The “broke college student” trope exists for a reason. College is expensive, and money management is a difficult thing for the majority of college students to get the hang of; deciding what to save or spend your money on seems impossible to figure out. In hopes of beating the “broke college student” trope, here is a short guide to figure out when to save or when to splurge when it comes to school, style or semblance.
Splurge: Skincare
Always, always, always splurge on skincare. If you’re a makeup guru in training, you know that your skin is the base of your makeup, which means that if your skin is dehydrated, textured or problematic, your makeup will be too. Even if like me, you don’t wear makeup the majority of the time, be nice to your skin and take care of it. The last thing you want this winter is dry, cracking skin because you didn’t invest in a good moisturizing cream.
Save: Makeup
If you splurge on skincare, you can absolutely save on makeup. A perfect base means perfect makeup, regardless if the brand is luxury or drug store. Luxury makeup just isn’t worth your money when drug stores deliver dupes that are just as good for half the price.
Splurge: Note Apps and Study Subscriptions
Splurging on note apps (for my fellow iPad queens) and/or study subscriptions (for all students) is totally justified if it aids in your education. Note apps, like GoodNotes or Notability, are usually a one-time-only purchase, under $10 and way more advanced than the free note app that comes with your iPad. In my opinion, the extra tools and organization that note apps provide are worth the splurge. Study subscriptions like Chegg were my saving grace when I came to college with absolutely no idea how to effectively study. Splurging on study subscriptions for even one semester can give you a lifelong knowledge of effective study tools and techniques.
Save: Textbooks
Textbooks are by far the biggest scam of college that I have experienced. 85% of my classes at Pitt haven’t actually used the textbook for anything that is required, so why would I spend hundreds of dollars a semester on them to just end up collecting dust? Now, I am not saying just to completely ignore the textbooks that are on the syllabus because they are usually required, but there is a secret that I’ve been using since freshman year to get all my textbooks for free: Z-Library. I was against online textbooks for a while, but after not even opening most of them during the semester, it honestly doesn’t make a difference. Free, online textbooks over expensive, physical textbooks are the way to save in college.
Splurge: Experiences
College is all about experiences, so do anything and everything you even slightly want to because you will never be this young and free again. I’ve made the mistake of passing up a really cool opportunity because I wanted to save money, but all I got was FOMO…
Save: Fast Food
Instead of passing on once-in-a-lifetime experiences, pass on fast food. I know that cooking is time-consuming and sometimes difficult to learn, but you’re going to have to learn eventually. Fast food is unhealthy, unnecessarily expensive and not worth the hype. Take the time to learn the useful lifelong skill of cooking and save money in the process!
Splurge: Professional Clothing
As future professionals in college, you should invest in quality business casual and business professional clothing pieces to positively represent yourself at job fairs, interviews and other professional settings. You don’t necessarily have to buy luxury, brand-new professional clothes, but building a professional closet is expensive, so also take advantage of thrift stores. Appearance is key to first impressions, and you want to look put together with timeless and proper attire that you’ve splurged a little on.
Save: Trendy/Fast Fashion Clothing
Attention ladies! Do not splurge on Shein clothes! I repeat: do not splurge on Shein clothes! I know you might be temporarily curing your sadness by spending $150 on Shein “going out” tops, but they’ll be out of style by the time they show up at your house a month later. Not to mention, Shein has highly questionable morals with terrible quality clothing. Save your money and invest in better quality clothing that will last through fast fashion trends for decades.
Budgeting in college is difficult no matter who you are, but sticking to a splurge or save mentality can make money management easier to tackle.