How to Manage Money as a Broke College Student

How am I learning to manage my money as a college student? It is hard. Honestly, I hardly know what I'm doing. But I'm getting there. I'm still broke.

 

 

Before now, I haven't really had to manage my money very well. Of course I had to take care of the obvious: food, gas, etc.. Back in March I even bought myself a car, 100% all by myself (small victories, or not so small)! My car payment has been $130 per month, so it has been easy to take that right off the top of my first check of the month. Since I haven't really had any other "bills", it wasn't scary. It just diminished my spending money for the next few weeks.
Before I dive into how I am managing my money now, let me explain my situation. I don't feel odd talking about money at this point in my life, because I am learning. I know that it is a subject that is rarely talked about in daily conversation, but I would like to share my process in hopes of giving other college students/young adults an idea of how to try managing money.
I am in my second year of community college (a decision I made essentially to save money), I work a three hour lunch shift at a restaurant in town only four days a week, and I want more than anything to make the house I live in pretty again.
I am currently in the middle of two home projects, our main bathroom, and my bedroom (updates and posts coming soon!). I am paying for 100% of my college tuition because I do not receive any aid (inner monster trying not to escape..), and my online application for scholarships apparently never made it to the school, so I got none of that. Needless to say, the 13 credits that I started the semester with has dropped to 6 because that is all I can afford. And I still don't have books. Gerrrsh.



At this exact moment, I have $6.00 in my wallet that I can spend. But I'm okay with that.
Lesson 1: Be okay with no money to spend.




I have about $600 worth of stuff to purchase/pay for (hopefully) in the next 4 weeks. I'm going to be realistic and say that it won't happen, but I have a goal. I want to be able to scratch off 75% of my list within the next month.
I have averaged $40.00 per day, which is cash that I take home every afternoon. My paychecks will be tiny compared to the checks that I am used to getting from my old job. Because I'm a waitress, I make a little over $2.00 an hour...I know, I know, bringin in the big bucks. Because I want a safety net, I have set my average per day a little lower than what it actually is, subtracted my $30 per week gas cost, and set aside $15 for the miscellaneous each week.
Here is the math:

$40.00 per day * 4 days a week = $160.00

$160.00 - $30.00 gas - $15.00 misc = $115.00

 

I've got 115.00 per week to pay for my list.

I made a list of what I have to pay, what I want to buy for my projects, and what I need.

Lesson 2: Prioritize

 

 

 

(1) What I HAVE to pay: gas, food, car payment, etc.

             I already set aside money for gas (yay).

             I round my tips to the nearest multiple of 5 and save that(which leaves me with 0-4$)

                      --I use this extra few for snacks/food while I'm out.

             I begin an envelope that contains whatever I save for my car payment.

                     --In three days I have been able to put $80.00 in there!

 

(2) What I NEED: to take Lewis for his shots and to be fixed, coffee, razors, contact solution, etc.

             Call me crazy, but I WILL place coffee and razors above a new bathroom floor any day.

             Lewis will have three separate visits, each costing about $75.00

                     --I have an envelope with each visit and the price written on it, I will start putting money in them when I have my CAR PAYMENT finished. As soon as I fill one, I will take him, and fill for the next visit.

             The others are usually the miscellaneous items and are covered using my $15 per week extra.

 

(3)What I want for my PROJECTS: bathroom floor, paint for my bedroom, a new fan, etc

             Now these are the things that make me excited, of course they are, they have to be last on the list.

             *I have already been out looking at prices, and have found what I want for them all.

                      --I was at Lowes and found beautiful tile for $0.25 each. SAY WHAT

                      --I did the math, and instead of the original $70.00 that I had put aside for it, I got IT ALL for $15.00.

                                **I honestly think that saving roughly $55.00 by purchasing the tiles early was worth it. It has to be a killer deal to make a substitution**

So what happened to the rest of the $70.00 that was put aside? good question.
In my sealed envelope, I had $70.00 ready to go. I was waiting until I was ready to buy tile before I opened it...or even took it out of the shoebox. Because I was in town without my money when I bought the tile, I still had 70. I ripped open the envelope when I got home, and dispersed the $$ among others (most went to my car payment). I still need to buy grout, etc, so I saved $35 for that.

If this is really confusing, I'm sorry. Like I said, I'm still learning.

Anyways, I am sure that I will have some sort of update every now and then just to share what works and doesn't work for me. I would love to hear your theories on managing miniscule amounts of money(:

 

 

 

Chalkin

Chalkboard painting everything I can find.

That's what happens when you have leftover chalkboard paint. My painting began when I needed signs for the farmer's market this summer. I wanted them to be chalkboard painted, but I didn't want to spend 30$ on the supplies to make the paint myself and possibly mess it up in the process. I found myself at Lowes looking around for cheaper options when I happened to spot this little guy sitting on the paint desk.

How convenient. The pint was about $7, which is a much better price than $30, a big mess, and a possibility of my diy mix not working.
I bought it.
The color selection was really weird to me. When I think of chalkboard paint, I think black, grey, dark colors. The selection that I had was bright. B-r-I-g-h-t. I'm talking hot pink, turquoise, lime, etc.

The only color that was darkish was navy baby. Dohkay. I'll take it.
Some how I made it work. My signs turned out adorbs. But I had so much extra paint. Like the thing was still full. So what did I end up doing? Chalkboard painting everything I could find.
It first started with this piece of wood that was left over from a baby shower last weekend, then it trickled into my room (that I'm giving a new do...in a few posts.)



It was rough. I needed to sand-er-down to baby smoothness. I used a palm sander, starting with P90 grit and sanded until smoothish, then changed the pad several times until I finished with 320 grit. We are talking smooooooth.

I am really thinking that I needed to use some sort of sealer, or primer? Maybe? I have no idea, so I went ahead with the process anyways without asking anyone...or googling. There was a hole in the center of the wood, so I used puddy to seal it up. Wham, bam, done.

 

Paint paint paint. I painted all the way to the bark because I thought it looked better. Two layers works best and makes sure that it is sealed all the way. I always make sure to let the paint dry for 24 hours before writing on it that way I know it won't smear, or dent the paint.

The door:

 

My first thought on my bedroom closet door was to take it down and do something cool with my closet, but I reeeeally wanted to chalkboard something else. Hey, if it doesn't work out, I can always take the door down like I had originally planned.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This one is easy.

Tape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paint x 2.

Doneee.

I'll keep my instagram up to date with the new artwork<<<

Love always,

M