Birthday Deals

In honor of my birthday today, I thought it would be a good idea to show you some free things you can get for your birthday(free is a college student's favorite word).

Food and Drinks

Starbucks: You get a free food item or any size drink coupon on the app that can only be used on the date of your birthday.

Dunkin Donuts: You get a free medium iced coffee, latte, or coolatta coupon that lasts at least a month.

Baskin Robbins: You get a free scoop of ice cream coupon.

Panera Bread: You get a free pastry.

Red Robin: You get a free burger.

Cinnabon: You get a free iced coffee coupon in your email.

Culver's: You get a free one scoop sundae coupon.

Corner Bakery: You get a coupon for a free treat.

Noodles and Company: You get a coupon for a free rice crispy treat.

Steak n Shake: You get a free milkshake coupon.

IHOP: You get a free stack of pancakes.

Lou Malnati's: You get a free dessert.

Shopping

Sephora: If you're a Beauty Insider(free to join), you get a free gift during the month of your birthday.

If you're a VIB or Rouge member, you can choose a gift or 250 points($250 worth of points).

Victoria's Secret: If you're an angel cardholder, you get a $10 gift card to spend.

Pink: If you're a Pink cardholder, you also get a $10 gift card.

Commute or not to Commute?

When college approaches, it's the time when you have to decide whether to commute to school or if you want to live on campus?(If you are going to school from another state, dorming is the best option).

Is It Really Cheaper to Commute?

The truth is, it depends. For students who are living with their parents or sharing an apartment with 2 or more friends, commuting can be the cheaper option. Some schools even offer a pass for public transportation that's included in the tuition already.

Let's See an Example

At the university I attend, room and board is $12,000 a year which is $1,000 a month(but you don't actually live at the school for 12 months unless you're from out of state). Even though you have a roommate, you still pay $1,000 a month to live and eat at the school. The cost of transportation(that's already included in my tuition) is $163 a year. It would cost me $5 a day($2.50 each way) to commute.

$5x5 days a week is $25 a week.

$25x40 weeks in a school year is $1,000 a year.

This amount is more than the $163 fee that the school charges me a year. It is also the same amount as a month of rent is at the school. Therefore, for some students(including myself) save a lot of money each year by commuting.

But, if you live more than two hours away from your school(by transportation), commuting might not be worth your time.

Final Thoughts

If you can live at home or get some roommates to live with you somewhere near the school, you should consider commuting.

Back to School Shopping

School supplies can be expensive if you buy them too early. The best times to buy things like notebooks or pencils/pens is during the last weeks of August and the first weeks of September because stores are trying to get rid of the Back-to-School section in order to put the Halloween stuff out. Prices are as low as 50-90% off. This is also the time to stock up for the next school year and in case you need more supplies during the school year(instead of paying retail prices).

Tips

1. Buy generic notebooks instead of name brand notebooks. They may be plain and boring, but you can always decorate them yourself.

2. Buy Texas Instruments graphing calculators when they're between $90-$120. Office Depot and Target usually runs this promotion every year so check online. This is better than the original $119 and $150 when it's not on sale.

If you buy the TI-84 CE calculator on Office Depot's website through Ebates, they're offering 3% cashback.

3. If you like high end backpacks like The North Face or Vera Bradley, try to buy them from outlet stores. They're usually 50-70% off retail prices. With those discounts, you can get backpacks for around $25 which is the same or less than the price of JanSport and High Sierra backpacks. If you prefer High Sierra backpacks, buy them at Costco for $19.99.

4. Buy laptops or other electronics from Costco if your family has a membership. They have great warranties that last up to 2 years.

5. Buy pencils and pens in bulk from Amazon or if there's a sale on the products at Target, Walmart, or Walgreens.

6. Not all things from the dollar store are a great deal. For example, notebooks at Dollar Tree are all $1, but you can get them from Target or Walmart for $0.25-$0.75 each.

Cheap and Fun Ways to Go Out With Friends

You don't have to spend a fortune to go out with your friends. Some things you can do are free and you and your friends will make memories of a lifetime.

Free Things to Do

1. Exploring your city. You and your friends can just walk around your city and admire the architecture as well as the scenery around you without having to pull out your wallet.

2. Have a picnic with friends. Chances are you will already have some food lying around so why don't you and some friends all bring food and have a picnic together.

3. Go to a carnival and walk around. Sights and smells are free!

4. Go to free places. Some zoos are free to go to and some museums offer resident days which means free tickets. 

5. DIY Manicures. Do each other's nails with things you already have for free while you have a girls night in.

6. Go to the beach. Most beaches are free to go to unless it's in a residential area.

7. See a sunrise or sunset. Free to do whenever.

Cheap Things to Do

1. The Movies. AMC offers $5 tickets on Tuesdays if you're a Stubs member(which is free to join!)

2. Sharing. If you go out to eat, you can split an entree or dessert between two people to save some money.

Blaze: BOGO Free coupon: 2 pizzas for $5.25 split between 3 people.

Bingsoo split between 3 people for $2 a person

Split one with a friend for $3 a person.

3. Mini Golf. Depending on where you go, prices range from $6-$15 a person.

Reward Programs You Should Join

You should definitely have these apps and take advantage of.

Coffee(every student needs caffeine)

1. The Starbucks App
Get a free beverage once you register a Starbucks card. For each dollar you spend, you get 2 stars. Once you have 125 stars, you can get a free drink(any size!) or food item that's on the menu. On your birthday you will get a reward for a free beverage or food item as well. This may sound like you have to spend at least $75 to get that free drink or food item, but there's ways you can get 125 stars without having to spend that much.

