Let’s face it, we’re broke. It’s not entirely our fault, college is expensive. On top of that, we have needs, and wants. Mostly wants, but you get the point. It took me forever to get used to the whole ‘broke’ concept of college, but I’m doing alright now. I’m not going to sit here and tell you I’m driving a Ferrari, because I’m too realistic for my own good. But I will sit here and tell you that I have a lot of nice things that I’m very thankful for. So how does a broke as* college girl get these things, and not panic? I’ll let you in on a few of my secrets.
1. Poshmark
I adore Poshmark. It’s a great app that you can download that lets you buy and sell designer goods. For instance, I sold a pair of Nike sneakers on there that I had and never wore for $30, and the shipping is paid for. All you have to do is take a few pictures, fill out a mini form, and sell your heart out. How wonderful. On the buying end, Poshmark allows you the option to make offers on things, so there is always a possibility for even more of a steal than you’ll already get. My favorite example of my purchase on here is my $90 pair of Kanye Yeezy’s that typically sell for like $300. Score!
2. Bookscouter
Bookscouter is also an app, but this one puts those expensive paperweights to use. With Bookscouter, you can sell your unwanted textbooks without any hassle. All you have to do scan or type in the book’s barcode, and the app will give you a list of all the websites that are willing to purchase that book, and the price they are willing to pay. Even more awesome is the fact that most of the websites on here pay for the shipping. So go ahead, sell that organic chemistry book you never opened.
3. Acorns
Acorns is more of a savings app than anything else. Acorns is an app where you like up certain debit or credit cards, and then the app rounds up the transactions that are made on those linked cards to the nearest dollar. The “loose” change as they call it, is invested into certain financial portfolios. The best part about all this? All that change that you hate having to deal with is being invested into something that will eventually pay you more. On top of that, you don’t even realize that you are losing money from the card transactions because it’s merely change. I linked one card which only added about $3.00 to my investment, and so far I have $10 from the app. At any time, you are able to withdraw the money and use it on whatever you want. My plans—vacation baby.
4. Panel App
Why is Panel App on this list? You get paid to do nothing. What I mean is, Panel App accumulates points by just being on your phone. If you want extra points, just answer a survey every week. When you reach a certain amount of points, you can cash them in to receive a gift card. FREE MONEY people. I’ve had the app two years and have gotten $30 worth of gift cards (I don’t do they surveys, so I would probably have more).
5. Perk TV
Perk TV is an app, and is also available online, so it’s a bit more flexible than some of the others. However, the way in which you receive points to be cashed in for gift cards to major retailers is a bit more demanding, but can be totally worth it (if you’re dedicated enough). In order to get "stars", you have to play these awful movie trailers over and over again. There are a few other options, but the movie trailers are probably the easiest. When I’m doing homework, I log onto the website and play the movie trailers, computer on mute. For every three movie adds you get about 3 stars. I’ve cashed in my stars for gift cards such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Walmart.
So there you have it, my top 5 tricks to having some sort of money in college. Stop reading this article and go check them out, I know you need bar money.
