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Are you looking for how to save money as a student without working? You are in the right company as we are going to list down the easiest ways to save money as a student without working.
While some students belives it’s not possible, the good news is there are some easier ways a student can spend less, save more, and still live a nice life without working.
But first, you have to know the exact amount of money you spend during your study years, how much you are given by your parents or guardians, savings, grants, or loans and how much you intend to save out of it.
Also, know that being a student is way more expensive than it should be especially if you are an international student. So you have to do as much as possible to cut down your daily expenses while in school, because how you spend determines how much money you will save in the end.
So in this article, you will learn how to save money as a student without working by simply minimizing your spending and maximizing your savings.
1. Live at home or live with friends
One of the best ways to save money as a student without working is by cutting down on your rent. You can simply do that by living at home where your family pays the bill or by living with your friends where you split rent among yourselves.
Many freshmen love to move out of their family home to live on or off-campus during their first years in the university. One of the most popular reasons is that they don’t want to miss out on newfound independence as well as the student’s social life.
Little do they consider the fact that living at home can just save you some money as a student, especially with the rising rate of student rents in most countries.
Although both living at home and living on/off-campus have their pros and cons, the most important thing to consider is the one that will be best for you as well as your financial situation. Since you are looking for how to save money as a student without working, it is advisable to live at home. It will help you cut down on rent, food, and other bills that you share with your family.
But if you find it impossible to live at home, another option is to live with your friends instead of living alone. You and your friends can save a lot of money this way both on rent and other bills that are sharable. This is commonly how to save money as a student without working.
If you are in dire need of living alone, you can become a student resident adviser. Resident advisers usually get free room and board, so check out the housing department of your school and see what kind of options are available.
2. Make a budget
Another step on how to save money as a student without working is by making a budget. Budgeting is part of life and without it, one will always be in debt or bankruptcy.
As a student, You should figure out the amount of money you have to spend per month, how you spend it, and the amount you spend on a particular item.
If you are aware of how much you have to spend per month, it will guide you on how to save money as a student without working as it will help you minimize the cost of your purchases, remove things that are not so much in need, and maximizing your savings.
Luckily, to save time with budgeting, there are a lot of budgeting apps out there that will help you as a student. You no longer need to spend hours filling out spreadsheets of your budget. You only need to review the statistics and adjust the categories once in a while.
With these apps, you can easily enter and track all your expenses as you spend them. Most of these budgeting apps also have an option where you can link it to your bank account to help track your automated expenses, such as bills and subscriptions.
Now you know how much money you have to spend per month and what you are spending them on, you won’t be surprised that you have been spending most of your money on unnecessary things. So to save money as a student without working, you can easily cut down your expenses.
3. Make your meals at home and stop eating out
Making your meal is one of the best ways to save money as a student without working. This will help you to avoid spending a lot of money eating out because you can easily save more money when you make your meal at home than when you eat out.
No matter where you are eating out, it can not be compared to how much you could save if you cook at home. Whether you are spending your money on fast-food chains or lower-class restaurants, the cost of eating out is always greater when compared to when you are making your meals at home.
Most students always find it difficult to cook food at home, the most popular reason is that making your meal at home is time-consuming. This is sometimes true depending on the type of meal you intend to make.
The general rule of thumb is to make easy-to-prepare meals such as noodles, fries, or tea during the week. Then during the weekend, you can make those time-consuming meals in large quantities and put them inside the refrigerator for you to eat during the week.
If you don’t know how to cook, don’t worry as there are a lot of tutorials on YouTube on how to cook your meal. All you need to do is to search for how to cook a particular meal and a lot of videos will pop out for you to choose the one that better suits you.
So if you are trying to figure out how to save money as a student without working, then start making your meals at home, it will help you cut down a lot of expenses.
Making your meals at home also helps you eat healthily and manage the amount t of the portion you eat which in turn helps you to save on a gym membership because you don’t eat so much food to add weight. Remember weight loss is 80% diet and 20% exercise.
4. Avoid unnecessary subscriptions
Another expense that usually digs deep into students’ pockets is subscriptions. So how to save money as a student without working when your subscription expenses are too high is by unsubscribing from unnecessary subscriptions.
With the help of your budgeting app, you can easily and clearly understand how much you spend on all your subscriptions per month. Then start unsubscribing from the not much important subscriptions.
There might also be a subscription you forgot about or services you simply don’t use or need anymore, you can as well unsubscribe from them.
For the necessary subscriptions that are expensive, you could also search for whether there are means you can get the free or cheaper alternatives. The easiest way to do so is by searching for tips on the web or asking your friends how they are coping.
