blog-for-free-food:

Well, tomorrow marks the beginning of fall classes, which means it’s time for me to start working out, then reward myself for doing well for a couple weeks straight by stopping altogether. 

Hey, look at what I didn’t even start doing this semester.

No matter how good you are at saving money and cutting expenses, if you have no income, you will lose money. Making even a little bit of money a month will help with your expenses tremendously.

While finding a flexible part-time job to accommodate your busy schedule may seem nearly impossible, there are resources to make the search easier.

Most universities have a database that lists all the jobs currently available to students. Through those listings, you can find applications. Additionally, some departments send out job openings on listservs. Asking professors and other people in the department of which your major is part is always helpful. Pay attention to bulletin boards with information about potential part-time work. Not only would you be getting paid, but you could potentially find work that relates to your to the field into which you want to go.

Don’t forget that one of the best ways to find a job is through word of mouth. Ask your friends about their jobs and have them keep you up-to-date on when they’re looking for new employees. 

Think outside the box but inside your major. For example, there are a lot of freelance opportunities for people in majors related to journalism. Your paychecks may only be $50 every two weeks, but that is better than $0.

Send our your resume to as many potential employers as possible. If you don’t give up, you’ll find a job.

If you’re already in college, then you probably already know why a meal plan is a bad idea. However, if you’re not already in college, they can still convince you to buy one.

Here are the arguments:

• They’re convenient!

This is both true and false. It’s convenient to be able to walk in to a dining hall to eat with your friends or grab a take-out box. However, it can also be inconvenient when you need a late dinner or want a quick breakfast before class. Times like these happen pretty often in college, and it’s much more convenient to have food in your room during these occurrences.

• You won’t have to learn to cook.

    Whether or not you have a meal plan, you probably won’t be cooking much. Heating up ramen takes about as much time as getting luke- warm macaroni from the dining hall.

• It will save you money in the long run.

This is false. Chances are that even if you have a meal plan, you will still go out to eat with your friends and buy snacks from the store and whatnot. If you just buy groceries from the store, you could save about $500 per semester.

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Proof in numbers:

The cheapest meal plan UF offers is $1755.63 per semester—14 meals per week. If there are about four months in a semester, then this evens out to about $440 per month on food. However, you also have to factor the money you’ll spend going out to eat with friends, and things you might buy at the store. $100 a month would be a very conservative estimate. 

Versus buying meals from the store which would probably approximate to $200 per month. Avoiding a meal plan can save you hundreds of dollars a month.

Secondhand clothing stores are underrated and needlessly looked down upon. They’re an excellent alternative to buying over-priced clothing at stores in malls and around town.

These stores only accept clothing in very good condition, and sometimes carry brand names that most college students wouldn’t be able to afford in any other store.

Thrift stores are a God-send to the college student who needs a new jacket for winter, has gained just a little too much weight to fit into her pre-college skinny jeans or needs a last-minute outfit for yet another costume party.

Popular second-hand stores that can be found all over the country are Plato’s Closet and, yes, Goodwill. You can google other stores in your area; college towns tend to have an abundance of locally-owned secondhand clothing stores.

Happy shopping!

If you’re still having trouble avoiding spending money, here is a small tip:

Think of things in terms of what you  could buy if you don’t spend the money on a whim.

For example, buying a meal from Chick-fil-a costs roughly $6.35. Instead, you could go out for frozen yogurt twice with some friends. You could put the money towards a new jacket to keep you from freezing to death during winter.

You could use the money to do two separate loads of laundry instead of cramming all the clothes you own into a single washer and dryer.

The bottom line is that if you think twice about your purchase, you’ll probably end up saving money.

As long as you’re working about 20 hours a week, and you qualify for the work-study program, you are eligible for food stamps. My roommate gets a couple hundred dollars in groceries every month through Florida’s food assistance program, so take advantage of this if it applies to you!

To apply for the program (in Florida), visit http://www.myflorida.com/accessflorida/ today!

Ah, my dear fellow higher education seekers, it is that time of year again—advanced registration time. This means meeting with advisers, deciding whether or not getting up early will be worth it to avoid night classes and looking at those daunting prices on your future textbook list.

Fear not! The Internet is here to save you. By the time you’re in your second semester, you’ll realize that buying your books from a bookstore is for chumps. Most people turn to Amazon, but there are even better websites.

Personally, I haven’t spent more than $220 on textbooks in a single semester, and for this semester’s books, I spent somewhere around $115. My website of choice? Abebooks.com.

Let’s use an example. For my Writing for Mass Communications class, I had to buy three books. One of which was Writing and Reporting News by Carole Rich.

New from the bookstore: $132.00 (yikes)

Used from the bookstore: $99.00 (still steep)

New from Amazon or Abebooks: $78.79 - $101.07

Used from Amazon or Abebooks: $27.00 - $79.78

These are based on current listings. When I bought my book at the beginning of the semester, it was slightly cheaper.

Make sure to keep an eye out for coupons—many sites will offer coupons for free shipping on textbooks (Abebooks does).

Additionally, ask around and figure out what your friends’ favorite textbook buying methods are. At UF, a few students created a textbook exchange Facebook group in which all students at the University of Florida could post what book they were buying or selling and connect with another student who needed or had their book. Check to see if your school has something like this. If not, it’s never too late to create it!

Don’t be lazy when it comes to buying textbooks. Hunting around for the best price does not take that long, and you’ll be much happier in the long run when you’ve saved a couple hundred dollars.