I had a wake up call when I was reading #Girlboss. Sophia Amoruso talks about how you should do a direct deposit directly into your savings account every time you get paid. You wont miss money that you never saw! Good point! She says she got the idea of saving 10% of your salary from the book The richest man in Babylon which someone has already been trying to make me read for a year now and its on my long list of books to read!
- Your rent should be at least a third of your income if its a fourth of your income the better. Live in a place well within your means.
- Cut your online shopping! Don't buy stuff just because you are bored! Buy what you need! I had to stop subscribing to some of those sites that send you alerts on limited time sale events every morning. I would end up wanting something or even buy it just because its on sale and they might run out of the item but not because I needed it. I bought lots of crap that I sometimes ended up returning and even lost money on shipping.
- Amazon Prime! Be a member its just $39.99 a year. If you have to buy lots of books and sometimes even none school stuff especially for DIY, beauty and leisure reading material Amazon is your friend. Prime will save you a lot on shipping believe me I have done the math its bulletproof! Who can say no to 2 day shipping too? I was really sick once and needed Nyquil, Dayquil and Kleenex. I was in no condition to go buy some myself so I just ordered it and Amazon delivered right before I ran out! Baamn! If in doubt register for the Amazon Student 6 month free trial and decide for yourself if it will work for you.
- Free lunch! Take advantage of seminars and journal clubs with free food. They might talk about Schistosomiasis vaccine development, pediatric care, biofilms on catheters or something totally out of your field but hey you might learn something while you save money on lunch! Score!
- Cook your own dinner! You dont have to go out every time. Cook or sometimes eat frozen pizza ;). You dont have to go out with your friends every weekend. Stay in and watch something on Netflix or play games. Also pack your own lunch. I suck at packing lunches but i never buy drinks in the cafeteria whenever I have to buy food because I buy 12 pack soda and juices and take one to school everyday.
- Never pay full price! I wait for stuff to go on sale especially clothing in the major outlets like GAP, Old Navy and H&M. Ok this is not foolproof because sometimes they run out of my size while I am waiting but usually it works out because most of these stores always have a sale soon enough.
- Student discounts! Always ask if a shop offers these be sure to carry your school ID on shopping trips. Apple store, Topshop, ASOS and many other places offer these.
- Pay attention to "Cost per wear"! Sometimes buying cheap stuff is not always a good idea especially if its flimsy and will come apart at the seams after one wash. If its something you will wear a lot like jeans maybe $55 Jeans (from Gap on sale) will hold together for years compared to $25 Jeans you buy and rip apart after the second wash. This happened to me and I ended up replacing the jeans. I should have just bought the $55 jeans in the beginning because now I wasted my $25 too. If its something you will wear once and you find a cheaper option its ok for example things we buy for theme parties like halloween there is no need to break the bank for that. So always estimate how many times you are going to wear the piece of clothing and divide the cost by this estimated number of wears = Cost per wear! This should give you a rough idea whether the item is worth it.
Have fun saving!