Speaking from a college student’s point of view, I think money is always something that is on the radar of many our stressors. On top of schoolwork, if you have a job, usually that money is spent on food, living, or things to go towards your school work (laptop, books, supplies, etc). However, saving money doesn’t have to be putting away 25 percent of your paycheck every week, it can be much simpler than that. Here are some tips that you can keep in the back of your mind the next time you’re stressing.

1. Save your change.

Keep a jar of your change, all of the change you encounter or collect. Eventually it will begin to add up. You really don’t notice the difference whatsoever, and once the jar is full, it can end up being really nice to have an extra $50 or however much you may end up collecting, depending on the time you spend filling up your jar. There are also apps made for this purpose, like Acorn. You link your debit card to your acorn account, and every time you use it, the app will automatically round your card up to the nearest dollar, and beginning to collect change in that way. For example, if you spend $14.99, it will round up to $15.00 and save one penny into your account, but if you spend $9.25, 75 cents will be saved. Once again, something you probably wouldn’t notice, but eventually, it does make a difference!

2. Shop local, or go thrifting

I know everyone raves about thrifting so it feels a bit overdone, but it’s only talked about so much because it really is a great thing. Not only do you save a lot of money, but you’re avoiding feeding into fast fashion, therefor helping smaller companies rather than those who make an excess of money off of underage employees being exploited for work overseas.

3. Rent books or visit the library

Textbooks are ridiculously expensive, and most of the time, students don’t bother to look for a better price online. Visiting the bookstore on campus is going to leave you broke. A $80 book on campus could cost $20 to rent online through amazon. We might even have it available on reserve at Healey Library! I haven’t spent any more than $40 on books this semester, because I realized how much more costly it was to go through the university to buy your supplies. Each website you visit might have a different price range, so do some research before buying! And don’t forget to check when the return date is for the book, as it may be before finals, and you will be out of luck and out of the book when the time comes.

4. Be conscious

Many times we spend money without really thinking how much it is really going to affect us. $20 may not seem like a lot for a t-shirt, but once you begin to notice how much a month you tend to spend on clothes, you will think twice before throwing something in your basket just because “it’s a great deal.” You don’t have to come up with an exact budget, but at least notice and identify your patterns every month, and try to improve them. One step at a time!