Garofalo's Starving Students Pasta Give Away

I find one of the best ways to help out with expenses in college, is finding things to do on campus. It allows one to be social with friends and meet new people or see a show for very cheap or for free. Not to mention many campus groups will have free food in order to entice you to come. Thats a free meal!

Find a group of reliable friends. Schedule yourselves on a calendar with one or two people assigned to cook a given dinner and rotate so that no one has to cook multiple days in a row. Eat mostly veggies (it's healthier for you anyway) and approach meat as a treat, not as the main focus of the meal. Lunch can be sandwiches, dinner leftovers, simple things like mac and cheese, salads, etc.

By splitting the grocery bill and eating less meat, you can easily spend ~$1000 on food for the whole school year (NYC area food prices)--try beating that by eating out for every meal.

Shop your local Goodwill Store frequently. If you browse regularly you will find some great items. Often, rarely used nice stuff will be available for very inexpensive. I also watch out and avoid items that are dry clean only. You will save in the long run by sticking to washing machine ok clothes.

Buy your school supplies for both semesters in the fall. You'll need notebooks and pens again come January--stock up when they're on crazy sale before the kiddies go back to elementary. You may have more blue bic pens than you think you need, but it's much better to spend 50 cents a dozen than 2 bucks a few months down the line.

Learn the power of free. There is no such thing as cheap in college when you can get most of it for free.

Sites such as slickdeals, fatwallet, etc. give you the chance to get free things such as toothbrushes, deodorant, etc.

Want to watch a movie? That big box at the store that allows you to rent movies (aka Redbox), has a lot of coupon codes online that let you rent a movie for FRRE.

If you're just looking for entertainment, your campus is the best place to start--there is ALWAYS something going on. The city calendar is always a good place to look for free events as well.

Learn to walk! It's free, it's good for you, and you'll all around enjoy yourself! If that is not an option for you, look into your campus and see if they offer free transportation via bus etc. (UCI allows you to ride the OCTA for free)

FREE samples at Costco! Also, many events on your campus probably offer free food for attending.

All it takes is getting to know your campus and the city it is located in. The resources are out there, get to know them well. Zot zot zot.

1. If you haven't cut the Latte factor, or occasionally eat out, tip yourself as well. Whatever you tip your barista or server, throw in a jar at home, and save until the end of the month then deposit in your savings account.
2. Every time you hit the grocery store with a coupon, or just shop the sales, look at the bottom of your reciept where it says "You just saved $_.__!" and take that and either put it in the same jar, another jar, or transfer it from your checking into your savings.

You'll be surprised how much you save when you do these two simple things!

Being actively involved on campus can help you academically and financially. A lot of groups and clubs will have food provided for their meetings, be it pizza or even just cookies. Meeting people of similar majors or the same interests can also help when it comes to books. You may find you can share textbooks or even trade them with people who are taking the class you took last semester. Splitting costs on things will be easier the more people you know.
So get involved, find friends to share with, and scam free food!

(not exclusively for students)
-pre-drink... if you go to the bars/clubs regularly, there's no way you can afford to even get a buzz if you're not drinking till you get to the bar.
-sublet a place 4 or 8 months at a time instead of signing a lease... most leases for student housing are for 12 months but most students are only there for 8 months of the year. this works especially well at universities with big co-op programs so that there are sublets available. sublettees usually get a discounted rent rate too, and tehre's often furniture and things there already.
-take advantage of on-campus promotions, programs and facilities... this includes free public transit, discounts at local restaurants, free on=campus gym use (instead of paying for a membership somewhere else), res movie rentals, etc...
-buy nothing for retail price.. you can get almost anything cheaper somewhere/someway
-make weekend visits home if you live close and gettinga ride back to school means a stop at the grocery store with mom (who may pay or at least help out).. groceries are the most expensive part of living away from home so avoid that when you can
-do things like this contest... take a few minutes to do things like this if it saves you money on things (or gets you free pasta)

Living in an apartment or rented house with roommates can be tough. Keeping that space is clean is nearly impossible. However, the attempt is worthwhile! Don't spend your money on expensive and toxic household cleaners. Baking soda and vinegar have hundreds of cleaning uses. Check out the internet!

