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Starting the first week of freshman year, debit cards begin to get swiped with great force and little attention paid. If you’re one of the fortunate ones with student charge, I hate you. My bank account has been on a constant decline for the last year and a half and on most days, I refuse to even log into my online account to see the dwindling balance.

So to the students that are looking for shameless money saving tips, you’ve come to the right place.

College Saving Tips

1. Order your books off Amazon. The university bookstore, as I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone, rips the students off. I guess you could call it a convenience charge – they get your books together for you and the pick up is literally a walk from your dorm. But you know what’s even more convenient? Having your books delivered right to your door and paying nearly half price. This semester alone, I saved over $200 on my books.
2. Don’t order food when you’re drunk. Yes, everybody loves to drunk eat; it’s a given, especially if you’re a girl it seems. But here’s the deal, ordering food just on Friday and Saturday nights alone will cost you. A medium pizza will run you about $7.00 and then you must tip – that’s going to add up to about 20 bucks in one weekend. Just go ahead and make those Ramen Noodles college students are forced to love.
3. Buy the cheap stuff. This one’s for you, fraternity guys. Alcohol gets expensive and there’s no need to buy the goods if it’s going to be mixed into some sort of soda for a drunk-ass girl that doesn’t give care what she’s drinking. So buy in bulk – it’s cheaper and buy Congress – you know we’re all so fond of it. Cheap drinks will get you drunk just the same, right? And when out at the bars, there are usually deals such as dollar wells or $5 pitchers; go for those.
4. Use coupons! Campuses usually pass out coupon books and if you’re like me, you collect them like they’re going out of style. What’s great about these little booklets is that most of the coupons are to places that are frequented by college kids – hello convenience. There are also so many decent finds either online or in newspapers that college kids don’t even consider. Now, I’m not suggesting going the route of “couponing” like the crazy-coupon-ladies but there are plenty of easy ways to save money by taking a little time to flip through an ad.
5. Avoid getting suckered in by your friends. It’s proven that friends make their friends fat – it’s also proven that friends make their friends poor. The two go hand in hand, really. You get talked into ordering food or going out to eat (the fat part) and you have to spend money to do so (the poor part). But it’s more than that – going shopping with your friends will end in each of you guys coming home with shopping bags. That’s because friends can convince each other of anything; plus, if she’s your bestie and says you must have those jeans that make your ass look hawt, then obviously you have to buy them.

What you should take away from this is to just say no. Say no to your friends, say no to your inner drunk hunger, say no to the best alcohol and be happy you have money left in your bank account at the end of the year.