This strategy will save you a great deal of money for years to come! After you give it a read, try following the steps before you make your next purchase. Then share a comment about how much it saved you!

1. Do some price comparison.

• I hope that it is common sense that you should shop around for the lowest price before you buy something. I suggest you use sites like Bing Shopping or Google Product Search. Both sites do a good job of gathering the prices for pretty much anything you might be buying. They even throw in reviews and information about the product to keep you informed!

2. Find and use coupons.

• I’ve already written about some places you can find coupons online here and here. You should spend a good amount of time checking these sites to see if you can find a coupon for the site you’re shopping at. Many times, you can also find coupons just by doing a simple search in a search engine. You may also find coupons being sold on eBay which you can purchase, but this obviously will cost you some money.

3. Utilize “cashback” websites.

• Not familiar with these? Take a look at my post about cashback websites first. Basically, these sites will help you to save an extra 2-8% on your purchase. In exchange, those sites get a cut of your purchase as well. Everybody wins!

4. Utilize your credit card’s reward program.

• In general, I’d say that most college students probably shouldn’t be using credit cards. That is only because they’re usually not used responsibly. For those of you that use a credit card, you more than likely get a certain percentage back on most purchases. Use that credit card and this will help save you maybe an extra 1-2% off the total purchase.

If you follow those four steps, I can almost guarantee you are going to make your purchase for the lowest price possible at that time. This does ignore the possibility of sales going on at different times throughout the year. If you’re not in a hurry to make a purchase, make sure you follow the deal sites I have mentioned before and wait for a great deal! Happy shopping!

While certain academic mistakes can be repaired after you find your focus and intellectually buckle down, repairing financial mishaps are not that easy. In fact, certain financial mistakes made during matriculation can take up to seven years to mend. So knowing your score and what’s in your credit report should be just as urgent to you as knowing the grade of that research paper you just submitted.

One of the most common mistakes college students make is misusing credit cards. Granted, it is hard to keep your head above financial waters while in college. And ascribing to the “buy now, pay later” adage is not a very hard sell. However, credit card companies know exactly how, when, and where to dangle reward offers that makes signing on the dotted line very appealing. So you shouldn’t be surprised to learn that in 2008, the average credit card debt of undergraduates exceeded $3,000, according to USA Today. The old adage applies: “If it sounds to go to be true, it is!” It’s best that you learn that one now!

Think of it like this: would you take really difficult classes that you hate? (You know the kind of classes I’m talking about….where your best would only get you a C.) Did I mention these classes wouldn’t even count towards your degree, so the blood, sweat, and tears would only be in vain! Let me guess, the answer would be an emphatic NO!!!!! So why would you use a credit card without really needing to, and without any understanding as to how a credit card really works?

Not using a credit card may be easier said than done. In the last decade the cost of attending four-year colleges has increased close to 50%, and during recessions, lenders tighten their purse strings. Using credit cards may sometimes be the only way students can live while they aspire to be the next Oprah, Dr. Oz, or Jack Dorsey. However, your credit report is going to be with you every step of the way. A credit report is not your Facebook or Twitter page; you cannot just sanitize its contents whenever you want.

Your credit report includes your personal information, financial history, employment history, notes from previous creditors and so much more. It contains so much information because it provides insight into your creditworthiness and your integrity. It would be in your financial interest to keep the GPA of your credit report on the Dean’s List.

It may be cliché, but knowledge is definitely power—especially—when it comes to your credit.

Carrie Davis is the lead columnist for SpendOnLife.com, an online resource dedicated to ensuring readers have the latest and most thorough information on credit scores, debt, and identity theft. She has a passion for educating others on how to achieve financial independence.

