In the deep dark pit of this recession, everyone keeps telling us to be money conscious.

Hm, “money conscious.”

Uh… huh?

If you have a shopping problem like me, then the term “money conscious” doesn’t exist.  Or maybe your kryptonite is Grey Goose Vodka, chilled, two limes. I’m afraid the term “money conscious” doesn’t really fit in there, either.

So, as “money conscious” college students – the future movers and shakers of America – it is our moral duty to put a big Band-Aid over all of our country’s problems and teach mom and pop a thing or two about what being “money conscious” really means. Here’s a foolproof plan that allows – basically entitles – you to be sloppy and savvy at college.

Want to work hard and play even harder? Spend your money in ways that outsmart good ol’ Uncle Sam and don’t leave a big gaping hole in your pocket where your wallet once was with these price friendly ideas:

1. What’s Free is For Me

Who doesn’t love something that’s FREE!? Colleges across the country are constantly offering free events during the week and on weekends. Catch a movie with your roomies or go to the ASL club barbeque. Freshmen listen up, your first few days of school your campus is crawling with free stuff: t-shirts, calendars, water bottles, sporting tickets, etc… So you’re officially a fool if you don’t capitalize on all the stuff you can wrap your innocent little hands around. Upperclassmen, however, need to be a bit more savvy. Since you’ve got the advantage of knowing your surroundings a little better, be sure to jump on every and anything with the word FREE in front of it.

2. The Bar…. Before the Bar

As a freshmen I did this ALL THE TIME. Okay, even as a senior I still did this ALL THE TIME.  And maybe I even did it again this morning…

Don’t look at me with judging eyes yet. Hear me out.

Who has enough money to pay $8 a drink at the bar? Even if you’re a lightweight, the $16 bucks it would take to get you drunk could (and should!) go toward late night Domino’s. Use those street smarts! Pregame before the bar. Pregame before Happy Hour. Hell, pregame before you even start pregaming.  Save yourself the money and time and get to the bar just as things start to get blurry.

3. Brunch, Supper, Linner

Any other in-between meals that you can think of? While at first it might be fun to explore all the culinary delights your new town or city might have to offer, these types of tasty treats get super expensive after about the first week. Take it easy on your wallet and snack before you go out to eat with your girlfriends. Cheese and crackers are filling as well as fruits and veggies. Try just ordering an appetizer or splitting an entrée with a friend when you do decide to dine out. If you’re going to drink with your meal, BYOB locations are way more pocket friendly than the hottest Tapas bar in town.

4. The Code of Coupons

Keep your eyes and ears out for the coupon book! These little booklets are JAM PACKED with deals at all kinds of restaurants, bars, shops and town/city activities near you! Get a cheap haircut or buy a new pair of jeans for half off the original cost! The great thing about these booklets is that they rarely expire before the end of the semester/year and are taken almost all over. Drunk and need Chinese? Spill coffee on your favorite white blouse? Promise your Great Uncle Marty a UVM sweatshirt and now you’re broke? All hail the coupon book! Here’s an even bigger tip: use the coupon book in conjunction with your student ID and receive an extra discount! (Most shops will give students that present their ID at the point of sale either a 10% or 20% discount, depending on deals your school has worked out, but be forewarned: cashiers won’t remind you so remembering your ID is crucial!)

5. Buying In Bulk

When I moved off campus I learned a couple of things very, very quickly. Bulk is good. Bulk is your friend. Buying in bulk makes your wallet feel good and makes your belly feel full. For all of you that either live off campus now or intend on living off campus at some point, heed my noble warnings! Buy in bulk! Not only is it cost friendly but you’re also getting more product per pound, which is especially helpful if you’re living with lots of friends.

Jump into your fall semester having fun and saving some cash! Online banking is also a great way to stay in control of your funds and if you’re a super overachiever get a local job working within the community that you now reside in. After school programs, tutoring, babysitting and work study positions are all relatively simple jobs that pay fairly well and will be enough to keep your wallet afloat!

But if that wasn’t enough to urge to be “money conscious”, let me remind you of one little, little thing. You have loans. Loans which you will have to pay back some day. And that some day is sooner than you think. They are your loans. You will have to pay them.

Until then, happy spending!

Before the big clean-out. And this is only one half.

Everyone’s got a vice, a bad habit, something they know they need to change. Unfortunately, everyone also has a million excuses why they just can’t do it. Not anymore. Every month we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer as she takes on a personal challenge. This month we’re following Kelly as she proves to her mom, and her wallet, that she can go one month sans shopping.

Finally, the last week of my challenge. I never thought I’d get here without sneaking around UrbanOutfitters.com at midnight to get my window shopping fix (Okay, so maybe I did it once. Or twice.), but here I am. And surprisingly, I’m not counting down until 11:59pm, April 30th with my credit card in my hand.

In other words, it was a successful month. There was a lot more to be learned than just limiting my purchases of white shirt after white shirt after white…you get the picture. Keeping track of all of my expenses was much more eye opening than I thought.

According to my paychecks (assuming that they are correct) there are literally hundreds of dollars that I can’t account for, because Starbucks here and there is never really Starbucks here and there. Every coffee, Jimmy Johns sandwich, tequila shot, etc., adds up to a pretty shocking number in the end.  For me, the purpose of keeping tabs on my expenses this month was solely to see how much I spend without a budget. Now that I know how much I’m spending on going out every week, I can make an accurate budget to keep me from ever spending that much again. Sure, I’ll have to switch from Martini Night to $1 Draft night, but after pre-gaming, Skol tastes the same as Grey Goose anyway.

