I know people who are getting out of college now who thought that they were self-sufficient their final years as a student. After all, they paid their own tuition, were responsible for their own food, clothing, etc, so it was pretty much exactly like being an adult, right?
And then they graduated.
Suddenly, they’re making multiple times what their measly student budgets brought in from after-class jobs or their seasonal internships, but it all seems to disappear on payday. How can that be? A year or two ago they’d go out with their friends on a regular basis, now they are having trouble keeping gas in the car. Why is Real Life so much more expensive than college?
The fact of the matter is, there are a few different factors going on here. For one thing, you were more dependent on others than you realized in college. In all probability, you might have still been on your parents’ insurance even if you covered everything else. And if you did go to the doctor, did you go to the student health clinic, paid for by your student fees, or did you actually pay the co-pay yourself at the neighborhood doctor’s office? For another thing, your expectations are in all likelihood a lot higher as an adult than they were as a student, whether you realize it or not. Imagine if you re-adjusted your expectations to fit a lower budget. So if you find yourself short on cash, think back to your college days and ponder.
How to Live on a College Student Budget
- Follow the Free Food.
In college, organizations are constantly offering free food to entice people to participate. Sometimes you can go an entire week without eating in the cafeteria; you just learn the schedule of the different organizations and adjust your social life accordingly. In Real Life, free food isn’t quite as abundant, but there are still plenty of ways to maintain the absolute cheapest food budget possible by being very flexible with your expectations in a way that you haven’t done since college.
- Follow the Free Entertainment
Every weekend (or sometimes every night) there is some kind of activity going on in college designed to get broke kids drunk or entertained. Real Life doesn’t have frat parties every weekend or use student activity fees to bring in headliner bands, but there are lots of free activities in the community that don’t require tickets. Some of these might be art festivals, races for a cause, movies in the park, free entrance days to museums or other attractions, tours of local landmarks, or just pleasant days in the park. I don’t know about free alcohol, but free entertainment is just as accessible as long as you know where to look.
- Live with Others
Typically, your average freshman generally lives in a small, overpriced room that they share with another person who they may not know very well or even particularly like. All your personal effects took up exactly half of that small space. Imagine how your rent would drop (or how much rent you could collect) if you expected to live like this again. So, if you have a cramped one-room apartment with a living room, think of how many roommates you could fit in there if you were a freshman in college. And then divide your rent by that number. See how your adjusted expectations have affected your budget?
- Share a Phone and Other Amenities
If you have a cell phone, multiple cell phones, texting plans, or even your own land line, you are probably spending more money on phone service than what you spent in college. In college, people often share phones, share cable bills, share Internet bills.
- Be Too Busy to Shop
If you are attending class, studying, eating, hanging out with friends, joining clubs, generally goofing off, and sometimes sleeping, when do you go shopping? If you don’t have a car, how do you get to the mall? For those who see shopping as a pastime and not a chore, filling your time with other pastimes might distract you from the fact that you need new jeans.
- Live where you Work
Many college kids either live on campus or within public transportation distance. Where I went to school, the parking fees were astronomical and I couldn’t afford to own a car anyway. In Real Life, people often assume that they need transportation because they haven’t figured out how to live without it. If you are spending 100$ a month on parking, for example, what kind of an apartment could you get for 100$ more a month, but close enough to where you work so you won’t need parking? If your car broke down for a week, how would you get around? Is it possible to get to the grocery store? To work? To a friend’s house? How much did you walk in college compared with how much you walk now?
- Build your brain, not your belongings
For many people, the entry into Real Life means building one’s own home. For me, this involved buying (cheap) furniture, organizers for my closet, and some electronic purchases. For some, this means finally having the cash to get the right TV or gaming system, or by outfitting their kitchen with the right knives. Some people manage to outfit their home with loot from wedding registries, but for the rest of us, there is no Getting Out of College registry where we can buy dishes and new bedding for that four-poster we got from our parents. Not everyone is bitten by this bug, but for those who are, setting up house is a process that can take years and thousands of dollars that we simply weren’t spending when we were in college. So, to think like a college student– keep those books on two-by-fours held up by concrete blocks. Use the broken lamp from your friends’ parents’ garage instead of the cheap one that matches your decor from Wal-Mart. Let guests sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag instead of buying a rollaway and covering it in the clearance bedding from Bed Bath and Beyond. I’m not saying that nesting is bad, or that it can’t be budget-conscious, but college kids for the most part have other pursuits and have other things to worry about than building their personal inventory.