Pull together a few cheap-as-dirt recipes that are healthy and keep all the nonperishable ingredients on hand. That way, when you are too tired to think what to cook and you are tempted to go out and grab a bite, you can make your "fallback" meal and just get on with your night.

Mine was canned garbanzo beans, cooked pasta shells and poached green cabbage (throw in some italian seasoning, a splash of olive oil, a garlic clove and a turn of ground pepper. Delicious (perhaps an acquired taste), nutritious, and CHEAP.

The internet is your friend.
Spend time finding the best deals on essentials- if you can't get away with a library textbook get online and look for it, preferably second hand. (I recommend Powells or The Book Depository- several times I've found that the UK has paperback versions of textbooks which are hardback only in the US- TBD has free worldwide shipping)
Learn to cook- check out BBC recipe finder and epicurious as well as numerous cooking blogs for great simple recipes.
Order your groceries online- when I was a student I couldn't do large shops easily without a car so would order large purchases once a month or so.
Check for discount codes before you purchase anything online retail-me-not is the easiest I've found.
Entertainment- there are lots of legal ways to watch TV shows online- hula and slice are 2 North American sites which have quite a few options. I also recommend BBC Radio listen again feature from their website- they have some awesome live gigs, plays and other great programmes available. There are also thousands of great podcasts available on pretty much any topic imaginable.
DIY- want to learn to sew some cute bags or clothes? Craftster is a fab resource with lots of tutorials, many craft blogs provide free patterns and youtube is abundant with craft lessons.
Library- I love my library but often only spend 2 minutes at a time there- I place all my requests online and wait for email notification.

If you need to buy textbooks, first go to the bookstore and write down the ones you need. Then buy them used online! You can sell them to someone else at the end of the semester.

* don't buy all of your textbooks - the school library normally has copies, and some professors even put copies on reserve (at my school you can check it out for 2 hours max, and they can't leave the library). If you're on campus most of the time, it could work out in your favour.

*split on farmer's market produce with friends - you get a good deal and nothing goes to waste.

*walk everywhere! good for your health, the environment, and you wallet

*cheap entertainment: on campus art gallery/theatrical productions; movies, observatory tours

*to make money- volunteer for psychology studies. graduates students need subjects, and they normally pay pretty decent for the amount of time need. Some are really unintrusive and easy (I had to count coloured shapes at a computer for about 1 hour once..)

If you're looking for some extra dough, check out tutoring secondary students - it's a fantastic way to raise some funds and get some great work experience. You can even take advantage of the internet and provide online tutoring services which can help ease the cost of transportation. That, and what teenager today isn't wired to the gills?

Using your leftovers is the best tip i can give. Old/leftover rice makes even better fried rice a day or two later. Old/leftover pasta is made into a tasty dish if you heat it up with olive oil.

Only shop once a week, and buy ONLY what is on your list.

I accidentally posted this on the linked thread.. hopefully this is the right one.

If you are a college student with a meal plan for your school's cafeteria/dining hall(these are mandatory at some schools if you live on campus), take advantage of it. I have a ten-meal-a-week plan (again, to save money), which I supplement.

If your cafeteria has a carry out option, fill containers for two or three meals, take some bread and sandwich fillings, fill your backpack with fruit.

I bring emptied out plastic water bottles when I go to eat dinner, and fill them with skim milk for the next few day's breakfasts.

Do this at your own discretion, but my roommates and I borrow(discreetly) the plates, cups, and silverware we'll need for the semester and return them after finals.

For entertainment, your best bet (especially if you're living on campus) is to take advantage of what you're already paying for with your student fees - free concerts, lectures, clubs, intramural sports, etc. There's a lot to do, especially if you go to a large university!

Food - I recommend figuring out how to combine things to get more meals out of them. For example, I made a cajun-style rice bowl yesterday with a package of rice and seasoning I got on sale, a can of corn, and a can of beans. Total price was under $2 and I'll easily get 3-4 meals out of it.

Also, if you are cooking for yourself, it's a good investment to buy Tupperware (or some sort of storage containers) that you can take with you to school. (As long as you're not prone to losing things.) Then, you save money on buying boxes and boxes of plastic bags to take your food in.

