By Nicole Eisenberg > University of Maryland, College Park > Sophomore > Marketing and Finance, Photo by Catherine Finsness > The George Washington University > Sophomore > Psychology
Has your piggy bank begun to look like he needs to pork up? Then you need to stop overspending on your food!
Food was the biggest controllable expense in college, says Alex Cooper, Portfolio Manager at Deutche Bank. It is so easy to hop on the bandwagon when friends are ordering out; he says he had friends that would order out five or six nights a week.
Since he has graduated, he has realized that it is even more important to save money in the real world.
To manage her finances, sophomore at University of Delaware Jennifer Lowe, says that there is not much to it with a simple check of her “bank account periodically,” her “biweekly paycheck,” and a double check of her purchases. Being conscious of her choices has also helped her. “I just dropped $60 for a school ski trip. But I can balance that with skipping a few Starbucks trips…College finances are all about keeping a balance, and those cups of coffee were definitely worth giving up for a day of skiing with my friends!”
Skipping Starbucks or foregoing carryout is easier if you begin cooking for yourself, says Cooper. It can really add up by saving at least five dollars a day, thirty-five dollars a week, and an incredible one thousand eight-hundred and twenty dollars a year. If finances and your thinning piggy bank aren’t enough to change your ways, Cooper says that you not only learn how to take care of yourself better, but you can invite a girl (or guy) over and cook up a nice dinner; it just looks good!
So start fattening up your piggy bank, make him look nice, and show him off to your date this Friday night.