- Focus on something besides “Getting By”
This is probably the biggest difference between college and Real Life. In college, people are thinking, “When do I have time to do that two-week assignment before it is due at noon today?” “How can I switch my classes around so that I have time to do theatre as well?” “Does free beer taste better than paid beer?” Mundane tasks, such as signing up for insurance, paying tuition, and getting a job are usually dealt with once or twice a year to free up the mind for more important things, such as graduating or getting into that really cool class with the brilliant professor, or getting to know someone that is totally hot but normally ignores you. In Real Life, however, suddenly we are faced with questions such as “If the economy tanks and I lose my job, how many months of income do I have saved up?” “What insurance plan best fits my needs for my budget?” “What subscriptions fit my needs as an informed member of society?” “What is my credit like? How do I improve it?” In other words, Real Life is this post-college plateau where we focus a lot on matters of budgeting and money. Try focusing on other things. Set up your budgeting automatically if you like, to minimize stress and time thought about it. Figure out what it is you want to move towards. It’s all up to you.
I’m not suggesting that you have to revert to your collge-student expectations in order to live within your means. Instead, I mean to point out the effects that our changing expectations have on our lifestyle as well as on our budgets. You don’t have to live like a rat on week-old pizza, but if you are spending the money for sushi, then go ahead and enjoy it instead of claiming that it’s a neccessity.
I know people who are getting out of college now who thought that they were self-sufficient their final years as a student. After all, they paid their own tuition, were responsible for their own food, clothing, etc, so it was pretty much exactly like being an adult, right?
And then they graduated.
Suddenly, they’re making multiple times what their measly student budgets brought in from after-class jobs or their seasonal internships, but it all seems to disappear on payday. How can that be? A year or two ago they’d go out with their friends on a regular basis, now they are having trouble keeping gas in the car. Why is Real Life so much more expensive than college?
The fact of the matter is, there are a few different factors going on here. For one thing, you were more dependent on others than you realized in college. In all probability, you might have still been on your parents’ insurance even if you covered everything else. And if you did go to the doctor, did you go to the student health clinic, paid for by your student fees, or did you actually pay the co-pay yourself at the neighborhood doctor’s office? For another thing, your expectations are in all likelihood a lot higher as an adult than they were as a student, whether you realize it or not. Imagine if you re-adjusted your expectations to fit a lower budget. So if you find yourself short on cash, think back to your college days and ponder.
How to Live on a College Student Budget
- Follow the Free Food.
In college, organizations are constantly offering free food to entice people to participate. Sometimes you can go an entire week without eating in the cafeteria; you just learn the schedule of the different organizations and adjust your social life accordingly. In Real Life, free food isn’t quite as abundant, but there are still plenty of ways to maintain the absolute cheapest food budget possible by being very flexible with your expectations in a way that you haven’t done since college.
- Follow the Free Entertainment
Every weekend (or sometimes every night) there is some kind of activity going on in college designed to get broke kids drunk or entertained. Real Life doesn’t have frat parties every weekend or use student activity fees to bring in headliner bands, but there are lots of free activities in the community that don’t require tickets. Some of these might be art festivals, races for a cause, movies in the park, free entrance days to museums or other attractions, tours of local landmarks, or just pleasant days in the park. I don’t know about free alcohol, but free entertainment is just as accessible as long as you know where to look.
- Live with Others
Typically, your average freshman generally lives in a small, overpriced room that they share with another person who they may not know very well or even particularly like. All your personal effects took up exactly half of that small space. Imagine how your rent would drop (or how much rent you could collect) if you expected to live like this again. So, if you have a cramped one-room apartment with a living room, think of how many roommates you could fit in there if you were a freshman in college. And then divide your rent by that number. See how your adjusted expectations have affected your budget?
- Share a Phone and Other Amenities
If you have a cell phone, multiple cell phones, texting plans, or even your own land line, you are probably spending more money on phone service than what you spent in college. In college, people often share phones, share cable bills, share Internet bills.
- Be Too Busy to Shop
If you are attending class, studying, eating, hanging out with friends, joining clubs, generally goofing off, and sometimes sleeping, when do you go shopping? If you don’t have a car, how do you get to the mall? For those who see shopping as a pastime and not a chore, filling your time with other pastimes might distract you from the fact that you need new jeans.
- Live where you Work
Many college kids either live on campus or within public transportation distance. Where I went to school, the parking fees were astronomical and I couldn’t afford to own a car anyway. In Real Life, people often assume that they need transportation because they haven’t figured out how to live without it. If you are spending 100$ a month on parking, for example, what kind of an apartment could you get for 100$ more a month, but close enough to where you work so you won’t need parking? If your car broke down for a week, how would you get around? Is it possible to get to the grocery store? To work? To a friend’s house? How much did you walk in college compared with how much you walk now?