Here's a few ways

1. Join menu challenges. Most of the time you will only have to purchase 3 specific items to earn 50-100 bonus stars(on top of the 2 stars per $1 you spent).

2. Join the daily visit or number of visits challenge to earn 25 to 75 bonus stars.

3. Take advantage of double star days(4 stars per $1 spent).

4. Games such as boardwalk(you can play for free and earn bonus stars or free drinks without having to spend any money).

On Thursdays, they have special promotions such as BOGO free and half off beverages.

2. The Dunkin Donuts App
You get points for every purchase and a free drink at 200 points. Just like Starbucks, they also offer promotions to get those points sooner. When you sign up, you get a free drink as well as on your birthday.

3. The Argo Tea App

You get a $5 credit for signing up. Just pay with your app and your drink is free. After visiting 10 times, you get a $4 credit.

Food(fast fuel in moderation)

As college students, fast food is cheap and easy to get. Joining certain apps can make fast food even cheaper when your away from home(but you should eat it once in a while to avoid the Freshman 15).

1. The McDonald's App.

Some offers include:

2. The Domino's App
Get 10 points for each purchase over $10 and 60 points gets you a free medium 2 topping pizza.

3. The Subway App
If you want a healthier option, go to Subway. You get tokens for each purchase you make and 200 tokens gets you a reward. There's also deals available on the app as well.

4. The Baskin Robbins App
If you have the T-Mobile Tuesdays app, this app is a must. You will get a lot of $2 Baskin Robbins gift cards. Save them on the app and treat yourself to ice cream.


Other Apps

1. The T-Mobile Tuesdays App
Every Tuesday you can score $2 gift cards to Dunkin Donuts or Baskin Robbins, a $3 Starbucks gift card, $25 concert tickets, free movie tickets, or some T-Mobile merch. Check out the app every Tuesday to see what's offered.

2. The AMC App
Everyone goes to the movies so why not earn points for the money you're going to spend anyways.

Benefits Include

-$5 tickets on Tuesdays
-$5 reward for every 5,000 points
-Free large popcorn refill
-Free large popcorn on your birthday
-$5 cameo popcorn and drink deal(check when available)

3. The Walgreens App
Earn everyday points on all your purchases or earn free points by tracking your health. Earn up to $1 reward a month for exercise and if you track all your health data daily(weight, amount of sleep, smoking habits, glucose, and blood pressure), you can earn up to $36 a year.

Easy Ways to Save and Earn Money

Living as a college student usually means you don't have a lot of funds to spend throughout the year. But, there are a lot of things you can do to save money as well as make some money on the side. The links on this page are not sponsored.

Earn money

1. Use Swagbucks during your free time. You can do surveys and earn Swagbucks(1 SB is equal to 1 cent) and redeem those SB for gift cards to Starbucks, Target, Walmart, Amazon, PayPal, and more! It does take a while to get $5 or more, but they do add up. It took me about 2 weeks to get enough SB for a $5 Starbucks gift card(doing surveys at lunch everyday) and a week to get a $10 Target gift card over the summer.

Swagbucks

2. Use Ibotta if you grocery shop for yourself. You can get gift cards or money sent through PayPal for redeeming items on your receipts. Even if you don't grocery shop, have your family download the app using your referral link and earn $5 for each person who downloads it and redeems an offer.

Ibotta

3. Use Ebates when you shop online. This is an easy way to earn cashback for things you were already planning on buying online. If you sign up, you get a $10 welcome bonus for your first $25 order through their site or app. Again, even if you don't use their site, you can have friends and family members sign up using your referral link and you can earn $25 for each person who makes their first purchase through Ebates.

Ebates

4. Sell unwanted used clothes to places like Plato's Closet. Fair warning, they won't buy everything you have unless it's things that are trendy and will sell in their store. Usually, they always buy items that are brand name like Nike, Adidas, and Converse along with clothing items from places like Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe. I have been able to sell 3 or 4 items for around $20 but you may have better luck if your clothes are in style. Check their website to find a location near you as well as things you can sell to them.

Plato's Closet

5. Sell used and unwanted books to a place like Half Price Books. You can also sell textbooks, electronics, video games, magazines, or collectibles there as well. If you have popular books, they pay you more than other books you may have to sell.

Half Price Books

6. You can also sell any of your used items on Amazon and Ebay as well if you rather decide the price of your items on your own.


Save Money

1. If you're living on your own, you would have to buy essentials on your own. Couponing is an easy way to save money on items you need. Coupons combined with rebates on Ibotta could save you a lot of money. Couponing now is easier than ever thanks to couponing blogs that show you every deal there is.

Print Coupons from This Site

2. If you need to buy clothes or anything you should also use Ebates. Not only do you get cashback, but they also have all the coupon codes you can use on the sites you're on when you add the Ebates button to your browser.

3. If you don't want to use Ebates, just go onto RetailMeNot's site and look for coupons to use in stores as well as online promo codes. This helps you save some extra money.

RetailMeNot

4. Set a budget and use a cash envelope system. Have a certain amount of money into categories and stick to cash so you don't overspend.

Some things to consider into a budget:

Fixed(needs)
-food
-gas/transportation
-rent
-student loans
-utilities

Wants
-clothes
-entertainment
-outside dining
-other things you can live without having

5. If you have a job(all year or summer), put a certain amount of your paycheck into your bank account. That money will add up and you can use it for emergencies or to pay off any loans in the future.

6. Rent your textbooks or buy used textbooks. College textbooks are expensive so renting books can help save hundreds of dollars each year. If you decide to buy used textbooks, you can sell them after you're done using them. You can rent books through Chegg or Amazon Prime.

Amazon Prime is free for 6 months as a college student and then $49 per year after that(instead of $119 per year) for 4 years.

Amazon Prime Student