As midterms begin to fade away, many of us are realizing just how little of the school year is left. Finals suddenly seem to be miles closer on this side of reading week, and everyone is making plans for how to budget the rest of their time and money for the next seven weeks. It’s the time of year when focus in class, roommate tolerance, and bank accounts, are beginning to wear thin. For those of you who are just beginning to get in touch with your thrifty side, let’s bring it back to the basics where money is concerned. While the light at the end of the tunnel is well within sight, there are a few habits you can adopt to keep your wallet full for the rest of your time at McGill, whether you have three years or a few weeks left.
As young adults with active day and night lives, transportation can take a pretty significant toll on our bank accounts. Apart from the obvious strategies of walking absolutely everywhere, or getting an Opus card if you take public transit frequently, taking a cab can be an inexpensive way to get around. Treat cabs as if they were lifeboats on the Titanic: make sure they’re full to capacity, and never, except in extreme situations, take one alone. If you always cab with three other people, you can cab four times as often for the same amount of money.
Whether it’s groceries, toiletries, or clothing, buy in bulk. A Costco membership is your best friend, if you have the means to get there. If not, Provigo always has some kind of special. My roommates and I found a deal on Pringles the other day: three tubes for $5. Needless to say, we stocked up. This strategy is useful for both necessary and unnecessary items. (I’ll leave you to decide which category Pringles fall into). Most clothing stores offer two-for-one, or buy one, get one free specials on basic items like tank tops or jeans. If you only need one of something, try shopping with a friend to get the best bang for your buck. A word of caution: there is a fine line between smart shopping and extreme couponing.
As far as food goes, there are a few options open to you. If you have a meal plan, then by all means use it whenever possible, saving actual cash you could be spending on something else. The beauty of the meal plan is that that money has already been designated for food, so you don’t have to worry about wasting it on something else. If you already have food taken care of, you have a bit more freedom with the rest of your funds, because if nothing else, at least you know you won’t starve. However, if you don’t have a meal plan, you can still be economical by eating at home most of the time and splitting meals when you do decide to go out. When worse comes to worst (or best, depending on how you look at it), Tim Horton’s will always be there as a cheap and delicious fallback.
In terms of night life, the basics still apply. We all know it’s cheaper to pre-drink than to buy drinks once you’re out, and to only bring the cash you know you’ll definitely need. The easiest way to not spend money is to make sure you physically don’t have money to spend. If you can bear it, just leave your debit card at home when you go out. Provided you can muster the willpower to do this, you’ll save yourself countless service charges and mysterious morning-after ATM receipts.
Never part with money if you don’t have to; don’t spend what you know you can’t afford. Equipped with these tips along with your own specialized methods of economizing, hopefully April 30th will find you celebrating the end of exams with a full stomach and a drink in hand.