Find friends who never use all of their meal plan allotted meals in a week and have them swipe you in if possible. Even if the food isn't great, it's free and all you can eat!

Also, I sometimes bring an empty tupperware container to my dining hall and discretely fill it with food from the dining hall. Also, I have had friends fill up multiple gallon bags with cereal, it takes a while, but it's faar cheaper than buying it at a store!

If you want to save money, never shop on campus (with two exceptions).

College students, especially those who live in the dorms, are a captive audience and often aren't entirely aware of what should count as a 'fair price' on the items they buy. Campus vendors take full advantage of that fact.

The worst offender? Campus bookstores. In addition to selling textbooks at a ridiculous markup, they are a minefield of overpriced logo-covered knicknacks, overpriced bestsellers, overpriced art materials, overpriced 'gifts', overpriced office supplies, and even sometimes overpriced sodas, candy, and fresh flowers. Before you buy books at the bookstore, shop online, and before you buy anything else, get yourself off campus (by car, by bus, or on foot) and compare prices at a local discount store.

Campus food vendors are also a great way to be parted from your money. I'm not talking about the cafeteria, I'm talking about the fast food, the huge banks of vending machines, the coffee bars, the convenience stores, the late-night donut shops... get the idea? I've attended four colleges and I've never seen a single one of these that wasn't a total rip-off. Instead of buying a snack on the way to class, consider taking advantage of boxed meals or brown-bag lunches if they're available at your cafeteria. It saves time and you feel like you're getting take-out, but it's not costing you anything extra.

Now for the exceptions. First, many colleges offer discounted student tickets for local activities and attractions, like theme parks. If you're interested in seeing the sights, these can save you a lot of money.

The second exception is more serious: healthcare. Even if you don't purchase the student insurance, cheap/free health care and inexpensive prescription medication are often available at the campus health center. In particular, campus counseling centers often offer free services to all students, regardless of insurance coverage. Be sure to take advantage of these services if you need them, because you will never get a deal this good from private health insurance.

Blog daily. By year four you will be earning residual income.

This is an easy way to get some money. There's been a number of times throughout my undergrad years that I simply sold stuff I no longer needed. Ebay is a great option for this or even better, when you home on a nice spring or summer weekend, ask your parents if they have any thing they've been meaning to sell and offer to organize and run the garage sale. If you explain you're doing it to earn some extra money, they will probably allow you to keep the profits, for your efforts.

All the frugal tips in the world won't help you manage your starving student years if you don't remind yourself why you're paying attention to where your money goes.

Find an after-school-is-over ambition that excites you. Don't worry -- it doesn't have to be an over-arching life plan or something that will box you in: it just needs to be a plan that makes you happy, something in the form of: I'm managing my money in order to get through school successfully, so that afterwards I can (fill in the blank).

Write it out. Write it big. Put it somewhere that you'll look at it often (the bathroom mirror is good). And then write it on post-it notes and stick them to your credit/debit cards and your checkbook.

If you've got a reason, you'll find a million ways to be frugal, because your money has a better place to go than towards buying you a bag of strawberry licorice (my vice).

I'm going back to school part-time in September. I'm worried about stretching my income, too, but my sign says "... so that afterwards I can be a surgeon, and save lives." It's the dream I squashed down the first time through college (I did an English BA), but I'm tired of working retail, and I want something bigger. And this dream is big enough to make me darn my socks, pick up pennies and clip coupons, because I'm going to do whatever it takes. Eyes on the prize, people. Eyes on the prize.

I'm a grad student, so I'm still living on the cheap.

Here's my money saving tips:
1. Eat in the cafeteria as much as possible if you have a meal plan. I know I saved a TON of money by utilizing on campus resourses.
Better yet...
2. Get a job working the caf at school- free take home leftovers!

Another one: Used books- half.com and amazon are amazing. But look closer to the end of the term for your courses next term- there's more availability and you aren't fighting everyone else who waited until after the term started to get books. And buy old editions if the professor doesn't assign homework from the books (sometimes the questions are updated).
Share books with a buddy- i.e. when someone takes an english course one term, sign up for it the next term and ask if you can borrow their books. Saves TONS of money.

