grocery shopping, the most obvious tip is to buy microwavable food like macaroni and cheese and Ramen noodles because they are cheap and easy to make.
I suggest grocery shopping at Green Spray on First Avenue because they always have really low prices and good sales. For instance, they recently had a sale on milk so that you could get 2 gallons for $4.
Another suggestion for grocery shopping is to use coupons. You can usually get coupons out of newspapers. Some places let you use coupons from the Internet, but you have to be careful with those because sometimes they can be fake. Also many places have coupon books that you can take home.
Shopping for recreational things can be difficult. Even though we are college students and our studies are very important to us it is still OK to have some fun.
Sometimes we may want to buy a new video game or movie but not have the money to get it. Some businesses like Walmart offer a solution for that through layaway. Walmart started layaway on Sept.16 and it lasts until Dec. 14. At Walmart, items available for layaway are all electronics, toys, small appliances and some sporting goods.
So if there is something you want that you can’t afford, you can put it on layaway and pay what you can on it up until Dec. 14.
If you don’t want to buy something for yourself, maybe use layaway to buy a gift for somebody else. However, there is a $5 fee to pay down on it and if you pay everything before Dec. 14, you get that $5 back on a gift card and the item you get has to be 15 dollars or more.
Shopping for clothes and accessories is difficult because it’s hard to know when to stop. A way to help with that is to find out what stores are having the best sales so that you don’t spend so much of your money.
A place I suggest going to is Rue 21 because they usually have items on sale for as low as $5. The closest Rue 21 is in Sherman, Texas.
Another tip to keep in mind when shopping for clothes is to ask yourself if you will actually wear it. I know many people, including myself, who will buy something and rarely wear it. The money could have been saved.
The key is to remember to always save your money when possible. Although shopping is fun, it’s always best to budget your money and avoid debt.