Continuing from my last post I think it’s about time that I write a bit about my finances. I won’t elaborate much but I am glad I am maintaining at about (500 +/- 30)$ per month including rent, utilities and groceries.

As I said last time, I have heard and read many stories where a lot of students couldn’t afford their rent or food. Hence, they would live in shabby places and eat noodles to save on time and money. Honestly speaking, I draw my inspiration from them. I am fortunate to have enough to live in an apartment and eat all my meals everyday. However, I won’t deny that I still live a frugal lifestyle, without spending much on luxuries. But if I do find something which I would regret not buying later, I do go ahead with that purchase. Before I start, I would say that after my rent, phone, internet and electricity bills, I am left with about 80$ a month for groceries and other things.

Now, it is not to say that I cannot ask for more. I definitely can. But, to be honest, loans scare me. Debt is always scary, even if you have a job with you. Also, it doesn’t fit right with me that I ask my parents for money beyond absolute necessity (this is the Indian scenario and parents support their children financially till whenever parents wish). Hence, I try. Keeping my budget under 500 has been difficult. It means less occasional outings whether for food or vacations or just shopping. I did try some things to earn from here and there, since I was a new student and couldn’t really get an on campus job last sem. So, what did I do? Here is a list:

1. I got my rent reduced because I agreed to live in living room: We are three students sharing a 2 bed 2 bath apartment (sharing an apartment rather than having your own studio apartment is always cheaper). Hence, the third person had to manage with living room. I agreed to live in the living room for a reduction of 50$ per month in my rent. With a separator, it pretty much feels like a room/ private space to me. So, I am happy. For that, your flatmates need to be adjusting though. My flatmate who has a private bath in her room was fine with her rent increasing by 50$ per month, then only I could do this.
   
2. I signed up for various apps where I could save/ earn money: Ok, so this is bit of a stretch, but I signed up for various grocery cashback apps which give cashback on select grocery items in their catalogs. They are especially useful for people who eat (especially cook) non-veg and have drinks. I haven’t cashed out anything from these apps yet apart from an Amazon Gift card of very small amount from ReceiptPal and 27$ worth check from InboxDollars very recently. I won’t review any of those because there are plenty reviews out there. However, I would list down what all I use:
   1. InboxDollars: This is a survey site where you can earn money doing various activities apart from taking surveys. The thing I like the most about them is their TV section. I put the TV on on the website and keep doing my work. After sometime, it does ask to click a button to confirm if I have been watching the videos, but even if I am not, I can just refresh the page and the playlist of videos starts all over again. (They have put a cap of 50 cents per day recently which is disappointing!)
      I recently cashed out a 27$ check from them after three months of joining. That too, because I did not know about the earnings from TV section. Earnings from occasional surveys add up too.
      Beware that this is not a place where you can become rich or earn your rent. But it’s enough to make about 30 bucks per two months passively. If you do surveys (which are hard to qualify for, just a heads up) and other stuff actively, you can earn more. People say they have made upto 70$ per month on the site being more active. Well, grad students don’t have that much time.
      Right now they’re giving 5$ to any new member who joins. And if you’re interested, you can use my referral as well: InboxDollar Referral
      
      
   2. Apps like Checkout51, Ibotta, Shopmium, SavingStar: They all are apps which give cashback on groceries you buy. They have new list of items every week and you just have to unlock that particular item and scan your receipt. While Ibotta has many selections, they generally need membership details for the given store and Aldi is not there (the place where I do my major grocery shopping from.)
      Checkout51 has number of stores but their variety  in items is dropping down. However, these both would be my go to cashback apps. I haven’t cashed out anything from these yet but it never hurts to get some cents back on your purchase every time passively. One day, they will all add up. Walmart’s Saving Catcher is another option if you do your major shopping from Walmart. I’ll write down the referral codes for these too –
      Ibotta: rflsgnl (if you sign up using this code, you earn 10$ and I get 5$).
      I still don’t know how coupons work, but if I ever get time, I would like to try those too!
      