My best advice is to make sure you don't have the "keeping up with the Joneses" complex. There's going to be tons of people with more money and going out all the time. Don't play into that mess. As long as you set a budget for things and stick to it, you will do fine!

One of the biggest money savers while in school is to pack a lunch or take leftovers from the night before. It's way cheaper and healthier than the cafeteria. And usually there's a microwave somewhere on campus. Just invest in a cooler bag and ice pack.

Buying whole foods in bulk is one of the best ways to save money. There is no reason to buy boxed or bagged grains, beans, nuts, etc. When you buy them in bulk from a store like Whole Foods, a local COOP, a bulk food store, or other stores that have bulk bins, you get exactly as much as you want and for a lower price, because you aren't paying for the packaging and brand name.

Eating more bulk foods is a great way to improve your health as well on a low budget. Most bulk foods are super nutritious and straight from the Earth.

Not to reiterate what most people have already advised, but definitely take advantage of your student status. Ask for student discounts at the local movie theaters, eateries; even the local co-op and small ethnic grocer were giving student discounts. Miraculously, by mentioning my student status I was able to open a bank account w/ no minimum or misc. fees. It never hurts to ask.

Invest in usb flash drive w/ lots of gigabytes (quite affordable, actually). It will be your lifesavers as you hop around campus and use the library computers (for free!) or work on your friends' computers.

Contrary to most advice, I would strongly urge against living w/ roommates. The peace and mind of living with one or two reliable close friends, or evenl iving alone, is worth every penny.

Check out your options for "student" banking. A lot of times you can get a much better deal than normal adults. One example was a savings account I had during college--until I turned 21 it had no minimum balance requirement. That way, I could start to focus on saving money, but if an emergency expense came up, I didn't have to worry about the balance of my savings account.

My mother used to say "never look a gift-horse in the mouth" which I took to mean never say no to something free. Maybe there's some furniture you could inherit for free but you don't like how it looks? Take it! You can always refinish or get a slipcover.

We "eat the pantry" until it's bare once a year (typically in winter time). We always try to use up everything we have in the house before we load up on more groceries. That way we make sure nothing is wasted. It also forces us to get creative with our recipes...i.e. "Where did this can of coconut milk come from and what can I use it for?"

We also do our clothing shopping at a local Goodwill store. The one in our neighborhood has racks and racks of brand new clothes that are shelf pulls from local shops (Target, KMart, Wal-Mart). Amazing! My retail therapy there often costs me around $30 and results in 8 to 10 new outfits for me and my husband! That's a steal!

I graduated from Texas a few years back but here are some of my tips that I used:

Carpool/use the bus to get to campus. Parking on campus is expensive. If you have to drive to campus at least try to park in a nearby neighborhood for free. This is what I did for 3 semesters and the neighbors did not seem to mind. I guess they are used to it.

Join a few clubs that interest you, most of them have food at their meetings.

For Christmas/birthdays/other days where you may be receiving gifts, ask for practical gifts like a couch or other things you need for your apt.

Look on Craigslist/freecycle for stuff you need to furnish your pad. Facebook also has a marketplace where students list stuff they are selling.

If you and a friend are taking the same class together go in on one textbook and just share it, this is especially good to do if the book is only available new.

For the first two years I lived in a dorm. With 10 meals a week you have to work the system. My roomie and I "purchased" a small fridge. (When we left we sold it to some incoming students for the same price). It's amazing how high you can stack a salad by ringing the bowl with cucumber slices. A couple of those mega salads lasted four meals. I often took a friend to breakfast as each person was allowed a main course (like eggs) and five items (like oatmeal, toast, fruit). Coffee was free. No limit to how much milk you put in. My roomie and I also had a small hot pot. Good for making tea, coffee, instant soup and even ramen.

One kid on our floor stocked her fridge with cans of caffinated soda. She was the source for cheaper than vending machine late night stimulation. She did especially well at the end of semesters. Another floor mate cut hair to bring in a little cash. In addition to work-study many of us did odd jobs. Listings would be posted on the dorm bulletin board or we'd hear of something by word of mouth.

