What do you do when you are living as a broke college kid during the summer?
Learning to live simply is something I believe everyone should have to go through! It is a great life lesson of how to live on little money and how to do it while still having fun.
As a girl, I love to shop, I love to go out with my friends,and the majority of things I love to do, I learned this summer, cost money and I never realized how much it really did cost.
I moved home for the summer and decided that I would be driving into Boulder every day for the classes I was taking. Because my job is in Boulder and I now am living thirty minutes away, my job didn’t start up again until the all so I am living off of the little I had saved. Now, usually during the school year, before class I would stop at one coffee shop or another and get a coffee and usually a bagel or a muffin and I continued this on into summer. I quickly realized that even the small act of stopping for coffee every morning was draining my funds, and fast! I was now the stereotypical “broke college kid” and I wasn’t that used to it.
Having to cut out shopping and coffee and yoga and going out with my friends was a big shock that I had to get used to. But with limited funds, I found new ways to have fun and ways to stretch my money. Dreading the thought of not being able to do all the things I had become accustomed to was a little scary but now, I have to say that I am glad I was broke all of summer. I learned the value of a job along with ways to have fun without spending money.
You would be surprised at the amount of cheap or free activities there are in and around Boulder that are so fun!
1. Hiking- I cannot even express the joy hiking can give a person. Being able to smell the trees and the flowers up on the mountain is an amazing feeling. Finding beautiful views you once thought unimaginable, being able to conquer a longer hike than the day before (yes the day before. I hike that much lately), and the happiness finding a beautiful lake or river at the top of a hill is unreal. The best part… it is completely free! No matter where you go!
2. Riding a Bike- Until this summer, I had forgotten how much fun it was to have the wind in your hair and the sun on your face. Gliding down a huge hill after the struggle of making it up the other side and the rush of going so fast around a corner that you almost fall flat on the ground beneath you.
3. Swimming at Boulder Reservoir- Yes, this activity costs a few dollars, but for $6.25, you can spend your day on the beautiful reservoir staring at the flatirons and swimming in the water. If swimming isn’t your thing, the place is overflowing with people doing other things or just laying out close to the water.
4. Free Yoga Classes- I love to do yoga enough that I searched out places that offer free yoga. Although I have two friends who will let me practice with them whenever I want, some days I just can’t make the hours, so I looked for other studios in Boulder. prAna, a store on Pearl Street in Boulder offers free daily yoga classes that you can find out about online. They are always different styles of yoga and are at different hours each day. They have them in a community room at the location.
Along with these activities, there are so many other activities that you can do as a “broke college kid” for little to no money. I still go to coffee shops on a very regular basis but I make sure to not get the largest, most expensive drink on the menu. It’s all about moderation. Living this summer on just the savings I had during the school year has taught me that you can have fun without money. If friends ask if you can go out, don’t always decline, but try to come up with an idea that costs less money, or suggest to hang out at their house. If you can’t refrain from shopping, buy something small, and don’t go on a spending spree at J. Crew. It has taught me to think more about my actions than spending money frivolously, which I think is a life lesson that is extremely valuable. Learn to enjoy activities that do not cost as much money. Live simply.