Getting a Job After University: Where to Begin

Feeling overwhelmed by the thought of graduation? Check out this blog post where Cheap Students covers how to beef up your resume, and better prepare yourself for graduation.

Grocery Shopping Basics

An introduction on how to grocery shop better, save money and cut down on grocery bills in the future. Contains links to Canadian grocery flyers as well as prices to look for.

Textbooks: A How to Guide

A post covering how to purchase and sell textbooks at the beginning of each semester. Textbooks often cost quite a lot purchased brand new, use these tips to save money on your next textbook purchases.

Learning Tab

Check out the learning tab to view free online resources where you can learn new languages, develop your computer skills and find ways to further develop your resume.

Job Hunting

Check out the job hunting section, filled with resume, cover letter and job interview tips and resources all to help throughout the job hunting process.

Friday, December 28, 2012

New Years Resolutions

Most students when they think of new years resolutions think about getting fit, losing weight, getting better marks at school, but its less likely that the first resolution idea that comes to mind is becoming healthier financially. Unfortunately one of the reasons why students struggle with money and in turn debt after university is the lack of planning and often crazy spending habits throughout the year.


One of the objectives I hope to achieve with this blog this year is to further develop content that is more specific to help students really save money, it's been about a year and I hope to continue to offer unique and helpful content to university students.

Some things students should remember over the next year;
  • Despite how irritating budgeting can be develop some sort of one budget or make use of online resources to do so. 
  • Review your previous spending habits from last year and get a good idea on what you did well and what categories had your highest amounts of spending. These are the places you can work on, or continue to excel in in order to save more money in 2013
  • Start thinking about summer jobs, yah I know its a jerk move on my part to even start mentioning that
  • Figure out how much money you will have to spend on tuition, books and other school related expenses and figure out employment accordingly. Do you need extra cash? Maybe find a part time job for next semester.
  • Do you want to try and reduce spending on credit and paying bills in full?
Long Term
These are some goals that need to be measurable, make sure that they are even possible as well. These goals could be related to a variety of topics
  • Amount of money you hope to have in your savings account by a certain date
  • When you want to start paying off your student loans and within what amount of time
It's important to set goals, both long and short, I know personally as a student I tend to think much more day to day, which leads to surprises at the end of the month when you look at both your chequing account, savings account or your mastercard/visa bill. January is the time where everyone reflects on their year and tries to improve for the new year. Make sure your not one of those people that flakes out on their resolutions, it may not seem as important now, but once you graduate you might wish you had of kept your finances on track. 

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Last Minute Christmas Gift Ideas

Christmas is now in less than a week and for most of us we finished shopping for Christmas presents. Despite my best efforts to complete all of my Christmas shopping, the 3 weeks of exams and final projects don't tend to seem like real life, and once your out its almost Christmas. So for those who are still haven't purchased everything they need, here are some great ideas, some of which don't even need to be shipped. For the most part I like to completely avoid malls since you end up spending about 30 minutes trying to find a spot.


Magazine Subscription
http://www.rogersmagazineservice.com/
Check out Rogers Magazine service for great deals on magazine subscriptions and you Air Miles and Aeroplan members can also get bonuses for purchasing subscriptions.

Amazon.ca
*Note today is the last day forty of free super saving shipping to arrive before Christmas
Buy a wide variety of products and purchase over the $25 to get free shipping as well.
Make sure to check out their Top Holiday Deals section but make sure to check that the products are available once they are in your cart.

Chapters
*Use the ship to store function to go and pick up your purchase, ship to home for the holiday's is no longer available
Purchase books at much cheaper prices than in the store, and sign up for plum rewards to save more. Also you can purchase a variety of home decor products, stationary including Moleskin notebooks for friends that love to write and keep notes in something pretty.

Futureshop
For those who love technology, as of today there are 3 days left for ground shipping and it's free for orders over $20.
For items like DVD's and box sets you may be able to find a better deal at Amazon, check your prices. It's often better to buy from Futureshop for electronics since you can go in store whenever there are problems or issues with the product and returns are much easier as well.

Groupon/Team Buy/Living Social/Wag Jag
Make sure to check out all of these sites certificates to redeem the gift are available once the daily deal ends, so keep that in mind. But these gifts are simple don't require any shipping and for those who hate wrapping can be put inside a Christmas card. These gifts can be anything from trips to manicures and pedicures

Manicure/Pedicure/Spa Treatments from a local spa
This something you can pick up as long as the location is open, but it's highly unlikely you will be waiting in line or fighting anyone for a parking spot, plus this is usually a great gift for your mom.

LCBO/Liquor Store
Another great idea and something I've done in the past is buying someone's favourite liquor, and you can often purchase these in gift sets as well. There's also the option of picking a variety of unique Christmas beers and it's something that you know they will love and can even consume on Christmas. Check out the LCBO's Gift Finder guide http://www.lcboholiday.com/gift_finder

Baking
Even if you aren't the greatest baker in the world, baking cookies and decorating them yourself and then packaging them up nicely is a great personalized present that is also easy on the budget. Check out Pinterest for some great baking ideas as well as just simply searching google or checking out Kraft Kitchens as well http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/dessert/main.aspx

What last minute gift ideas are you thinking about this year?

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Cheap Eats: Part 2

This is the second post of 2 covering the topic of how to find cheap places to eat through non-mobile means, but instead through tips from this blog post or printable coupons. This post will focus on the following options that includes;
  • Coupons
  • Daily Deals
  • Places you never thought of
Coupons
I know most people associate coupons with crazy ladies that are addicted to cutting coupons and show up on reality tv shows. But it's important to note that it's not a bad thing to whip out a coupon here and there especially when its going to save you some money. A great website to check out is BeFrugal.com where you can sign up and then print off coupons for restaurants. Another great tip is to sign up for the newsletters of your favourite chain restaurants where they often send you emails with deals and promotions that you can use at their restaurants.

Daily Deals
Websites like Groupon.com are great websites where you can get coupons and savings for chain restaurants as well as local restaurants. Check out these sites often and you can even sign up for their newsletters to make sure you get the most up to date deals.

Places you never thought of
This section was one of the main reasons why I wanted write a post covering this topic. Going to the University of Guelph myself I realized that there was a great restaurant on campus as part of our Hotel and Tourism program. This restaurant is run by students and is part of their curriculum which leads to fairly good meals and really inexpensive prices. 

A list of a few great university/college campus restaurants
Niagara College-Benchmark
University of Guelph-P.J's
Humber College- The Humber Room
Algonquin College-Restaurant International
Fanshawe College- Saffron's Restaurant

How do you save while eating out?