A terrific discovery was end of semester dumping. I'd regularly scope out the incinerator room for leftover art supplies. No body wants to drag a huge pad of newsprint onto a train home but for those of us staying on, it was great.

Then we went onto apartment living. Being in the midst of three colleges enabled up to basically furnish our place with trash picked items. If a new roomie came in with better stuff we'd put the older things out onto the sidewalk and hang out the window waiting to see how long things remained. We never had to wait long and it was great sport.

Lastly, free entertainment can be gotten by ushering concerts and special events.

Email your professor a head of time to determine the books you will need for their class, and buy them online used from either amazon.com or Half.com. They are the same type of used books the bookstore will have for up to 75% less!

Substantially decrease your electric bill with one easy step - unplug electronics that are not in use. For example, don't keep your xBox and TV plugged in; use a power strip and hit the off switch when you are not using it. About 10-40% of your total home electronics goes to powering your "stand-by" electronics.

And that alarm clock? Use your phone, which can be re-charged.
http://ecotality.com/life/2007/11/01/vampire-electronics-sucking-away-yo...

One of the many many things we do to save money (my fiance is in school and we live on only my income) is to get free haircuts from a super cuts training facility. They are already all liscensed, they are just going through Super Cut's procedures. Cool!

With the cost of gas so high, see if you can connect several errands together in one trip, even better park in a central location and walk to so those errands that are close by. It saves gas and you get some exercise!

Honestly, dumpster diving is such a dirty term but it's not that bad, and I must say the other night I went, I came home with a toy story DVD, books, CD's, a WORKING Mp3 player, Sony CD player, in-date magazines and my boyfriend found an aquarium lamp (BRAND NEW). Everything was pretty great and more people do it than I thought ( saw them that same night!) that is my money-saving tip and it's good exercise! :) Which saves money too!

I don't buy all my books unless the professors really require them... sometimes the website log in for $40 has the book online versus purchasing a $120 book with a log in key....

Also I buy my books from amazon.com to save over 50% off the cost of books versus my school bookstore..

SCHOOL SUPPLIES- I don't buy paper or pens and I go through them like water! For paper, I go in the trash/recycle bins on campus and fish out TONS of paper! People have issues with copy machines and printers, it seems, and just throw away whatever they printed out. Either way, the paper just has stuff written/typed on one side. So I use the other side to write notes on! And for pens, I just go to different buildings on campus. It seems like certain depeartments on campus have their own pens that they have in bulk to give away to students. So everytime I realize I need a pen, I conveniently make a stop at one of those buildings. I can't tell you how many pens I have from the health center!

FOOD- 1 thing I forgot....Pay attention to flyers on campus and school-wide advertisements for club meetings and events that offer free food. You can EASILY get free food once a week for lunch...I've had entire WEEKS where I've gotten free food.

TEA- tea is cheap....and, not only does it have all these great health effects buuuttttt it also helps you feel full throughout the day! Which is wonderful when your strapped for cash and food.

DONT BUY EXTRA STUFF- Dont buy clothes, CDs, etc. Honestly, let your family get you that stuff during the holidays. Just get what you need.

WHEN YOU HAVE TO BUY GIFTS....- I understand that gift giving is sometimes crucial. For example, I shadowed a doctor and felt that I should bring something to the office at the end of my shadowing term. Or perhaps a CLOSE friend has a b-day coming up and you REALLY need to bring them something. Well, one thing that everyone enjoys that's really easy and CHEAP to do is to bake them something. Everyone loves baked goods. They make great gifts and dont give off the cheap impression that your wallet will thank you for. Regardless of whether you bake from scratch (like me) or out of the box, you'll be amazed at what you can make for $5 or less (flan from scratch is only abt $3 to make!)

I went to school at a photography school almost every week there were Art shows either at our School or around town. Look for these. There is always free wine ,cheese, and sometimes a complete meal just for showing up looking at a picture and saying to someone next to you" the dichotomy between light and shadow is sublime" Also whole foods markets, Trader Joes, And BJ's wholesale club always have food samples