Admit it, we've all been there. You find yourself faced with the unfortunate choice between calling your mom and asking for a little more money to get you through the month or eating top ramen for the next two weeks straight. College is EXPENSIVE, and it's not just the tuition that students have to worry about. Groceries, gas, books, clothes, rent, bills, happy hour drinks, etc. Okay, maybe not happy hour, but let's be real here, the answer is always happy hour.
But the point is that these things can add up quickly, and broke college students like myself are always happy to find new ways to save money, because every little bit helps. Here are some helpful websites, apps and ideas to make surviving these four years a little more enjoyable.
Amazon is a great place to online shopping for anything and everything you do and maybe don't need. By registering for Amazon prime with your student .edu email, you get six months of free priority shipping! Just don't forget to cancel your membership after your free trial is up, but even then, it's only $100 for an entire year. Click here to sign up.
You would be surprised how many discounts you are missing out on that just require your student ID card. Websites like this one will give you lists of where these discounts are valid. 25 cents off your morning coffee might not seem like much right now, but in the long run, that adds up.
Do you ever find yourself sitting in class thinking you could be doing something (anything) more productive? With the Pocket Points smart phone app, you earn points for every minute you leave your phone locked while connected to your university's WiFi. Cool right? You can then cash these points in to earn online shopping discounts, or coupons for local restaurants.
Instead of bringing your clothes to a consignment shop, where they will give you next to nothing for last season's clothes, you can use Poshmark to buy and sell used clothes, shoes, and accessories online. Create your own account, post photos of what you want to sell, and once someone buys your item, Poshmark will send you a prepaid postage to ship it with! After the buyer has verified that they received their purchase, you'll get a check sent to you in the mail. It's that easy!
Thrift stores in your local area are a great place to search for used furniture. Furnishing a new house or apartment can get expensive really fast, and buying things second-hand is a great alternative to spending a small fortune on couches and tables.
Before buying or renting your textbooks for the semester, check your university's library for a copy of the book you are looking for. You might not be able to check them out to take home, but you can scan them! Spending a few hours perfecting your scanning skills is well worth saving a couple hundred dollars!
Instead of paying for a Microsoft Word subscription yourself, look on your school's website to see if they offer it to you included in your tuition. The only thing worse than having to write an essay is having to pay to write that essay.
If you want to listen to your favorite Spotify playlists without ads or WiFi access, you'll find yourself paying $10 a month for Spotify Premium. By verifying that you are currently a college student, you can get a discounted rate of $5, and that saves you almost $60 dollars a year!
