30 Ways to Save For Business School

With the New Year come resolutions and pledges to do something new or different – work out regularly, eat more healthily or find a new job. It’s easy to set intentions, but really hard to resolve to not just do something in a different way one time (like going to the gym on January 2nd), but to be steadfast and consistent (going to the gym twice a week for the next four months).

If you are planning to attend business school this fall or any time in the near future, one resolution that should surely be on your list is to save money. MBA programs are expensive. Applying to MBA programs is also expensive. And of course, there is regular life happening at the same time – a world in which having an emergency fund and planning for retirement are requirements of any financially prudent person.

For most of us, saving money is not easy. It takes determination and commitment and often requires that we change some pretty ingrained habits. Here are 30 money saving tips for the New Year:

Save More
1. Make the decision to save. Choose a dollar amount or a percentage of your wages and save it! Even just $25/ week will yield you $1,300 by the end of the year. Who among us couldn’t use that?
2. Set specific goals. “Save more” is too general. Create S-M-A-R-T goals (specific, measureable, attainable, realistic, timely).
3. Seek out higher interest bearing accounts. Money market accounts and CDs pay a higher rate of interest than a savings or checking account.

Spend Less
4. Make a budget and stick to it. Check out www.smarteys.com for support.
5. Negotiate. Ask for a discount or a lower rate. Ask any and every one. The worst they can tell you is no and then you are in the same place. This should be applied to your credit card rates, your bank fees as well as when you go shopping.
6. Get organized. Go through your current belongings, particularly clothes, food, electronic gadgets and things that you tend to accumulate. Purge what you don’t need, but more importantly organize what you do have so that you can use it. You may find some “new” old stuff that you can use.
7. Get rid of subscriptions that you are not using, like gym memberships, Netflix. Or at least consider a less expensive option.
8. Buy used or recycled items. These days there is very little reason to buy new books or CDs/ DVDs or even items like formal dresses (consignment shops are your friend).
9. Borrow items. Speaking of consignment and friends…why buy what you can borrow?
10. Avoid fees. Understand what fees your bank and credit cards may charge you and avoid them. Examples include monthly accounts fees, ATM charges, and late fees.
11. Shop during sales. When you do need to make a purchase, try to time it to coincide with a sale (which might mean a little couponing).
12. Comparison shop to find the best deal. If you don’t have the patience to find deals, ask a friend to help. We all have one or two sleuth detective friends who love to find a deal.
13. Limit impulse purchases. Set a limit on how much you can spend when you go shopping and determine that you will wait a certain amount of time for purchases over a designated amount.
14. Find discounts through your affiliations. Often companies and university alumni associations have negotiated discount rates on things like entertainment or insurance.

Spend less – Some Specifics
15. Get a roommate to reduce your living expenses.
16. Search for coupons and better deals online. A quick Google search on an item or store may turn up an e-coupon. I find coupons and discounts through a simple search at least 20% of the time.
17. Check with your current providers for discounts or other promotions (particularly when your initial teaser rate has expired). Cable/ Phone/ Cell Phone.
18. Keep your car running efficiently. Change your air filter and fill up your tires.
19. Bringing your lunch once or twice per week. Eat some leftovers from a previous night’s dinner. (This might mean learning to cook for some of you).
20. Avoid high cost drinks ($8 coffees and $4 bottled water). Find free drinks! Do they provide drinks at work? Can you bring a water bottle and fill it with free filtered water?
21. Eat before going to the grocery store so cravings don’t drive your purchases. This is key for me!
22. Ease up on using those credit cards. In fact, you might think about using cash to be more mindful of and tempered with your spending.
23. Share appetizer or dessert.
24. Have a drink at home or at happy hour (specials) before heading to dinner.
25. Just say no. If you have family that constantly asks for money figure out how to say “no” or at least “not that much”.

Other Savings Tips
26. Consider selling items that you have and don’t use. Consider eBay, Craigslist or consignment shop.
27. Improve your credit score to reduce your cost of borrowing (and order your credit report).
28. Balance paying off debt with saving. It’s important to reduce your debt, but you always want to have cash on hand for emergencies (at last 3 months’ worth)
29. Find a side hustle. Consider ways that you can make more money, like getting a second job.
30. Stay positive. Saving takes time, but when you get in the habit, you will be surprised by what you are able to achieve.