• Walk or bike when you can. (Actually, investing in a good bike is a good idea.) I understand that those of you going to a big school where it takes 30-40 minutes to walk across campus aren’t necessarily going to embrace this idea, but think about how much better shape you’ll be in as a result! You will also not have to pay for gas money or a bus ticket. You can also walk and bike places off campus if you live in a confined-enough area (think going to get a few groceries, going to the movies or a park, etc).
• Take the bus if it’s not feasible for you to walk or bike. Find out if it costs to ride campus or city buses for students, or if you can get a discounted fare (you probably will be able to!). See if you can get a pass for the whole year or semester, because it’ll likely be cheaper than paying as you ride (if you are going to ride the bus a lot). Many buses will also take you places off campus. On another note, more and more buses are using either gas/biofuel mixes or going completely to biofuels, so you are also doing the planet a favor (versus driving).
• Carpool if you really have to have a car. Find some other friends who also need to go where you are going and have everyone chip in a few cents for gas. It will cost less for everyone involved and be much better for the environment.

There are also several things you can do to improve the accessibility on your campus, like finding out where bike paths are (and if there aren’t any, maybe you could start up a project with the city to get some! that would certainly look good on a resume!), or finding out about bus schedules and where the buses go, along with fares and discounts.

Do you have any other ideas for ways to get around campus and town without spending too much (or any) money?”

About this Contributor: Maria Schwartzman is a senior computer science major with a Spanish minor at a small liberal arts school in Indiana. She’ll be writing a lot about how to save money by living a sustainable lifestyle! Check out her website and then follow her on Twitter.

First, since we’re here to talk about saving money, think about how much money you’re using on laundry. Let’s say you do laundry each week. If you have two loads of laundry to wash at $1.50/machine (that’s the price here, anyway), that’s $3 a week to wash your clothes. To dry, you’ve got another two loads at 25 cents for half an hour each, but the dryers don’t really get anything dry unless you go for an hour. That’s another dollar total for drying. $4 a week on laundry adds up to between $16-20/month on laundry. That doesn’t really sound like much, but for a whole year that’s $192-240 spent on laundry! That doesn’t count in the cost of detergent, dryer sheets, fabric softener, or anything else you use in your laundry. Think… if you only did laundry every other week, your costs have already been halved, and you’re already down to less than $120 a year on laundry instead of $240. That’s a pretty big difference.

Second, from an environmental standpoint, think about the effects of doing laundry. You’ve got the water used (and maybe you use hot water, which means you’re also using the energy to heat up the water), the energy it takes to run the machine, the heat and energy needed for the dryer, the chemicals in the detergent, softener, sheets, and whatever else you use, the plastic used for the detergent bottle, etc etc etc. You also have the effect of wearing out your clothes faster by washing them more frequently, which means you’ll need to buy new clothes, and that opens up a whole other can of worms.

So here are some things to think about with regard to doing laundry:

Do you have any other ideas or tips? I’d love to hear them in the comments!

About this Contributor: Maria Schwartzman is a senior computer science major with a Spanish minor at a small liberal arts school in Indiana. She’ll be writing a lot about how to save money by living a sustainable lifestyle! Check out her website and then follow her on Twitter.

• Don’t buy bottled water (or bottled drinks in general). So many bottles add up in landfills, and your wallet doesn’t appreciate forking out $30 a case every couple of weeks. That’s a lot of money! If you really can’t stand tap water, just get a filter. Although it still creates waste, it’s a lot better for the environment than bottles.
• Actually, don’t buy disposable things in general. While there are exceptions to this rule, for the most part, buying something more permanent is easier on your checking account and better for the earth. I’m thinking about things like styrofoam cups and plates (don’t get me started on styrofoam…), paper plates, those one-use tupperware containers (what’s the point? just buy a real container!), plastic utensils, etc. You’ll save money and won’t create as much trash.
• Don’t waste paper. Print double sided and see if your teacher will let you single space your essays. This saves a lot of paper. Find out if printers in your school can do double sided, and if so, use that option. Also, use the “fast” or “quick” print setting, and you’ll use less ink!
• Only buy food you know you’ll eat in a reasonable amount of time. Don’t get three pounds of potatoes if you only eat one potato every two weeks…the rest of them will start growing eyes and you’ll get freaked out and throw them away. Wasting food is a bad thing. For one, think about how much work went into producing the food in the first place, all the people who traveled to the food production site, and then getting the food from the site to the store you bought it at. That could potentionally add up to a big carbon footprint (for instance, bananas or oranges from Brazil). Then think about how much money you wasted by not actually eating the food you bought. You could have used that money for either other food you would have eaten, or could be saving it, or you could be using it for textbooks, etc.
• Also, buy local. If you have a farmer’s market, go to it and use it! It’ll probably be cheaper and the food will be super healthy. (At least around here, I know the people I’m buying from don’t use any pesticides or hormones or anything. It’s so awesome!) If you have local shops, like gift shops or locally-owned restaurants, go to them. It’ll help the local economy and it’s usually a pretty good quality, so you’ll get definitely get your money’s worth.