- Build your brain, not your belongings
For many people, the entry into Real Life means building one’s own home. For me, this involved buying (cheap) furniture, organizers for my closet, and some electronic purchases. For some, this means finally having the cash to get the right TV or gaming system, or by outfitting their kitchen with the right knives. Some people manage to outfit their home with loot from wedding registries, but for the rest of us, there is no Getting Out of College registry where we can buy dishes and new bedding for that four-poster we got from our parents. Not everyone is bitten by this bug, but for those who are, setting up house is a process that can take years and thousands of dollars that we simply weren’t spending when we were in college. So, to think like a college student– keep those books on two-by-fours held up by concrete blocks. Use the broken lamp from your friends’ parents’ garage instead of the cheap one that matches your decor from Wal-Mart. Let guests sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag instead of buying a rollaway and covering it in the clearance bedding from Bed Bath and Beyond. I’m not saying that nesting is bad, or that it can’t be budget-conscious, but college kids for the most part have other pursuits and have other things to worry about than building their personal inventory.
- Focus on something besides “Getting By”
This is probably the biggest difference between college and Real Life. In college, people are thinking, “When do I have time to do that two-week assignment before it is due at noon today?” “How can I switch my classes around so that I have time to do theatre as well?” “Does free beer taste better than paid beer?” Mundane tasks, such as signing up for insurance, paying tuition, and getting a job are usually dealt with once or twice a year to free up the mind for more important things, such as graduating or getting into that really cool class with the brilliant professor, or getting to know someone that is totally hot but normally ignores you. In Real Life, however, suddenly we are faced with questions such as “If the economy tanks and I lose my job, how many months of income do I have saved up?” “What insurance plan best fits my needs for my budget?” “What subscriptions fit my needs as an informed member of society?” “What is my credit like? How do I improve it?” In other words, Real Life is this post-college plateau where we focus a lot on matters of budgeting and money. Try focusing on other things. Set up your budgeting automatically if you like, to minimize stress and time thought about it. Figure out what it is you want to move towards. It’s all up to you.
I’m not suggesting that you have to revert to your collge-student expectations in order to live within your means. Instead, I mean to point out the effects that our changing expectations have on our lifestyle as well as on our budgets. You don’t have to live like a rat on week-old pizza, but if you are spending the money for sushi, then go ahead and enjoy it instead of claiming that it’s a neccessity.
I know people who are getting out of college now who thought that they were self-sufficient their final years as a student. After all, they paid their own tuition, were responsible for their own food, clothing, etc, so it was pretty much exactly like being an adult, right?
And then they graduated.
Suddenly, they’re making multiple times what their measly student budgets brought in from after-class jobs or their seasonal internships, but it all seems to disappear on payday. How can that be? A year or two ago they’d go out with their friends on a regular basis, now they are having trouble keeping gas in the car. Why is Real Life so much more expensive than college?
The fact of the matter is, there are a few different factors going on here. For one thing, you were more dependent on others than you realized in college. In all probability, you might have still been on your parents’ insurance even if you covered everything else. And if you did go to the doctor, did you go to the student health clinic, paid for by your student fees, or did you actually pay the co-pay yourself at the neighborhood doctor’s office? For another thing, your expectations are in all likelihood a lot higher as an adult than they were as a student, whether you realize it or not. Imagine if you re-adjusted your expectations to fit a lower budget. So if you find yourself short on cash, think back to your college days and ponder.
How to Live on a College Student Budget
In college, organizations are constantly offering free food to entice people to participate. Sometimes you can go an entire week without eating in the cafeteria; you just learn the schedule of the different organizations and adjust your social life accordingly. In Real Life, free food isn’t quite as abundant, but there are still plenty of ways to maintain the absolute cheapest food budget possible by being very flexible with your expectations in a way that you haven’t done since college.
- Follow the Free Entertainment
Every weekend (or sometimes every night) there is some kind of activity going on in college designed to get broke kids drunk or entertained. Real Life doesn’t have frat parties every weekend or use student activity fees to bring in headliner bands, but there are lots of free activities in the community that don’t require tickets. Some of these might be art festivals, races for a cause, movies in the park, free entrance days to museums or other attractions, tours of local landmarks, or just pleasant days in the park. I don’t know about free alcohol, but free entertainment is just as accessible as long as you know where to look.
