After being very poor in high school (off at a public boarding school), living literally cent to cent in college, and fighting the red my first year of grad school, I finally have managed to put together a nice little bit of savings. This has come about from a number of reasons. You should keep in mind that LargeUtown has an insanely low cost of living, so I'm not suggesting this would work for everyone. Also, much of this is written with tongue firmly in cheek.
BUT...out-of-state travel aside, here are my tips for Saving Money in Grad School:
1. Help your drinking buddies graduate. My first two years in graduate school, I went out nearly every weekend. This always involved drinks and usually involved food. That shit adds up after awhile. As my friends started graduating and leaving LargeUtown, I started going out less. Sure, there are always new students coming in each year, but the older I get, the busier I get....and very often on the weekends doing laundry, cleaning my apartment, or watching reality TV is more appealing than going out.
2. Work insanely hard. If you work all the time, you won't have the time (or the energy) to do stuff. Stuff often costs money. Nuff said.
3. Have a roommate. Sure, you can't walk around naked all the time (or at least common decency dictates that you shouldn't, assuming you followed #2's instructions), but when it comes to splitting the rent and utilities, you can really free up a lot of that tiny little paycheck you're getting.
4. Ditch the significant other. After Ex dumped me during his therapy (true story. now very funny.), Friday night date night was no longer a weekly (or monthly....or bimonthly) occurrence. I could eat PB&J for dinner without judgement, and I no longer had to pick up the bill for his lazy ass. Monetary translation? Savings of at least 35 bucks a week, sometimes three times that.
What are your secrets for saving money in grad school? Plasma donation? Jelly on the PB&J only every other day?