Do you have any other tips? Share them in the comments! I hope these help you to save a little more money — and help you think about what you’re buying and the consequences it might have before you buy it!

About this Contributor: Maria Schwartzman is a senior computer science major with a Spanish minor at a small liberal arts school in Indiana. She’ll be writing a lot about how to save money by living a sustainable lifestyle! Check out her website and then follow her on Twitter.

Never throw away aluminum cans, plastic or glass bottles, newspapers, paper from class, cardboard from your cereal boxes, or any plastic that can be recycled.

This is a fairly easy, effective concept that can be overlooked. The place I worked over the summer did not have one recycling bin on the whole campus. The apartment building I lived in did not have any recycling available, and the person I lived with simply didn’t recycle. We can save landfill space and reuse materials just by recycling all that we can.

If you live in a state with a recycling program that gives you back some cash for turning in bottles, take advantage of it! Although it’s technically not that much money, it’s still money you didn’t have before.

Some other ways to save money – albeit indirectly from recycling – is simply to cut back on what you purchase. Get a reusable water bottle so you don’t buy so much bottled water. Think twice about buying that can of soda – your wallet, your health, and the world will thank you for it. Think about your purchases before you make one, and you will be helping not only yourself but also the planet.

About this Contributor: Maria Schwartzman is a senior computer science major with a Spanish minor at a small liberal arts school in Indiana. She’ll be writing a lot about how to save money by living a sustainable lifestyle! Check out her website and then follow her on Twitter.

• Do you commute to campus?
• More ways to go green while a student!
• There’s a new tax credit for college students!
• Parking on campus sucks!

That’s it for this week. Be sure to follow those sites on twitter and subscribe to their feeds! Also, leave a comment here and tell me what you think!

Benefits of having plants:

• Brightens up any room
• Cleans your air
• Depending on your plant, you could have flowers!
• Depending on your plant, you could have food!
• If you’ve studied any Feng Shui, you know that plants will add life energy to a room and, strategically placed, will absorb negative energy

Before running to the landscaping place, there are a few things to think about before getting a plant:

• Are you allergic to anything? (Certain flowers, for instance?)
• Do you want a plant that simply looks nice, or would you like it to help produce some kind of food?
• How much light do you have in your room?
• How much space do you have to give up to a plant?
• Will you remember to water your plant?
• What sort of climate do you live in?

Here are a few ideas to get you started. Before investing in any plant, make sure to do some research to get exactly what you want and are able take care of!

• Desert plants like aloe don’t need much attention and they are easy to care for. Aloe adds the benefit of having an instant skin soother at your disposal as well!
• Flowering plants can really brighten up a space, but make sure you’re not allergic to them.
• Greenery like ivy or spider plants are fun and look nice.
• Herbs like thyme and basil taste so much better fresh!
• Small vegetables like peas or cherry tomatoes can also be grown easily in a dorm room.

Enjoy! Let me know how your plants are doing!

About this Contributor: Maria Schwartzman is a senior computer science major with a Spanish minor at a small liberal arts school in Indiana. She’ll be writing a lot about how to save money by living a sustainable lifestyle! Check out her website and then follow her on Twitter.

• Thinking about buying a new computer? Read this first.
• Here’s how to make a playlist for the next party you throw.
• It’s hard to balance the college schedule. Here’s how to do it better.
• True or False: “Liquor before beer keeps you in the clear!”
• Ladies: Need fashion but are on a budget? Look here.

That’s it for this week. Be sure to follow those sites on twitter and subscribe to their feeds! Also, leave a comment here and tell me what you think!