The most common ones include substituting gym membership for a bike or sports team. Instead of going to the movies all the time, a $10 monthly subscription on Netflix can help you avoid spending about $10.40 every week on cinema tickets or paying an expensive cable bill.
When your subscription is so expensive, how to save money as a student without working is by getting together with some of your friends and then splitting the subscription expenses on a group account.
5. Always look out for student discounts
Another way to save money as a student without working is by knowing student discounts and taking advantage of those student discounts while shopping.
Most countries give certain discounts to some student essential commodities. If you are living in those countries or an international student, knowing the discounts you are eligible for is how to save money as a student without working.
All you need to do is to show your student ID before making payment at the checkout, you could get a small percentage of student discount taken off your total order, depending on your eligibility.
Students usually have discounts on internet data subscriptions, travel, movies, clothing stores, electronics shop, food, software, and grocery store.
The best way to identify stores and businesses that offer student discounts on a particular item is by searching a product name on google with ‘student’. For instance, ‘Netflix students’.
There are a lot of apps and websites out there that make it easier for you to discover stores and businesses that offer student discounts. An example of such a website is UNiDAYS. UNiDAYS is a free discount website that offers its services to students worldwide.
Signing up with these websites or apps and knowing the discounts you are eligible for is another method that will help you know how to save money as a student without working.
6. Swap or buy used books
If you want to save money as a student without working, knowing how to swap or buy used textbooks will go a long way in achieving your goal.
Instead of buying a brand new textbook at full price, how to save money as a student without working is by always checking your campus bookstore to see if you can find the rental options for that particular book.
If the rental price is on the high side, you can go for a used book especially in cases where the textbook is a must-buy in your department or school.
There are a lot of e-commerce sites you can get a used book, saving up to 50% to 80% from the actual price when you buy the brand new. You can get used books on StudentVIP, Sell Back Your Book, Book Counter, and even eBay.
Most schools also have a Facebook group dedicated to used textbooks, check out your school name on Facebook to see if they have groups you might be able to take someone’s old textbook off their hands.
After you’re finished with the books and you feel you don’t need them anymore, it is advisable to sell them on the same site. You can sell them for the same amount you bought them, which is another way to save money as a student without working.
7. Make use of a student-friendly bank account
While creating a bank account, it is advisable to open a student-friendly bank account that will allow you to save money as a student without working.
Most bank accounts charge monthly fees to maintain and operate the account. As a student, you have to avoid those types of bank accounts and go for banks that have types of bank accounts that offer rewards and benefits for student members with no extra fees added.
In the United State, banks such as the Bank of America offers a special bank account for students with no account or overdraft fees. Capital One Bank also offers student-friendly banking, with no account or overdraft fees more well-known for credit cards.
The general rule of thumb is to create a bank account with a high percentage of interest rate. A high-interest rate helps you save money as a student without working and it’s also one of the general benefits of having a bank account.
So check which bank in your country has the best interest rates bank account for students without additional fees. If you are lucky to find a bank account with both, it will help you to save money as a student without working.
8. Shop at discount stores and shop with coupons
How to save money as a student without working is by always shopping at discount stores and also using coupons on items you buy a lot.
Although there’s nothing bad in cutting out every coupon you find, try to pay more attention to coupons on essential items you always use, such as canned food, soap, and detergents, paper towels, or other toiletries.
Another way to get extra discounts and coupons is by signing up for a loyalty program of stores you frequently shop from. They usually email you the most available coupons and discounts earlier.
Aside from using coupons, shopping from thrift and dollar stores can also save you a lot of money. Always visit stores like Goodwill, Salvation Army, or any other local thrift store in your area that offer good discounts.
Preferably, if you have a dollar store near you, take advantage of it to stock up on all kinds of items such as food, toiletries, and other supplies for a cheaper rate.
9. Always pay your bills on time
When it comes to how to save money as a student without working, there are several benefits of paying bills early. It will help you not to spend the money for your bills on other things, because if you do, that will warrant you to touch your savings.
Sometimes, paying your bills before they are due can attract you discounts depending on the service you are paying for and where you live. For instance, in Marietta, Ga, those who pay their Marietta Power & Water bills within 10 days of the date of billing can receive 10% discounts.
Instead of helping you save more money, late bill payments can lead to more debt which comes in terms of late payment fees. Late credit card payments can also accumulate your interest rates and hurt your credit score.
So the best practice is to write down the dates each of your bills is due to remember to pay them on time. Preferably, you can sign up for automatic payments with your bank account, if it’s possible.
10. Don’t buy a car during your school years
As a student that is not yet working, if you want to graduate with a huge student loan or debt, buy a car while in school or even during your first year. But if you want to save money as a student without working, avoid buying a car during your school years.
