living well cheaply (when you're dead-broke)

College Life
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<p>here is what I learnt from my first semester in college (and first winter break out of home)</p>

<p>During School:</p>

<li>Do not buy books.</li>
</ol>

<p>Here is the general rule: Colleges teach Famous Books. Famous Books are found in the library. Just go to the library and study. Often the required texts are found in the reserve section.</p>

<li>If you must buy books, don’t go to college bookstore</li>
</ol>

<p>College bookstores always charge big money. Same books can be found in cheaper editions at outside bookstores. Or you can just find another guy who took same course as yours and buy his book at maybe half the price.</p>

<li>Scrounger</li>
</ol>

<p>This is illegal at many states. But you can always get a nutritious diet by eating other’s leftovers. Just choose wisely.</p>

<li>(Over)work</li>
</ol>

<p>you have no choice. Just get a job an work your ass off (even though you’ll waste your earnings over cigarattes)</p>

<li>Join Organizations</li>
</ol>

<p>many provide free cookies. If honor is not important to you you can embezzle too.</p>

<p>During Break:</p>

<li>Find a roommate</li>
</ol>

<p>If you’re renting an apartment don’t think that you can afford to live alone. </p>

<li>Don’t eat meat</li>
</ol>

<p>Meat has lowest mass-to-dollar ratio of all the foodstuff. rice-and-cabagge.
has the highest</p>

<p>3.Work
Even though you’ll waste it over cigrattes.</p>

<p>Good luck. Welcome to adult life.</p>

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<p>:D</p>

<p>"5. Join Organizations</p>

<p>many provide free cookies. If honor is not important to you you can embezzle too."</p>

<p>That’s a good one. Free cookies, candy, soda, sometimes pizza or sandwiches even. Yep… hey, if you’re at a big uni, there’ll be tons of clubs meeting at least once a week where you can perhaps eat your daily fill… make sure you’re wearing a coat with big pockets…</p>

<p>Just kidding. Although I know it’s totally possible to find ways to live off of people in college, even though its pretty sketchy. Thanks for the laugh anyway.</p>

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<p>haha, or have your roomies join organizations. (Ask my roomies. At least a couple times a week, I’d bring back pizzas, brownies, cookies, t-shirts, scarves. and random cool stuff.) They’re always asking if I have any free stuff from them… and usually I have leftover goods from something or other.</p>

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<p>Great book on this subject - has great ideas</p>

<p>Living Well on a Shoestring - put out by Yankee Magazine - the best of the tight-wads lol - but effective.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>I disagree. Some classes will use books that will probably only have one or two copies at the library at the most. And what will you do when one student already checked out the book there for one night when you’re trying to study for that big test?</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Agreed.</p>

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<p>great post, ty!!!</p>

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<p>I know someone who went to live in their car for a couple months… ugh.</p>

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<p>or put it all on dad’s credit card!</p>

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<p>One of my teachers lived underneath a bridge for 5 months.</p>

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<p>There’s always thrift stores/yard sales for clothes and furniture…:)</p>

<p>I’d also suggest amazon.com as an alternative to the campus bookstore.</p>

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<p>to get cheaper books or save money…i buy my books online from places like amazon…a $70-80 book would cost me $10-15</p>

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<p>the organization thing is so true. I’ve gone to meetings for groups I wouldn’t look into otherwise (Campus Crusade for Christ, College Republicans) because friends invited me along… and they were throwing pizza parties.</p>

<p>and buy and sell your books online, if you can.</p>

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<p>Even further advice on buying textbooks…</p>

<p>I’ve found a lot of books much cheaper on amazon.co.uk. With the conversions and shipping I’ve saved up to 25 bucks on a book before (on new books…I really despise used books for my education…). Now, this is not universal, you need to shop around, but it is a great spot to look! </p>

<p>Oh yeah…Ramen soup is your friend! Cook it with some frozen veggies and you have a decent meal (with enough sodium to kill you ;))</p>

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<p>My sister buys all her books from half.com
<em>shrugs</em> Usually with shipping they cost her less than $15</p>

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<p>Man. I wish engineering books were cheaper :(.</p>

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<p>Don’t bother buying calculus books (they are nothing more than expensive doorstops). Do check if the “required” books are actually necessary, as you might not need that much out of them that can’t be found in other cheaper books (such as earlier editions, other books on the same subject). Personally, I’ve always had an easier time learning from the course notes than the books (though this doesn’t apply to all field of study obviously). Learn to cook. Making your own lunch is cheaper than buying ready-made stuff in general. If you’re in a decent-sized city there’s plenty of small groceries stores that’ll have food much cheaper than in big chain supermarkets (gotta love Chinatown…).</p>

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<p>Actually I found Stuart 5e to be one of the best textbooks I’ve ever used. Very much worth getting. Also, watch out for the fact that previous editions can have different chapter problems, so you’ll need to check to make sure that you’re completing problem sets correctly.</p>

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<p>If you paid money for your calculus book, you got swindled… It’s not too hard to get them for free (legally), when you know how.</p>

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<p>i lived broke for a year. I ate from my girlfriends meal plan, otherwise i dont know how i managed, near the end of the year though, i got a great job and made maybe $7,000 in a few months, so that made up for my suffering</p>

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<p>I’m curious to know this.</p>