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Shopping in college can be fun, but it can also turn into a mindless habit if you let it #shoppingismycardiogang, and everyone knows that it can be a game of chance when it comes to personal finance in college and shopping can turn sour real fast if you don’t have the skills to shop wisely and efficiently. There are some tried and true tips that coupon moms have been using to save money since the dawn of time and if you follow some of these tips you can be ballin’ on a budget in college.
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Before you pay someone to do it, look it up online first: this biggest scam is paying someone to perform a service that if you had simply googled would have saved you a heck of a lot of time AND MONEY. An example of this is when my TV was malfunctioning and my mom called the repairman, but lucky I googled it and the trick was really simple. I shiver to think of not only the wasted time and money I would have wasted had I decided not to do the good old fashion Google search. This applies to so many things, even if you do end up paying someone for that service at least you won’t be completely ignorant as to what exactly they’ll be doing and it’ll make it easier to realize when you’re being overcharged.
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Just because it’s cute doesn’t mean I should buy: now stick with me, I know it sounds counter-intuitive and God knows it took me an embarrassing amount of shopping trips where I saw something that was like an obnoxious color of blue that I thought was “so cute, I have to have it” only to get home and realize that, 1) I’m not a super bright color type of gal, and 2) it doesn’t coordinate well with anything else I have. Don’t be like me; realize that you can like something in the store but can accept that it isn’t for you for whatever reason and save that money and get something that is more practical for you.
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Ask customer-salesperson about special sales/discounts: I’m not gonna lie, I hate feeling like a cheapo and the thought of asking someone if they have a discount sounds like my personal nightmare. I don’t have a haggling bone in my body, unlike my mom who will haggle without thinking twice. But for everything you buy full price you lose a lot of money if you didn’t simply ask if there are any sales going on. Asking takes courage and the more you do it the easier it becomes. Just be respectful and make sure that you absolutely HAVE to buy it full price before you do. Fun anecdote for motivation: one time I was buying a huge purchase from Old Navy and I simply asked the cashier if they had any discounts and they didn’t have any and she just used her own discount code; that saved me over $100!
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Use Pinterest: This is the most unorthodox one on this list, but I swear Pinterest has saved me so much money indirectly. Most people have trouble defining their style and this is one of the main reasons we end up buying a bunch of things that are good on their own but don’t work well together. By simply creating Pinterest boards for room décor and outfit inspiration, you’ll start to see what you gravitate towards and you’ll have a clearer picture of what you actually like. After about 3 months of obsessively creating outfit Pinterest boards, I finally realized that I have a very simple and feminine style and the super trendy Instagram baddie look that I often liked seeing and appreciating, just wasn’t me.
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CHEAPER DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN BETTER: This is an important one. Sometimes being cheap doesn’t mean it’s a more economical choice, and just the same as something being more expensive doesn’t mean it’s better quality. When you’re in a savings mindset, cheap, shiny, things often catch your eye and I’ll tell you they are the BIGGEST scam while you’re saving money in the short run because in the long run its robbing you blind. If you are truly trying to save or simply be a smarter shopper, you need to stop having blanket ideologies and look at items in term of how much use do I need out of this and is it (however much price difference) going to affect the performance of this product. if you’re a person who knows that you get easily bored of a particular item (for me its jewelry) you probably don’t want to invest too much in those pieces just because the economics don’t add up (it goes along with the cost per use theory, the less you use something, the less you should be spending on it, generally). The only time you should be investing in something where the “cost per use” doesn’t add up, is if it appreciates (meaning it gets more valuable over time). It’s tricky to decide what to splurge on and what to be frugal with, but it really depends on your lifestyle and how much whatever item you’re buying is adding to your life, both options are viable and you really shouldn’t be making either option a defining personality trait.
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In short, you don’t have to single-handedly hold up the system of capitalism, but you’re also not destined to fall into the broke college student stereotype, it’s called BALANCE! College is too stressful to be scavenging for a dollar, and by simply employing healthy habits, you can make shopping a fun and productive hobby.