Since for some reason 90% of the people I know here left for the weekend, I spent a good majority of Sunday cleaning out my closet. I found a hidden stash of cheesy t-shirts (The Beets Killer Tofu Tour, anybody?) and a great deal of things I forgot I even had. After a load of laundry, there are six “new” free shirts hanging next to “new” jeans, and a huge bag of stuff for the local Goodwill. Another pro: I was able to make a list of things I actually needed, like flats without holes forming around the big toe, instead of just going back to the world of shopping with some crazy bedazzled thing I’ll never wear.

I got a lot of comments from you ladies wanting to do the same challenge but didn’t think you could. Believe me, I didn’t think I could either. But it’s not as hard as it seems, promise! Just remember these few things:

1. Don’t be too hard on yourself. If you caved on a new pair of shoes, don’t throw your whole challenge away!
2. Don’t go too extreme! Cutting out all unnecessary spending (ie: anything except groceries and rent) was not an option. But leaving your debit card at home and only keeping $20 on you for nights out is definitely reasonable for anybody.
3. Wait to click “submit order.” If you really love something, wait to order it and if after a few days you’re still thinking about it, get it. The wait will ensure that you think the shirt/skirt/etc is worth the money and will fit nicely within your current wardrobe.
4. Don’t go back to your old ways as soon as it’s done. After a month though, you’ll never want to.  With all of the money you’ll save over the course of a few months you’ll be able to pay for next year’s Spring Break trip to Cabo.

Well, the easy part of my challenge is over: next comes the budgeting part. Thanks for all of your support (I was able to please my mom!) and advice. We’ll have a new lady sharing her challenge next month, but I’m definitely not done with this one yet. Wish me luck!

Balancing a budget is the kind of thing that everyone hates, but we all know it’s necessary. Especially now. While the economy crumbles around us. And our money disappears.

Unless you are truly loaded and/or naturally meticulous, you could probably use a few tips to help you get your stash of cash in order. So read on:

1. Save your receipts.

That’s right… all of them. This might sound unnecessary, but it’s really important. If your bank statement comes and you find something on it that isn’t right, you’ll need those receipts to prove your point and get your money back. After your statement comes, you probably won’t need the receipts anymore, so you can get rid of them then.

2. Write stuff down in your checkbook.

Every time you make a purchase with a check or your debit card, write it down! That means you’ll have to keep your checkbook with you almost all the time, which can be annoying, but it’s worth it. (Not only does this protect you later, but it also forces you to pay attention to your spending!) Keep a separate list of your credit purchases. Write down the date of each expense and its exact amount. Then…

3. Go over your bank and credit statements.

As soon as you get those statements, bust out the checkbook and your credit list and compare each transaction, cent for cent. If there are any discrepancies, consult your pile of receipts (which you could neatly store in a box by date… but OK, that’s not entirely necessary). Talk to your bank or credit company about incorrect charges. Finally…

4. Balance.

Make sure the final amount on your statement is the same as the amount you’ve calculated that you have in your account. If there’s a difference of more than a few dollars, it means that either your math or something else is screwed up. You can find out what that something might be by re-doing the math and looking for the exact place in the list of transactions where the difference occurred.

Do all that and you have a balanced monthly budget, an understanding of where all that money is going and a place to start when attempting to cut some corners.

Easy as pie.

[Image courtesy of easyauctionrichesrevealed.com.]

A difference to the human race…

–Princeton, Avenue Q

Like so many wide-eyed college students, I decided that the ‘practical’ degree was not for me. I had no intentions of going to med school, which is to the benefit of the general public, and I certainly wasn’t about to take any more math than absolutely necessary. No engineering for me, Mom and Dad, even if you do get set up with interviews through the university. I was majoring in English.

I often lament this rebellion when I look at my checking account. Unfortunately, my other rebellious idea was to move to New York, so being young and broke has taken on an entirely new meaning altogether.

As jaded as the most expensive place in the country has made me of late, I like to pause and reflect on what I can do when I feel like my degree is nothing more than a large receipt with a FINAL SALE stamp on it.

1) Write a book. Everyone with a lit degree is urged by their non-bookish friends to write the next great American novel. This is one of few opportunities to boost your ego by using your liberal arts diploma as a foundation, so please, take advantage and modestly say, “Oh, I’m okay” when you’re introduced as a writer at parties. (Said writing does not guarantee getting published, but hey. It’s a start.)

2) Live the life of a human thesaurus. I probably get four emails/phone calls a week asking for a better word than what a friend of mine is using. See? Maybe you know nothing about actuarial math, but at least you can articulate your ignorance beautifully.

3) Join the Grammar Police force, which justifies your anger when you see typos in an email. Or my personal favorite, the emails where you are addressed by your first name, misspelled, when your email address is actually just your name at an address. Are people really not able to read it??

4) Roll your eyes after a movie and sigh, explaining to whoever accompanied you that “the book was so much better.”

5) Bust out your stellar vocabulary in conversation and remind everyone that while you may not make the big bucks, you’re a walking wealth of knowledge.

6) Become a starving artist… by working in media. You have to pay your dues with a salary that’s almost laughable to start, but eventually, in 3-5 years, you may be able to support yourself. Part of the starving artist mentality is taking a second job, like, say, freelancing. Take a breath and remember you’ll survive, at least your work sounds interesting.

7) Get thee to a graduate program. No one wants to crush your hopes and dreams in undergrad, but you’ll realize a year or so after you graduate that passion can’t always pay the bills. You can join all the frat boys you graduated with in taking the LSATs, try and re-learn basic math for the GRE, or throw yourself completely out of your element and go for the GMAT so you can go pursue an MBA and go on to wearing a suit for your 9-to-5.

Any other ideas? Please share with us!