A car is one of the most expensive things to own, maintain, and fuel. A person that owns a car is like a person that is married to an unemployed wife or husband.
Having a car is not advisable for you who want to save money as a student without working because your life will be full of surprise costs which will drain your savings and eventually put you in debt.
Aside from the initial cost of purchasing a car, maintenance alone is where you will lose more money, as high as x2 of the money used in buying the car, not to talk of other costs such as registration, insurance, parking, and fuel which adds up quickly.
Instead of buying a car, how to save money as a student without working is by making use of active transportation which is the cheapest to buy and maintain. Because a bicycle, skateboard, skate shoes, or scooter is free once you have the equipment.
On the few occasions, you do need a car, you can use car-sharing services that have affordable prices for students. Or better still, you can go with ride-share services like Uber, Lyft, or Taxify.
If you pay attention to these alternatives of owning a car, you will know that they cost far less than owning a car, this is actually how to save money as a student without working.
11. Don’t buy a pet during your school years
Aside from buying a car, a pet is another thing you should avoid buying if you want to save money as a student without working. If you love pets so much, I’m sorry to tell you this, but this is the truth.
Pets are expensive to buy and maintain, spending nothing less than a thousand dollars per year buying food, medications, and other pet essentials. but as a student living without pets, it saves you ongoing costs and surprise costs you might not expect.
As the saying goes “time is money”, aside from the expenses, having pets will cost you the time spent looking after them which could be spent studying or doing other things that will help you save more money.
If you want to be around your favorite pet and still make some extra cash at the same time, pet walking may be the best option for you. Also, pet sitting may be another option for you to be around your favorite pet without digging into your savings.
During your free time, you can easily take your friend’s pet into your own home or stay at the home of a friend or family member who has a pet. This will leave you and your savings happy.
12. Apply for scholarships
The best way to save money as a student without working is through scholarships. The money and security afforded by having a scholarship allow you to save a lot of money as a student.
Having a scholarship is a sure means of graduating from the university without a huge student loan or debt, or having to limit your education because of costs. Since scholarships are essentially free money, you can easily focus on how to build your savings with the money supposed to finance your education.
Check out the kinds of scholarship programs available on your school website and then apply for as many as you can. Any form of scholarship is a nice way to save money as a student without working.
The best practice is to approach some of the students you know that have already benefitted or currently benefiting from the scholarship programs you have chosen, ask them how to apply and how they got theirs.
13. Quit every addiction that is costing you money
When it comes to how to save money as a student without working, you can never achieve your goal if you are addicted to things that cost you money to have. No matter how a small amount of money your addiction costs you, try as much as possible to quit them.
While legal, regular smoking or drinking can add up no matter how little they cost you. If you smoke or drink regularly, quitting those addictions could save you not less than $2,000 each year. Aside from spending on the alcohol you take, drunken spending is a REAL thing, and it also adds up.
If you are addicted to drugs or other substances, going for therapies can help you quit them. Most schools have therapy sections that are done with little or no fees for students of that school, check out the one in your school and take advantage of it.
Aside from drugs, other addictions that will cost you both money and time includes gambling, sex, coffee, shopping, video gaming, and many others.
14. Shop later in the day and when you are not hungry
If you are looking for how to save money as a student without working, then you have to shop later in the day and also avoid shopping when you are hungry.
When you shop when you are hungry, it will make you buy a lot of perishable foods that you can’t finish which will later spoil. So try to avoid shopping when you are hungry to help you cut out unnecessary costs.
Also, always go shopping later in the day because most stores offer discounts during that time of the day. Visit your local shop around 6:00 PM, and first check if the prices are lower than the actual prices during the day. It might take a little trial and error for you to understand the time your favorite stores usually start their discount
For instance, in the UK, Co-op stores set up daily discount times for their groceries after 4:00 PM, while Tesco set up their daily discount time after 7:00 PM.
Knowing the daily discount time of your favorite store and also avoiding shopping when you are starving is how to save money as a student without working.
15. Sell most of the stuff you don’t need
Everybody has extra stuff and sometimes, you don’t need them. So how to save money as a student without working is by selling the stuff you don’t need to make extra cash.
When friends or family members gift you things that you already own, you can sell the old ones to make extra money, most especially techs like phones, laptops, video games, etc.
Used tech gadgets can sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars, most especially if it’s not too old or roughly damaged. Even damaged gadgets might still be worth something for the parts, so consider selling them as well.
When you follow the methods listed in this article, how to save money as a student without working will never be a big deal for you. Good luck in achieving your goal!
