This week I was perusing USA Today (trying to find the crossword puzzle) and stumbled upon an article that struck me as, frankly, a bit terrifying. The article screamed HUGE DEBT, NO SAVINGS in my face, warning all of us in “Gen-Y” (that group of seventeen – twenty-somethings) that we’re the only generation unlikely to out-succeed our parents financially. Harrowing stuff, especially since we seem to be in a generation of “buy now, pay later.” And when we do buy,  we want the newest and shiniest and don’t settle for less than designer brands…. Not exactly recession-friendly behavior.

The article had me thinking about my own spending habits and the habits of my peers. I certainly have gotten my act together over the past year but still struggle with the little things. I write checks and forget about them until they hit my account. I have days where I spend ten dollars on Starbucks. And then other days when I spend $20. I went through a period where I didn’t pay off my credit card balance every month (never. again.). We all struggle with the economy and our own personal finances. Here are the top 10 ways to be a savvy spender and super recessionista. Read More »

Let’s be honest for a moment here: as college females, we aren’t so good at managing our money. Sure, we’d like to be…until we walk past Anthropologie and have to have every dress in the window and those adorable throw pillows for our bedrooms.

The truth is, money management and financial mumbo jumbo is boring and spending all that hard earned money is fun! Who wants boring when we can have this?

But it doesn’t have to be that way, which I learned after reading So Many Shoes, So Little Money: A Girl’s Guide to Finance. Lisa Serwin, a girly girl to her core, breaks all that budget business down in a way that is easy to understand and, even more importantly, easy to incorporate (realistically!) into the college girl’s life. Serwin doesn’t tell us to eat ramen and wear our leftovers from middle school; she explains how to save and how to spend in a way that won’t send us back to our childhood bedrooms when the money (inevitably) runs out.

Naturally, I needed her to set my budget to talk to her. And I did! Here is a bit about my new financial hero and a lot of useful information that all of us can benefit from!

5 Questions We Ask Everyone:

1. What’s your most hysterical/ridiculous college memory?
That’s fit for print? I accidentally locked myself in a second floor bathroom during a fraternity party.  The door handle broke off, and no one heard my pounding. (The one and only time in history there wasn’t a line for a ladies room!) I climbed out the bathroom window onto the roof – high heels and all, shimmied down a tree, and walked back in through the front door. However, apparently everyone had been watching my descent through the window.  When I walked back in I was greeted with cat calls and applause.

2. What are the five things you can’t live without?
In no particular order:
Great shoes
Chocolate
My family and friends
Books
A good night’s sleep (otherwise I’m really cranky) Read More »