How Not to Move Back in With Your Parents

8 TIPS FOR SAVING MONEY IN YOUR STUDENT YEARS • Rent your textbooks. Online services like BookMob (bookmob.ca) and BigMama (bigmama.ca) will ship textbooks for you to use and then return. Much cheaper than buying. To see if your college or university has a textbook rental program, try the directory on efollett (www.bkstr.com). • Don’t study at Starbucks. Parking yourself at a coffee shop or pub puts you in the way of temptation to buy stuff. Head to the library instead. • Drink and smoke less. Chill out as required, but mind the cost. Drinking at home is cheaper than going out to a pub. • Avoid ATM fees. Using no-name automated teller machines will cost you between $1.50 and $3 per hit, and the same applies if you use ATMs provided by banks where you don’t have an account. Think ahead and always use your bank’s ATMs, or use your debit card when you buy things. • Use Skype to call home. You’ll pay little or nothing to use this online service that connects computers and replaces phones. • Look for free events. Campus movie screenings and free concerts, for example. • Bikes and buses rule. Having a car while you’re in college or university is a huge expense to manage without parental assistance. Living near campus will help if you don’t have your own wheels. • Bank online. By checking your account frequently, you’ll have a good idea of how much money you’ve got to work with at any given time.

Subscribe to Rob Carrick on Facebook