Ohhhh… I bet you guys are wondering just what’s going on around here. Why is Stephanie, who claims to be poorer than everyone, giving away so much stuff? First, I let you guys know about a $100,000 sweepstakes. Then, I throw a secret giveaway on this site (which I’d link, but then it wouldn’t be secret! Poke around if you want to find that.). Now what?
We at the recently-formed College Money Network are throwing a big Back-to-School giveaway! Yep, we’re kicking off a batch of back-to-college-themed posts by giving away some awesome stuff! There are multiple ways to enter, all of which are totally easy… but I know what you’re really interested in is the prize list!
Prizes
- 4GB iPod nano
- $50 cash
- $20 cash
- Copy of The 4-Hour Workweek
- One-year magazine subscriptions
- Young Money
- Kiplinger’s
- SmartMoney Magazine
- Money Magazine
- $10 eBay gift certificate
Now you’re interested, right? Sweet. Nearly all the ways to enter can be found on the Back To School Giveaway page at the College Money Network.
Uh… nearly all the ways to enter? Yeah, that’s right, there’s at least two more ways to enter the contest right here!
PTY Method 1) If you’ll be at college for the upcoming year, leave a comment on this post letting us know what your financial goal for the year is, and how you’ll achieve it. For example…
My financial goal is to save $1,000 by the end of the school year. I will do this by getting a part-time job and putting $100/month in a high yield savings account.
If you’re not a college student, leave some words of wisdom for student finances in the comments. (You may leave as many comments as you like, but only the first one will count as an entry for the contest.)
PTY Method 2) Find the secret password hidden in my subscription feed. You can get the password whether you’re subscribed via RSS or the email updates — either will work. Just email in the password, and you’ll get an extra entry into the giveaway!
All entries must be received by August 31, 2008 at 11:59 PM PST. Other rules and restrictions can be found on the giveaway page.
I am saving for a trip to South Africa. I will do this by eating almost entirely off of my food plan and avoiding shopping trips, so the wages from my part-time job will go into my ING Direct fund earmarked for this adventure.
Just graduated this Spring. My advice to students:
Take advantage of any kitchen access you have! This past year I had a full kitchen, but was often too busy/lazy to cook at home and often just grabbed something quick and already prepared for lunch or dinner. Even if a $5 student deal lunch is cheap, they definitely add up and your money can go a lot farther at the grocery store! It takes a bit more planning and foresight, but is most definitely worth it.
My financial goal is to keep my loans down to a minimum (< 25k) before I graduate this next spring. One way I will help accomplish this is by cooking as often as possible instead of going out.
My financial goal is to save $1000 by the end of winter break so I can afford to forgo my spring semester loans. I’ll do this by buying more food at the real grocery store instead of the campus store, and by working an extra 2 hours per week (12 instead of 10).
Damnit, you know where I live, so you can actually make sure I’m working towards my goal, and that’s not really fair. 😛
Well, how about this: I’m going to continually put away enough money to cover the interest my pesky unsubsidized loans are accumulating so they don’t get capitalized after I graduate, AND I’m going to put an extra $100 a month away to help pay for my actual loans.
Just graduated this spring. My advice is to live at home if you can and take as many classes as you can handle. More classes each semester = less semesters needed = less tuition paid. I wish I had done this.
If you can’t live at home, try to get internships. They sometimes pay better than other work, can often be found full time in the summer and will help you find a job when you graduate. Depending on your field you could get an internship that pays enough to support you most of the year if you keep your costs low.
My financial goal is to continuing tutoring my classmates in the paralegal department and then put all the extra money into a retirement fund at the end of the school year. It should be about $280 a month!
childfreelife’s last blog post..Tiny chunk: Making a U-promise to yourself
My goal for my college saving is to improvise ways to minimize eating out and maximize my cooking skills by watching the foods network and collecting healthy recipes
Wait, how come you just don’t monetize this blog, I’m sure the $100/month shouldn’t be too hard!
– AnotherMMOblog
AnotherMMOblog’s last blog post..Win up to $50 Paypal Simply by Commenting
Get a job working in the school cafeteria. It may not be glamorous, but it usually pays more than other campus jobs and you get a free meal with each shift!
Some times they’ll let you eat for free without a meal plan.
The best advice I can share from my college years is budget, budget, budget! Be realistic with your monthly cashflow, whether its from loans, the parents, or your job and map out your monthly expenses. It’s ok to set aside a healthy portion of that amount for, ahem, extracurricular activities, but avoid a credit card unless you truly commit to paying off the balance each month.
My advice for students would be to track their expenses and make a budget. Nearly all my work study money during my freshman year paid for my phone bills. That’s a chunk of change wasted on a guy I broke up with before I started my sophomore year!
Angie’s last blog post..How fitting!
I plan to maintain at least two months of budget in my emergency fund.
Long comment is long.
