Wednesday, July 16, 2008

When Money is not Enough


Saving money is one of the most difficult task to do especially when you're in College. For most freshmen, it is almost entirely impossible to save some more for yourself especially when you're living in a boarding house wherein, everything is timed, metered or scheduled from the use of electricity in charging your cellular phones, ironing your uniforms to washing your clothes and taking your shower. It is almost impossible to save since you have to spend a lot for a major project or assignment that requires a nice face from a book-binded thesis, a well computerized term paper with colored graphics, buying some extra computer hardware for a system you're developing, and a well-designed case study documentation. What's worse, you can't save at all when after the defense, your professor has a bunch of corrections on your 300-page output and you have to make extra copies for other dummies who wouldn't mind reading your work at all but rather feed it only in book shelves for future research purposes or probably recycling the product of your intellectual ingenuity to impress future students who would suffer the same fate as yours. You don't have a job. When you try to get one, your schedules are in conflict and you don't want to suffer from dropping out a subject that is a precursor to a major discipline... You try to involve yourself from MLM, only to find out that your professor is one of your up-lines and then you get screwed because you can't get the quota on track. Then you started to get harassed and tormented with some conflicts of interests- Are you going to push through with the course, shift probably or transfer? Now you're doomed and in debt from your landlady or your girlfriend because all you have to do is to make the pyramid legs pay-out. Then you think of a crime, so that your girlfriend enrolled in another school won't suspect that you're dating the most popular girl in campus. So you SMS your Nanang (who is out in fields working all day, rain or shine with your Amang.) You add a little drama and voila! Your "padala" is at your doorstep the next morning. Thank God, your parents didn't know what were the terms you were talking about. Thank Webster for a continuous celebration of English Advancement while your conscience is speaking "Babawi nalang ako next semester... Kaya siguro. Kaya pa! Bahala na si Batman." while on a drinking spree with your dabarkads the night before a unit test or major exams. The worst case scenario is to give-up and selling yourself. The other way is to apply the principle of "the Secret" to end your misery and live a good College life.

Here are some tips to your College survival
1. Set your Goal
Eliminate your debt first. Being free from debt will make saving easier. There are two types of goals: short-term goal: ex. buying a pair of jeans- you have to look for a lot of stores in town, compare prices and look for quality. If you want to buy a new cellular phone, you might wanna consider trading or getting rid of the old one. Sell some of your stuff: old notes, books,projects, uniforms/ paraphernalia to lower years if you''re a senior. For long term goals like finishing your way up to College, you might wanna consider working during summers, look for some jobs available in the campus (assistant, clerical work). Besides from acquiring experience, you could use the extra cash or the program may provide some tuition fee discounts. If you're a scholar, maintain your high grades. If you're a member of an accredited organization, be an active one. Participate in fund raising activities. You could profit from it. You'll not only help raise funds for your club but at least have some cash to pay for some projects.

2. Time frame
This can be conditioned into your system. Do u need to save on a daily basis by sacrificing a bottle of soda. Is it weekly? Cutting your luxuries on Mall weekends or drinking sprees and invest rather in your review hours and starting a major requirement to avoid cramming when the deadline come.

3. Figure out how much you'll save per week
It would be best to save the same amount per period. With the rising price of gasoline, consider walking if the school is not far from where you live. Make arrangements with your professor for you to manage some class schedules to avoid long periods of free time. The longer the free time you have with no scheduled activity, the more you are exposed to unexpected spendings.

4. Keep a record of your expenses
Have a notebook or diary of your expenses and review them. Be detailed as much as possible: fare, snacks, meals, communication, board and lodging, electricity, water, etc. Try to categorize it according to your needs. Remember, you are not at home so make a diet list so that your health will not be sacrificed.

5. Trim your expenses
If you're used to fast foods, try to explore if you could save by cooking. Ask if some of your roommates are willing to share.
Can you transfer to another boarding house?
Can you live without computer games or going to the internet cafe?
Look into the available services in your school, which you are actually paying upon enrollment that could let you save more.
Can you cut down your cellphone loads?

6. Reassess your saving goals
Subtract your expenses (the ones you can't live without) from your allowance. What is the difference? And does it match up with your savings goals?

7. Make a budget
Once you’ve managed to balance your allowance with your savings goals and spending, write down a budget so you’ll know each month how much you can spend on any given thing or category of things. This is important in cuing deficits.

8. Open an interest-bearing savings account
Yes, as early as College, you should have one. Look for a bank that you could work on with your money after you get a real job. After all, you need to save now because you need some cash when you're job-seeking after graduation most especially when your parents will stop giving you allowance.


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