Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
placeholder article
placeholder article

The Craziest Thing I Did to Save Money

This is a sponsored feature. All opinions are 100% from Her Campus.

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Chapel Hill chapter.

My grandmother has the most fantastic tales about growing up poor—painting lines on the back of her legs instead of wearing pantyhose and sewing her own prom dress. She even stuffed her bras with socks instead of buying padded bras.

“You don’t know what poor is,” she would say.

And then I got to college. College is expensive—we’re talking tuition, books, supplies, clothes and food! The top concern for college-aged students is not having enough money, according to a Dosomething.org survey.

Junior Caitlin Walsh collects Yogurt Pump receipts (sometimes from strangers) to get the free cone after 10 receipts. I walk through drive-thrus to pick up change.

Sophomore Chelsea Krivanek checks groupon nightly, for everything from vacations to food. Junior London Williams once used a hairdryer to dry her laundry instead of paying for an extra cycle.

We’ve all done some crazy things to save money. Ramen soup diets, anyone?

Dosomething.org is sponsoring a campaign with the title: What’s the Craziest Thing You’ve ever Done to Save Money?

Through craizestthingidid.com, you can submit and review submissions on the lengths people have gone to save money. The program is to raise awareness about the 68 percent of young adults who have never had a meaningful conversation about finances.

The kicker? There’s a chance to win a $4,000 scholarship. It’s also a great way to read other people’s stories and get ideas like using lemon juice on your hair instead of paying for highlights.

So maybe you’ve let your roommate thread your eyebrows or have gone dumpster diving for Krispy Kreme donuts at midnight—no shame, submit your stories online!

The crazier, the better.

http://vizfact.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/piggybank.jpeg
http://www.justapinch.com/recipes/soup/other-soup/egg-drop-ramen-noodle-soup.html

Melissa Paniagua is a senior journalism major at The University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, specializing in public relations. She is currently a fashion market intern at ELLE Magazine. On campus, Melissa acts as the Her Campus president as well as the vice president of the Carolina Association of Future Magazine Editors, UNC’s Ed2010 chapter. In the past, she has been an intern for Southern Weddings Magazine and a contributing writer for Her Campus. Melissa has an appreciation for all things innovative, artful and well designed and hopes to work in marketing for a women’s lifestyle magazine in the future!