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As a first-time college student everything is very exciting. In high school our entire day is planned and scheduled for us, that is not the case after we move on to college. We have the freedom to choose our field of study, the times of our classes, and the most important part, where we eat lunch. While these choices are exciting, we have to be careful, especially as a commuter. While living at home will save money by not having to pay for housing, we can build the cost right back up by eating out more than we should.

One way we can overspend in college eating out. If your college offers a restaurant on campus like mine does, it is very tempting to eat there with your friends every day. While it is very convenient, it is not a very healthy practice. When trying to save money it would make more sense to pack your lunch and not spend the eight to ten dollars every day. According my calculations if a commuter student had classes five days away and ate out one time every day it would be around $1,350 every school year. That is a huge waste of money and in addition to that a commuter has to pay for gas at least once a week if not more. One great way to save money as a commuter is to pack your lunch for school.

Another way to save money is to cut out useless spending. Cut out the things that are just wants and not needs. For example, if you are spending ten dollars every month for a music subscription that you rarely use it is safe to say that this expense should go. Also, if you find fashion interesting and you have a habit of clicking on ads on your social networks there is a way to block certain ads from popping up. If you practice cutting out these things in college you are more likely to do the same in the future.

The last way and maybe the most important way to save money as a commuter is take advantage of your student discounts. Many websites offer special deals for college students. If you are in the market for any big electronic purchases Best Buy offers students up to $200 dollars off on laptops. And if you have a music subscription that you do use often there is a chance that any big brand will have a special student price. If you are not taking advantage of these deals you are losing a lot of money that you could be keeping.

I am hoping that these tips will save you from making the same mistakes I have made as a college freshman. These are just some ways that you can save money, while these have been very useful to me, I am sure that there are others. Maybe these points will take your mind off of your finances and help you focus on your studies.

Here is a list of websites that you may find useful if you need more tips than what I have provided:

https://www.ksat.com/education/2016/08/08/money-saving-tips-for-commuting-college-students/

https://www.students.org/2017/08/11/how-to-save-money-as-a-college-commuter/

https://www.thestreet.com/story/14299551/1/how-to-save-money-college-student.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/freshman-year/commuting-campus-can-save-money-price-n443561

https://www.unigo.com/in-college/campus-life/10-tips-from-a-college-commuter

Bibliography

Shassaney , E. (2017, August 14). How to Save Money as a College Commuter. Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://www.students.org/2017/08/11/how-to-save-money-as-a-college-commuter/.

O’Connell, B. (2017, September 11). How College Students Can Surprisingly Save Massive Money Right on Campus. Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://www.thestreet.com/story/14299551/1/how-to-save-money-college-student.html.

Barnhart, A. (2016, August 8). Money saving tips for commuting college students. Retrieved November 7, 2019, from https://www.ksat.com/education/college-101/money-saving-tips-for-commuting-college-students.