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College Financial Guide: Housing
Living in a dorm is a hallmark of college life, but it helps to know ahead of time what you’re getting into. Photo: Katie Brady
A huge part of the college experience — and college costs — is housing. Before you sign that lease, choose your roommate, or start packing for the dorm, here is what you need to know to make the right choice for you and how to save:
Living in the Dorms
One of the most iconic experiences of college is living in a dorm room. Depending on your college, you may be required to live on campus for at least part of your time there, commonly the first year, or longer with certain scholarship stipulations. But you also may choose to live in the dorms the entire time.
Many colleges offer a variety of options when choosing a dorm:
Is Your Insurance Ready for Retirement?
Congratulations, you made it! Your life is about to change — and your insurance might, too. Photo: Steven Depolo
Retirement is probably the most anticipated and planned-for milestone of our lives. When it finally arrives, it does so silently like an overnight snowfall that, even though it was expected, renders a once-familiar landscape alien.
Retirement planning lends itself to metaphors that reference nest eggs and shedding the chains of responsibility. When it comes to insurance and retirement, the underlying landscape is familiar but different, like your backyard covered with fresh snow.
The Truth About Your Future Self
In the moment where you simply want something, it’s really tempting to find justifications for it, and one of the easiest justifications is to simply say that your “future self” will pay for it.
You can use a credit card, after all, or some kind of payment plan. The actual payment won’t happen today or tomorrow. Instead, it will happen at some point in the future down the road when, theoretically, you’ll be better financially equipped to handle that bill.
I used this “future self” as a big crutch throughout my life. My “future self” would save for retirement, so I didn’t have to save much yet. My “future self” will be able to afford that house. My “future self” will pay for this car. My “future self” will pay off this credit card.
Why We Strive to Be Financially Responsible
When this article appears on The Simple Dollar for the first time, many readers will be celebrating Christmas morning, hopefully surrounded by family and friends. I hope to be doing the same exact thing with my own family.
For me, the Christmas season is also a time for reflection. It’s such a unique opportunity during the year for me to reconnect with family, plus it comes at the conclusion of a year and just before the start of a new one. I always find myself thinking about the purpose of what I’m doing in my life.
Is my life in a good place? Have I spent my year doing things to make my life – and the lives of those I care most about – better? Have I found a good balance?
Disney on a Budget: Managing the Magic for Less
Surprising the kids with a dream trip to Disney? Don’t let it become a financial nightmare. Photo: Walt Disney World
I’ll admit it – I have a serious Disney addiction. Not as bad as some, it’s true. (I know a woman who logs in to online meetings at work as “Cinderella.”) But for moms like me, there’s nothing like a Disney vacation, especially around the holidays.
Literally the whole family has fun. Decorations, cookies, and carols abound. They even replace the holiday flowers each night while you sleep. In real life, I’ve waited basically forever for anyone to replace the mangy planters on my front walk.
What I Carry Every Day
A few weeks ago, I finished up the weekly reader mailbag column with a question about what I carry every day. Here’s the question and the answer, reprinted for you
I love seeing “everyday carry” articles where people show off what they carry around with them every day. It usually reveals items that the person considers to be truly useful. What is your “everyday carry”?
– Andrew
In my pockets, I usually carry a small pocketknife (one with some personal sentiment), a leather wallet containing just a few cards but large enough to protect a pocket notebook, a pocket notebook, a couple of pens, my keys, and my phone.
Why I’m Going Back to Grad School — Or Not
You’ve got the bachelor’s degree; do you go on to grad school? There are a lot of factors to consider. Photo: COD Newsroom
To go or not to go? That is the question.
If you’re in a mental traffic jam about graduate school, this post is for you.
The grad school debate has been going on for years in my own head, and in the minds of countless others. With the rapid evolution of technology, emerging sectors of commerce, and century-old industries fading away, deciding whether to attend grad school is more confusing than ever.
Much of the writing on the benefits of grad school focuses on starting salaries, career advancement, and donations from alumni — which in the most simplistic terms assumes the alum has achieved a level of success that allows him or her to give back.
Oil Prices: What Goes Down Must Come Up
As oil consumption has declined, so has its price. But conditions may not remain that way. Photo: Addddee
We all remember the high school economics lesson on the law of supply and demand. It taught us that when demand is low and supply is high, prices fall; when the opposite is true, prices rise.
Since supply and demand is a law of economics and we must assume that energy-sector experts understand this, predicting oil prices, at least in the macro sense, should be a breeze for the experts who come before television cameras to make pronouncements about what is happening.
How Purging Your Stuff Saves Money
Looking for something? With all that clutter, it’s no surprise you’re having trouble. Photo: Dickuhne
Cleaning a little a day will keep the large messes away. Sounds pleasant and doable, until the little messes become massive catastrophes and your home transforms into a war zone.
Maybe your messes aren’t this extreme, but even the smallest amount of clutter is enough to drive a fairly neat person insane. But what do you do when you or your partner find it hard to part with many of the items in your home? It depends on your situation, but here are some reasons to justify purging in the near future:
1. More Efficient Use of Time
If you’re anything like me, you don’t mind spending hours on end looking for a particular item to save money. But are you really doing yourself justice?
What Do Frugal People Genuinely Do For Fun?
Over the past six months, this is probably the question I have heard the most often from readers. “What do you do for fun?” “Frugality seems so boring because it takes away all the fun.” “What can I do that’s fun and cheap?”
Behind all of these questions lies a simple problem: people perceive “fun” to be inherently tied to “spending money,” and thus if you’re not “spending money” you’re not “having fun.” Frugality is inherently about spending less money. Like many people, I view frugality as maximizing the value you get from your money, time, and energy, which means that the idea of “fun” is different than if you just focus on time and energy without worrying about money at all.
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