budget | Sparkle and Shine

It’s officially February, which means you are probably one month into your yearly “loose weight/get healthy/workout more” New Year’s Resolution.

How’s it going for you?

Well, if your response looked something like a Melissa response from Pretty Little Liars:

Don’t worry. Save your eye roll, ladies, because I have some ways to help you get back on track, while staying on a college budget! You don’t need to go for broke while trying to shed those extra holiday pounds.

1. If you have a meal plan, you’re lucky, so use it wisely! I am on a meal plan at my college, but I make sure to stick to the healthy foods at my school. Every night I can have grilled chicken grilled for me at any time, which is awesome! Or I can get my new favorite, a turkey burger! I also have a salad bar, which most schools have. Every day, even if I don’t get something from the salad bar, I make sure to eat a hard boiled egg from there because it is full of protein! So my whole entire meal was just FREE because it came from my meal plan, which is factored into tuition.

2. Stay away from the soda. When you go out to eat with your friends, ask for water – it’s free. Filling up your water bottle in the cafe – free. Ask for soda at either of these places, not only will you be paying money out of your pocket, but your body will be stuck paying for it because of all the extra calories and sugars that are packed in soda. I will admit, I occasionally do drink soda – such as Diet Gingerale for a stomach ache or Diet Coke for some caffeine (I’m not a coffee drinker), but did you see the key word? Diet. Drink soda sparingly, but when you do – make sure it is diet. Also, drinking water before meals can help keep you from eating more. Plus, you should be drinking eight glasses of water a day (not only will your waist line thank you, but so will your skin!) That $2.50 for a soda will start to add up overtime. Say you get one soda, for $2.50 every day, that’s $70 a month on soda!

3. If you have a kitchen, take advantage of it! If you don’t, get a microwave! Put down that phone and don’t order take out (as easy as it may sound). Yes, it is SO easy to order up Dominoes and cheesy bread while finishing up that last minute essay, but you will most likely regret it the next day. So, if you have a kitchen, or even just a simple microwave, you can take great advantage of this! Get some frozen bags of vegetables, lean cuisines, frozen chicken breasts, Special K frozen meals, and much more. If you do have to buy your own food, coupons are your friend! You can make this work, I promise!

But remember, you must also try and exercise! Take advantage of your college’s gym – because you won’t be paying for a free gym once you’re in the real world. Feel like you have no time to go to the gym? Do what I do – multitask! I will bring notecards to study, read a textbook, or try to help relax my mind by watching Netflix. There are 1,440 minutes in a day – you can try and find 30 minutes of your day to get your butt to the gym! Not only will you thank me come summertime, statistics show that you will sleep better at night and feel better mentally.

Eat healthy, work out, and feel great, readers!

Oh, how I hate the “b” word…. and no, not that “b” word, but what I consider the worst “b” word of all – budget.

With this summer in full swing, the large expenses I have coming up are already looming above my head – a Taylor Swift concert in July, a hotel room for the weekend down the shore with my best friend, a possible cruise next summer, first semester books, sorority dues, and something left over for spending money. I managed to get a little too debit card happy my first year at college spending so much on Alpha Delta Pi t-shirts, late night Dominoes, and feeding into my Alex and Ani obsession. Everything adds up super fast – and now I’m spending at least 30 hours a week at CVS as a photo technician trying to save up some money for everything ahead. Yet before I go out for another manicure, froyo run, and aimless drive with the sunroof down and music up wasting gas money, I decided I need to be making smarter monetary choices. This is why, the time has come, that I, Sami, put myself on…..a budget.

There are 3 set rules I have for putting myself on a budget, as well as an extra tip to save some money.

My budget rules are:

1. Set a limit on eating out! For me, a huge part of my unnecessary spending in the summer goes to eating out! One of my favorite things to do with my best friend is to go out to eat. If we ever can’t decide what to do, we always just decide to go out to get something to eat – whether it be just a quick froyo run or eating a three course meal at a restaurant. Then, when we do decide to go to a restaurant, we always want to try to go somewhere different and end up wasting so much gas money. I have decided that I will only go out to eat once a week (and that includes a froyo run). Also, when I am out, I am only going to limit what I get – a small milk shake can save me a few bucks verses a medium. By reducing the amount that you eat out, your wallet -and waist line! – will thank you.

2. Set aside a certain amount of week for gas! Another way that I waste my money is in my gas tank. It only takes about $40 or so to fill my gas tank. However, there are weeks that I put in that into my tank, or even double it. Summertime means adventures, but that doesn’t necessarily mean every other day! I am setting aside only $40 a week for gas. If I know I am going to be traveling far within that week, such as a day trip down the shore, then I will adjust my weekly gas budget. By giving myself a limit, I will not be as likely to just drive around with the sunroof open, blasting music with my best friend. Of course, we still will, but it won’t be occurring for hours on end.

3. Split half of the paycheck! At CVS, I get paid biweekly. Every other Thursday evening, I log onto my TD Bank app to see how much was directly deposited into my checking account. The next day, I go to the bank and remove at least half (sometimes I try to remove $50 more than half) of my paycheck and deposit it right into my savings account. Then, I pretend the money never existed. I continue on the next two weeks with the money that is in my checking account. From there, I will budget what I will be spending in the next two weeks – taking out the money for gas, taking out any upcoming expenses I know will be occurring, and then planning what else I want to spend my money on. While I have my summer spending money, I still have money in my savings account for all of my many upcoming purchases.

And the extra tip for saving: save up any spare change! I can tell you right now, I will falter at times on my budget. However, having a little extra emergency cash will be a saving grace. That is why I am working on saving up any spare change. I try to use cash as much as possible to stay aware of how much money I actually have. However, when I do then up using cash, I get back a bunch of coins. Instead of just letting them sit in the bottom of my Betsey Johnson purse, I put them in a digital coin jar (this is the one that I use!) that calculates how much money I have in the jar. Just from putting my change in the jar over this past month, I have almost $30 saved up!

Good luck on your budget because I know I sure am going to need it!