      

      
   3. Apps like ReceiptPal, Yaarlo: I particularly like Receiptpal because you get a 1$ increment in Amazon Gift card for each 16 receipts you upload on their app. It can be anything whatever you buy. You read it right! I did sign up for Yaarlo but I am not very happy with its earnings. Nonetheless, nothing goes in snapping a picture or two of your grocery receipts. Another app is ReceiptHog, similar ot ReceiptPal, however they don’t have any space with them and I have been on the waiting list for 3 months already. I won’t really recommend that.
      Referral Code: Yaarlo: 4AUCKPG1667
      The only catch here is, none of them is super fast. For some, it might be time consuming to just check out offers too. I check them out on bus or when I am idling around with social media etc. But trust me, when I received that 27$ check on 5th Jan from InboxDollars (I had won a 10$ worth target gift card too earlier), and when I deposited it to my account, I was overjoyed. Seeing that account balance going up always makes one happy.

3. I stopped eating outside: Not exactly. But yeah, I do my cooking entirely at home. Not only do I save money but my diet restrictions also has something to do with it. I am a vegetarian. I don’t eat eggs even in things like cake etc. but in US even pasta can have egg. Hence, I avoid all outside food whenever I can. A lot of people complain they don’t get time to cook because cooking takes up a lot of time. I have observed that with time, you start taking less and less time in cooking. Also, you can always spend less time on facebook.
   Home cooked food is fresh, healthy and cheap (I did some calculations and one meal comes out to be less than a dollar when I cook all the meals in a month by myself). And I will emphasize on healthy. My parents, who have always had healthy food in their youth are struggling in their 40s. I can’t imagine maintaining my body that long given all the junk I have already consumed. I want to keep fit with exercise and good diet. That is also one motivation behind me cooking everyday. I also save time when I make all my meals for the day in the morning. Or may be on Sunday and use them till Tuesday. Whatever arrangement works for you. That one hour affair pays me for the whole day(s). Proper nutrition also means more energy and better concentration.
4. I participated in researches: A lot of colleges are involved in researches where they need help of human subjects. Not talking about experiments on you but just interviewing, aptitude tests kind of thing. Try to find if that happens in your college. Mine has a huge system where various studies are available. They don’t pay much but if doing fun activities for 20 minutes is giving me 10-15 bucks, I am totally up for it.
   The mistake I did was, I was too ashamed and egoistic to sign up for them for a meager amount. But when I participated for the first time, I found it to be a relaxing activity. The hospital and another university near me pays as high as 600$ for some studies. Without an SSN, that particular study would have paid me 150$. Not bad for 6 hours of your life. (I didn’t qualify for it though, so that’s that).
5. Find an on-campus job: Goes without saying. It is the best way to earn money and add something on your resume. Because I did not have one last sem, I tried all of the above to make/ save some extra.

Some more things you can do is to stay away from subscriptions you don’t need. I don’t really watch TV, so I don’t have any netflix or hulu subscription. I use WhatsApp or free video calling apps to call home. Another thing I have heard about is, you can, in general negotiate your monthly bills in US. I have no experience in that at all though. Investment? Well sure, if you can. I don’t have that much money or aptitude to start investing in US yet, but some day soon.

Initial expenditures can blow anyone away. I spent whopping 2000$ in my first one and a half month here. After that, I have been trying to take care of my budget. I did start noting down all my expenditures. Writing down keeps my desire to spend more in check (or checking your account balance frequently 😛). I am not bothered about people saying that I am stingy. Because at the end of the day, I want to be in less and less debt without ruining my health.
I know the feeling of spending my hard earned money without any pressure of loans on me and I would like to achieve that state as soon as possible. Hence, I am not afraid, not concerned of ‘missing out on stuff’ right now. Nor do I forget to reward myself once in a while with good food or something I really wish to buy. I rewarded myself with food from my favorite restaurant very recently on finally landing an on-campus job. These kind of rewards keep me motivated to do better as well.

So, these were some of the things I have been following till now to manage my finances in US. What are your pet peeves?

(Pics credits to their respective owners)