Life on a College Student's Budget

$25 Restaurant Certificate for free!

collegegirl631 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:44:46 +0000

I have been a member of MyPoints.com since November, 2008. I’ve been racking up points by clicking on advertisements in emails (but not buying anything), and by ordering a few things I needed to buy anyway through a partner link on MyPoints.com. I finally decided what to spend some of my points on. Most companies “charge” around the same number of points for certain values of gift cards. Most $10 gift cards cost around the same number of points, most $25 gift cards cost around the same number of points, etc. I just redeemed $10 worth of my points on a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate. I then redeemed that gift certificate for one to the Melting Pot. I’ve been wanting to go there for quite some time, and I figured since my birthday is coming up, I should get some friends and family together and go! I’ll be sure to write a review after I do, hopefully within the next week or two.

I am especially excited about this, because I now have a $25 discount on my dinner, that didn’t cost me anything but time! I say discount, because I know a dinner for at least two at the Melting Pot is going to cost more than $25, but it’s a pretty darn good discount! It took me months to build up enough points to get something big, but it takes only a few seconds each day. And if you do buy something online by clicking through one of the MyPoints.com partner retailers, you can get points for each dollar you spend!

Food this week…

collegegirl631 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:32:29 +0000

Old El Paso products were BOGO again this week, so I found some coupons for them, and bought about six. I have some ground beef I bought at a low price at ALDI, one of my favorite grocery stores. They have great prices on nearly everything – lower than Walmart, and better quality! So, I’ve got plenty of Mexican food. My uncle also took me out to a Japanese restaurant yesterday, and I have enough left overs for at least 4 days (seriously!). I’ll have to freeze some if I want it to last that long, though. I wonder how well cooked rice freezes…hmm… Oh! And we used a coupon found in “America’s Favorite Coupon Book” to get the dinner in the first place!

New career plan!

collegegirl631 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:25:59 +0000

So, I was plan to become a nurse. However, I’ve been doing some thinking and some research, and I’m pretty sure I’ve decided to be a pharmacist instead! Being a pharmacist requires a Bachelor’s degree, but I was planning to get a Bachelor’s of Nursing, anyways. So, it shouldn’t take any longer, really. And the classes I have already taken are general courses required for nearly any major. The company I am working for now has a pharmacy department, so I can stay with them. They have competitive pay, and awesome benefits!

Shopping with Coupons!

collegegirl631 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:38:59 +0000

The other day I went grocery shopping and did some major saving. I spent about $20 and saved about $27! The trick? Get coupons for sale items! Some stores allow you to view their sale papers through their website. Since I get most of my coupons online, this is a big bonus. I look up sale items at the local stores, compare prices, and look for coupons for those items. I try to make out as many meal plans as possible using items on sale so I don’t have to buy very many regular priced items.

I have a MyPoints account, through which I can get coupons provided by multiple sources such as Coupons.com and SmartSource.com. Not only are these two major sources of coupons accessible from one place, I get points for using the coupons! Once I have accumulated enough points (through coupons and looking at advertisement emails), I can get gift cards for nice restaurants or stores. I do have the emails from MyPoints going to a special email address so they don’t clutter up my main inbox, but overall, I have enjoyed earning points and reaping rewards. It about time somebody paid you for going through all that junk mail!

I also just discovered a blog post giving four tips to lower you grocery bill while being lazy! The tips don’t involve sitting for hours looking through coupons (although coupons are still a good idea). Check it out!

Kielbasa and Couscous

collegegirl631 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:25:29 +0000

As I mentioned, I’m living on a college student budget – and not a college student attending a big private college completely paid for by Mommy and Daddy, either. One of the many things I have to pay for on my own is food. As such, I’ve been eating a lot of beans, rice, cheap ground beef, and the like. I was getting a bit tired of the monotony, so I decided to try to find something with a little more pizazz, yet still affordable. So, for dinner today, I’m having kielbasa sausage and couscous. Mixed into the couscous are canned mushrooms, diced bell peppers (bought fresh on sale, diced, and frozen), some seasonings from the cabinet, and some rosemary from the bush in the garden. It came out very tasty, and should give me 4 or 5 meals. The total cost for each meal is somewhere between $1.50 and $2.00. Not too bad for something so tasty! I’ve got V8 Splash – which I bought during a BOGO sale – to drink with it.

Introduction: Hello, everybody!

collegegirl631 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:54:44 +0000

So, I plan to blog about things relating to college, and living on a budget – specifically, a college student’s budget. My favorite topic is food, grocery shopping (especially with coupons!), etc. so you will probably see quite a few food-related posts. I also enjoy a hobby I recently discovered – digital scrapbooking – so you may see an occasional post about that, too.