Yesterday, Lifehacker wrote about how to save a bunch of money on dinning out. As college beings on a budget, we can always use a lot of fun for a little, so here it is:
Right now [restaurant.com] is selling $25 gift certificates for $10, which isn’t a bad start, but from now until Halloween, entering TREATS at the checkout applies a second 80% discount to the sales price. The result is a supremely cheap $25 gift card for just $2. Want to aim higher? The same discount applies to more expensive gift cards as well, so you can snag a $50 gift card for $4, $100 for $8, and so on.
Energy bars are great for munching on between classes, but they usually run upwards of $1 each. That can be a serious blow to any student’s budget so here are some recipes to make your own:
Classic Energy Bars
Materials:
3 cups wheat cereal
1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or other)
1/2 cup chopped pitted dates or raisins
1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup agave nectar (found at health food stores; can use honey instead, but not as good)
1/4 cup corn syrup
a little extra margarine for pan
Procedure:
Spread margarine in a 9 inch by 9 inch glass pan using a piece of kitchen paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix cereal, walnuts, dates, cherries in a bowl.
Mix peanut butter, agave nectar, and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to boil. Stir constantly afterwards for about 1 minute.
Put peanut butter mixture over cereal mixture in bowl, and stir. Put in baking pan. Bake 10 minutes.
Once done, let the mixture cool, cut into squares, and either eat or store in a zip-lock bag at room temperature for later enjoyment.
[Nutrition Facts: serving size: one bar | 180 Calories | 4 gr. Protein | 8 gr. fat | 22 gr. Carbohydrate]
Granola Bars
Materials:
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup agave nectar (found at health food stores; can use honey instead, but not as good)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 ounce unsalted margarine (get the healthy kind, it is worth it)
a little extra margarine for pan
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit (apricots, cherries, blueberries, or a mixture)
Procedure:
Spread margarine in a 9 inch by 9 inch glass pan using a piece of kitchen paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Click to continue reading…
I hate budgets. As easy as it is to shop online nowadays, one of the toughest things to do is to stay on budget. It seems however that at times budgets are a necessary tool to help us from spending too much money. Here are some ways you can budget that I have had success with:
The Old Fashioned Way
That’s right, bust out that pencil, paper, and calculator. Write down everything you can remember that you spend money on and try to estimate how much you really need each month. A more effective way to do this is to calculate how much you estimate you are going to spend each year on each category and divide by 12. This is better because it takes into account holidays, birthdays, and other events that do not necessarily occur every month. Think about it for a bit and try to think of everything. Looking at recent credit card statements may help you tremendously so start there if you are having some problems. You can always come back and rebudget if you miss something.
Excel Your Budget
Excel (or if you’re poor: OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet) is one of my favorite tools. I use it for just about everything — from tallying how much running I do each day to organizing my recipes. It is also a great tool to use for budgeting. I just organize all my expenses and list things as categories, amount spent, location/store, etc. It is a great way to organize what you are spending money on especially if you have multiple credit cards or use a lot of cash (just remember to keep receipts or you will forget what you have been spending money on). Once you have organized you expenses take advantage of the nice graphing functions so you can visually see how much money you are spending on each category.
Proof That College Dropouts End Up Working at 7 Eleven: Here is an example of a fun way to show people what you learned in college middle school. Don’t drop out (Then again, Bill Gates is a college dropout…).