Typically, your average freshman generally lives in a small, overpriced room that they share with another person who they may not know very well or even particularly like. All your personal effects took up exactly half of that small space. Imagine how your rent would drop (or how much rent you could collect) if you expected to live like this again. So, if you have a cramped one-room apartment with a living room, think of how many roommates you could fit in there if you were a freshman in college. And then divide your rent by that number. See how your adjusted expectations have affected your budget?
- Share a Phone and Other Amenities
If you have a cell phone, multiple cell phones, texting plans, or even your own land line, you are probably spending more money on phone service than what you spent in college. In college, people often share phones, share cable bills, share Internet bills.
If you are attending class, studying, eating, hanging out with friends, joining clubs, generally goofing off, and sometimes sleeping, when do you go shopping? If you don’t have a car, how do you get to the mall? For those who see shopping as a pastime and not a chore, filling your time with other pastimes might distract you from the fact that you need new jeans.
Many college kids either live on campus or within public transportation distance. Where I went to school, the parking fees were astronomical and I couldn’t afford to own a car anyway. In Real Life, people often assume that they need transportation because they haven’t figured out how to live without it. If you are spending 100$ a month on parking, for example, what kind of an apartment could you get for 100$ more a month, but close enough to where you work so you won’t need parking? If your car broke down for a week, how would you get around? Is it possible to get to the grocery store? To work? To a friend’s house? How much did you walk in college compared with how much you walk now?
- Build your brain, not your belongings
For many people, the entry into Real Life means building one’s own home. For me, this involved buying (cheap) furniture, organizers for my closet, and some electronic purchases. For some, this means finally having the cash to get the right TV or gaming system, or by outfitting their kitchen with the right knives. Some people manage to outfit their home with loot from wedding registries, but for the rest of us, there is no Getting Out of College registry where we can buy dishes and new bedding for that four-poster we got from our parents. Not everyone is bitten by this bug, but for those who are, setting up house is a process that can take years and thousands of dollars that we simply weren’t spending when we were in college. So, to think like a college student– keep those books on two-by-fours held up by concrete blocks. Use the broken lamp from your friends’ parents’ garage instead of the cheap one that matches your decor from Wal-Mart. Let guests sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag instead of buying a rollaway and covering it in the clearance bedding from Bed Bath and Beyond. I’m not saying that nesting is bad, or that it can’t be budget-conscious, but college kids for the most part have other pursuits and have other things to worry about than building their personal inventory.
- Focus on something besides “Getting By”
This is probably the biggest difference between college and Real Life. In college, people are thinking, “When do I have time to do that two-week assignment before it is due at noon today?” “How can I switch my classes around so that I have time to do theatre as well?” “Does free beer taste better than paid beer?” Mundane tasks, such as signing up for insurance, paying tuition, and getting a job are usually dealt with once or twice a year to free up the mind for more important things, such as graduating or getting into that really cool class with the brilliant professor, or getting to know someone that is totally hot but normally ignores you. In Real Life, however, suddenly we are faced with questions such as “If the economy tanks and I lose my job, how many months of income do I have saved up?” “What insurance plan best fits my needs for my budget?” “What subscriptions fit my needs as an informed member of society?” “What is my credit like? How do I improve it?” In other words, Real Life is this post-college plateau where we focus a lot on matters of budgeting and money. Try focusing on other things. Set up your budgeting automatically if you like, to minimize stress and time thought about it. Figure out what it is you want to move towards. It’s all up to you.
I’m not suggesting that you have to revert to your collge-student expectations in order to live within your means. Instead, I mean to point out the effects that our changing expectations have on our lifestyle as well as on our budgets. You don’t have to live like a rat on week-old pizza, but if you are spending the money for sushi, then go ahead and enjoy it instead of claiming that it’s a neccessity.
In most kitchens, microwaves are pretty standard. Sometimes they come with the kitchen. Occasionally, you might be renting an apartment that doesn’t have one, or buying a house with no appliances, or your microwave just broke, or someone offered you a few hundred dollars for your old one (hey, we can dream, right?). At any rate, there are those days when you might find yourself without a microwave.
Looking good often involves buying a lot of personal products, keeping your wardrobe updated by buying new clothes on a regular basis, keeping up with the latest trends by getting subscriptions to fashion magazines, and taking semi-regular trips to a spa for a pedicure or to a hairstylist…. that is, if you believe the things we’re told by advertisers or purveyors of personal care products. Regardless of your personal style or budget, there are a lot of things we can do to look good that don’t cost any money whatsoever.