My financial goal of the year is to improve my spending habits in order to help my parents pay for my schooling. I’ll be looking up recipes that don’t require many ingredients/use the same ingredients, and consider getting a(nother) job. Justine’s explanation for cafeteria work is pretty convincing. I’ve never been put off by lack of glamor–it’s just the business of the kitchen that freaks me out. On the other hand, free food certainly helps. I’m also thinking of possibly attend parties when I have time…just to get free food.
Another idea is to sell off everything I don’t need. I’m planning on opening a “virtual store.” 🙂
Unsquared’s last blog post..Game Review: Persona 3 FES
I hope grad school counts as “college” for the purposes of the contest! Since I’ve just taken out my last loans, it’s too late to make goals to try to minimize them. However, I hope to keep my spending (which I define as odds and ends like entertainment and eating out) to $40 per week. I plan to keep spending under that line by cooking more meals and not relying on eating out so much. Ideally, I’d be spending even less than that, and if I do, I’ll put it in a fund to help with my spring break plans.
My advice is the same advice for anyone: live within your means. ie Spend less than you earn. And if your only “earning” is school loans, don’t spend it on frivolous stuff, get a job for that. You don’t want to get out of school with credit card debt on top of your school loan debt.
My goal this semester is to save money by preparing my own meals instead of dining out all the time. I also plan to save at least 1500 as a start to my emergency fund since I’ll be graduating soon.
If you are taking out a student loan make sure you understand the interest rate and when to you have to start paying it back–don’t be afriad to ask questions–it can be confusing and if you don’t start paying it on time you will end up paying lots of fees, etc.
Cheryl Maguire’s last blog post..Good Housekeeping – Money Saving Tips
I’m a college sophomore, and my goal this semester is to pay off all of my student loan interest monthly, which is about $120 per month, so that it doesn’t start snowballing!
My advice to college students: put yourself on an allowance. Especially after working a fairly high paying internship during the summer, it was easy to look at my checking account balance, think I had lots of money, and start frittering it away on insignificant little purchases. Knowing I had $X left for the rest of the month helped me evaluate whether I really wanted to go to Taco Bell instead of cooking at home.
E.C.’s last blog post..Miscellaneous updates
my goal starts with submitting my college application (which i intend to do as soon as i can find the $25 needed for the app fee). once i am officially accepted into the graphic design program i plan to put 1/3 of each paycheck i receive into my savings account. step three is to cut up my atm card (this step is key to the money saving process). on the side i plan to buy and sell used and vintage clothes/household items for a way to make extra cash. also, answering online surveys for money and gift cards helps me out a lot when birthdays and holidays come around! by february, i plan on having enough money saved to go on a trip with my little sister, and by next august i hope to be a sophomore in college with no recollection as to what a “cup of noodles” tastes like.
My financial goal is to save 4000 dollars by the end of the semester.. WHY? Because that is how much I will owe the school and since I am not eligible for Grants or Financial Aid (because of my parents income, who I don’t have any relationship with) I will need to make the money or be kicked out because I failed to pay.
My advice to college students/grads: Always have money stashed for emergencies. No, running out of beer for the weekend doesn’t count as one.
Read what it is like to be seriously broke: The Top Ten Things A Broke Person I Afraid Of
I’ve taken the time to write down all of my financial goals, some I know I will accomplish sooner than others. My most important financial goal this year is to get a better paying job. But whether I get a new job or not, my plan is to create a $5000 emergency fund and create a high-yield savings account. I’ve got big dreams, I just don’t have all the money necessary to foster those dreams as yet….but I’ll get there no matter what.
I plan to save $2,000 by the end of the school year. Then, depending on my situation, I will either buy a better car, or just keep saving for any emergencies.
That’s a good goal, Phillip, but I just wanted to make sure you knew that this giveaway has been over for nearly a year now. But stay tuned – the College Money Network is planning a similar giveaway this year, in September!
I am saving for a trip to South Africa. I will do this by eating almost entirely off of my food plan and avoiding shopping trips, so the wages from my part-time job will go into my ING Direct fund earmarked for this adventure.
Try my site for some cheap recppie ideas http://www.squidoo.com/studentfood
Good tip, James, but this contest has been over for more than a year now. Check out the College Money Network’s current contest, for an iPod Shuffle: https://poorerthanyou.com/2009/08/31/announcing-the-back-to-school-shuffle-for-a-shuffle-giveaway/
Dining out is expensive. Cook your own food!
I, personally found most of my money ending up in the pockets or restaurant cashiers because I love to eat good food. The decor and service didn’t matter as much as the taste of the food.
So I decided to cook for myself! I actually save time traveling and looking for a new restaurant. All I have to do is just refer to my cookbook or search a recipe out on the internet.
I’ve published a few recipes that I found useful and a few video guides too. Be sure to check out Easy Recipes for College Students Blog