Becoming a student and therefore taking that massive step to responsibility, independent and fending for yourself can be a hard time. Without the stress of growing up, finding and going to college, university of whatever else you also have a complete life chance where everything is not just handed to you on a plate. You start to have the need to prioritize many things, the main thing is learning what is the correct and essential items to spend your hard earned cash on. So where can we limit this cash spend as a teenager/student?
Food
Get with the fact that you do not need to buy brand name food, supermarket value food is just as good and you will often find you are just paying for the name rather than the quality and contents. Spend as little as possible on food but make sure you eat well enough to see you through. You do not need fancy foods, loads of snacks and meals out and takeaways. Spend a little, you will need the money for more important things.
Internet & laziness
If you are currently staying in a flat without internet why bother paying for it? Libraries or your University/College will offer internet which you will be able to use and it will cost you a lot less. Granted this will come as a sacrifice of getting out and not staying at home all the time but that is just how it goes. You have to get up and about to save money too. Another good point about leaving your house is that you get a good amount of exercise and fresh air to make you feel better.
Prioritizing is very important as a student or even anyone else for that matter with the lack of money going around countries currently you need to save every penny you can here and there. You can still do and get the things you want, they might just not be as important that week compared to having a suit for future job interviews or whatever.
Do your research and save where you can. Another important thing to take into consideration is always accept help when it is offered to you. Your pride may tell you know however if you can get anything free or reduced then take it as a friendly offer on your behalf as you will be needing money for essential things rather than other items that are just not essential to your time studying or creating your future.
There are many habits that teenagers and anyone else for that matter can get themselves into. Drinking in the pub, smoking, buying snacks and generally just spending money that does not need to be spent. This is something you will continue to do until you learn the hard lesson of struggling for the money by yourself in your own life without the same support you had before.
A question to the readers
How do you go about saving your money? Do you use any of the tips above or maybe something else to ensure you are saving as much as possible?
