As a student studying abroad, you have a lot to manage, from maintaining a healthy lifestyle, your study schedule, making new friends to managing your finances. There are a lot of new daily challenges.
In addition to these things, there are instances when you might be at crossroads, forced to make tough decisions and manage the pressure of living alone. One of the most important aspects of staying by yourself is managing your finances as a student.
It becomes crucial to know how to save money, where you should splurge and where to cut back. A sense of financial management can take you a long way in life, especially if you learn this skill from a young age.
One of your most significant expenditures is shopping. But it is also an aspect of your life where you can save the most money. Items like study materials, food, clothing and groceries are necessities. You simply cannot live without them, which makes them a constant expenditure. These are items that make up the majority of your budget. Therefore, making it necessary to try and save money on these purchases.
Here are some ways you can do that:
Study material
Study materials include textbooks, stationery items like pens, notebooks, and more. These are absolutely essential at university and can cost heavily in your pocket. One of the best ways to save money on these items is to use secondhand books or simply borrow or buy the ones your seniors have used and discarded.
Your university has probably shared a long list of books for your semester. However, some of these books are often listed for students to refer to rather than use as their primary study books during the course.
A simple discussion with your seniors or professor can help you narrow the list of books to only a few, reducing your total expenditure. For instance, if there is a book you know you might not use that much but still need to have as a resource, then you can try a soft copy for it or photocopy it from the original. This way you get to save money by buying books you absolutely need.
And if you need more material to study from but it isn't going to be highly useful to purchase it, the libraries are your next good option.
Next, you can save money by reusing your stationary, so try and use pen refills if you write a lot. Instead of buying new pens, use all pages of your notebooks instead of giving those up half used. If you feel you need a laptop for your studies but don't want to spend on a brand new one, then it is absolutely alright to go for a secondhand one. These are small ways to save money on study materials, which will be fruitful in the long run.
Clothing
Shopping for events, trips or just for fun is big part of studying abroad. There are a number of simple ways in which one can save when looking for that fresh outfit.
Loyalty programs and points are a great way to get deals and discount from stores you regularly shop at, for example Zara and H&M have great loyalty programs.
Look out for flash sales or end-of-season sales. These sales are usually available for both online and offline stores, and you will save a huge amount of money if you purchase during these sale periods.
Thrift more than you shop! This is an excellent way to save money and can be a fun activity to do with your friends.
If you prefer to shop online using savings tools such as Checkmate, an automatic coupon extension is an awesome option when shopping on your phone or laptop.
With that, we come to the end of how you can save money while shopping as a student. While some of these ways you might already know, sometimes it becomes difficult to put them into practice or takes time to adapt. But don't worry; once you manage your finances more efficiently, you will automatically start adopting these methods to save that little extra money.
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