Thrifty Thinking: College Students and Spending

One of the most stressful things about college is the money factor: daily spending, monthly living expenses, and those very intimidating student loans. ChicagoHealers.com Practitioner and Certified Financial Planner Julie Casserly offers a few tips to help students save without investing a lot of stress into finances.

 

·         Get a plan: Set a daily or weekly limit for you spending and stick to it. Spend half an hour each week devoted to figuring out spending. Write down where the most money is spent and where the least of it goes. Know exactly where money is being spent. Once that’s figured out, where to cut and where to invest will be much easier to determine.

 

·         Set limits: Sometimes, the answer just has to be no. If friends want to do something that will cause a financial strain for the next two weeks, the answer is no. Set an intention to spend a certain amount of money each day, week or month and honor it. Once the max is hit, stop spending.

 

·         Save a little: Being in college is almost synonymous with being broke. But students should save something – anything – every month. Students saving now can get in the habit of putting something aside. Even if it’s $10 or $15 a month, it’s building something.

 

·         Stay away from credit cards: There are other ways to build credit than by getting a credit card. Credit cards aren’t for people who can’t afford to pay them at the end of the month. Students already have loans. Don’t add on more (with terribly high interest rates) with credit cards.

 

About Chicago Healers

Chicago Healers is the nation’s pioneer prescreened and integrative health care network, offering a comprehensive understanding of each practitioner’s services, approach and philosophy. Its holistic health experts teach and advocate natural and empowered health and life choices through their practices, the media, educational events, and the website. With close to 200 practitioners and over 300 treatment services, Chicago Healers has provided nearly 400 free educational events for Chicagoans and has been featured in 300+ TV news programs and print publications. For more information, visit www.ChicagoHealers.com.