Tricks to saving money during school

At the beginning of college, I really struggled to use my money well.  I managed to save up $5,000 to take with me to France, but I quickly spent all of it on clothes and fancy French bistros.  All in two months.  Afterwards, I was so poor.  When I went to the grocery store to buy grapes, I pulled all the grapes off of their stems before I purchased them because I couldn't afford to pay 2 cents extra for stems.  Afterwards, I realized that I didn't want to squander my money away on expensive French dresses and be left with no money for groceries.  I didn't want to grow up and become that kind of mother.  I needed to change.

Posing in my expensive French clothes.  My how times have changed :)

When I came home from France, I found a budget sheet on BYU's website (click here to see the budget sheet).  I filled it out for the entire year, and it included categories for groceries, gas, textbooks, fun money, etc. for each month.  Then, (here's the key) EVERY Sunday afternoon, I recorded my expenses from the previous week and compared them to my budget.  At first, it was really easy to spend more money than I budgeted. But the more I did it, the better I got at budgeting. Thank goodness, because I don't think David would have married me if I had been spending my money frivolously.  Now, David and I budget our money together every Sunday.  I'm so grateful that I learned how to budget because now we have loans, and we are poorer than we've ever been.  

There are so many ways to save money during college.  Like renting textbooks.  I remember paying more than $200 for my History of Psychology textbook, and then I was never able to sell it back because a new addition came out.  I haven't used it since.  Super disappointing, and a waste of money.  Campus Book Rentals has really good deals on renting textbooks (40-90% off of bookstore prices), and they have free shipping both ways (and that my friends, is amazing).  They have really flexible renting periods, and you can highlight in your book (I love doing that). The cool thing about their company is that they donate money to Operation Smile to perform clef lip surgeries for children in need.  So cool.  Here's the new version of my History of Psych book on their website, and it's originally $246.  Campus Book Rentals has it for rent for only $56.  That saves you $200: AMAZING.  Check it out if you want a good deal on textbooks.

Studying Freshman year...I had so much to learn :)