As a student, you’re probably all too familiar with the growing pains that come with being responsible for your own finances. After all, you’re earning and managing your own money for the first time in your life. And you’re probably saving up for something, whether it be a car, computer, phone, or your schooling itself.
If you’re juggling class, homework, and a part-time job; how will you make it work? Ideally, you want to do more than just get by. If you want to have a good handle on your finances and actually meet your goals, check out these five helpful money saving tips for students like you.
Set your goals
The very first step is to set your financial goals. These are the foundation for what exactly you’ll be working toward. It is important that your goals are clear, attainable, and bite-sized. You will probably have a mixture of small and large goals, but you’ll need to break down the large goals into smaller milestones. Also, write them down. Visualizing your goals can help you stay focused.
When you are striving to meet a bigger financial goal, it can be easy to get discouraged. It may seem like you’re working so hard and not gaining any momentum. That’s why you shouldn’t set your goals too far away. So, if your greatest goal is to pay for your entire four years of school, break it down into each individual payment you will make. Each payment is an achievement of its own. Or if you are saving up for a down payment on a house in a few years, figure out how much you want to have saved each year until then. Don’t forget to celebrate along the way as you reach each milestone of your goal!
Open a checking and savings account
Choosing the right bank and opening a checking and savings account are vital steps in your financial journey. It’s important to have a secure place to keep your money. Many banks even offer a student checking account, with features that will benefit you in your current stage of life. Here at Hickory Point Bank, we offer an affordable student checking account with everything you’ll need to be successful. This includes access to online and mobile banking with only a $100 opening deposit.
After you have a checking account, go the extra mile and open a savings account! It’s an effective way to make sure you are actually setting aside money that you won’t touch (at least for a while). Instead of letting all of your earnings sit in your checking account where you can easily spend it, (or it might be harder to safeguard from fraud if your card is lost or stolen) move a certain amount of money to your savings account each month. Hickory Point Bank offers a variety of savings accounts so that you can choose the best one for you.
Create a budget
Creating a budget is probably the most common money saving tip, and it’s for a good reason. Budgeting, when done right, is a great way to stay on top of your finances and ensure you use your money wisely. The old-fashioned way of filling out a spreadsheet still works well. Make sure you take note of every monthly expense you have so that you can accurately determine how much money you have coming in and going out each month. Once you see how much you’ll have left over after expenses (like rent, school payments, car payments, groceries, etc.), you can then decide how much of that to save to reach your financial goals.
There are other helpful budgeting tools that reach beyond the basic spreadsheet. Hickory Point Bank has a whole page dedicated to different loan and payment calculators. Check out the Student Budget Calculator for help organizing your various expenses.
There are also many mobile apps you can download specifically for managing your money. A few highly rated ones include Intuit Mint and Copilot. You may find that a combination of these budgeting methods may work best for you. As long as you find what helps you in your specific situation, you’ll be one step closer to meeting your financial goals.
Track your spending
Although tracking every single expense you have may not be your idea of a good time, it will be crucial to your money saving process. As you go along in your week, all the small things you buy may not seem like much. It may look like a coffee here, a late-night trip for some fast food there, that pair of shoes you couldn’t resist, the monthly subscription service you keep forgetting to cancel, and so on.
As soon as you start keeping tabs on each thing you buy, you’ll discover that things add up quickly! This doesn’t mean you’ll have to stop buying coffees completely or never eat out again. That’s not realistic. But it does mean that you’ll be more conscious of your spending, rather than constantly swiping your card and not knowing how much money you’re parting with each week. And when you’re keeping your specific financial goalin mind, you can start to decide whether each purchase is truly worth it or not.
Start saving now
All of these saving tips are great to keep in mind, but they won’t help you reach your financial goals unless you start now. You may think you don’t have enough money to start saving now. But it all starts with deciding what you want to achieve. Then choosing your bank, creating a budget, and starting to track your expenses. These steps don’t cost large amounts of your money. They really only require your time and attention.
The sooner you start working on saving money, the sooner your savings will increase. Even if you can only set aside a small percentage of your earnings each month, your savings will add up over time. Imagine how much you’ll have saved up in a year if you start now. It’s all about moving toward your goals in whatever way you can, no matter how small you start out.
If you’ve found these saving tips for students helpful, you may be interested in opening a student checking account or savings account.
At Hickory Point Bank, we make it easy to access high-quality banking services. Whatever your next step is, Hickory Point Bank is here to help. When you invest in us, we invest in you.