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If you’re going to college away from your hometown, managing your money becomes an important factor to deal with.

Storing a large wad of cash in your dorm room is a terrible idea, you’re just asking for someone to steal your money from your dorm. Cash is also rather inconvenient, since you might find yourself needing money when you least expect it.

So what do you do, if you’re going to avoid bringing mass amounts of cash? Keep reading »

When it comes time to take out a loan for a house or a car in the future, a huge indicator to lenders is your credit score, which reflects on how you repay purchases that are bought on credit — money that you “borrow”. If you pay everything back in full and on-time, your credit score will be higher and will reflect on you better than if you make late payments or small payments.

Building a solid credit score is essential to your financial well being after you graduate from college, so it’s in your best interest to start building your credit score now. The easiest way to do so is with a credit card. Keep reading »

With the bad economy and all, finding a job for the summer has never been tougher. While you hunt for a summer job to make some money, you’ll inevitably watch what money you do have steadily dwindle. If you’re unable to find a job or cannot work over the summer for other reasons, such as taking classes, then you’ll need to save money any way that you can.

Here are a few ways to keep your wallet thick with money: Keep reading »

After graduating high school, many couples have to face the rough decision about the future of the relationship. Whether one of the two is still in high school or both are going to separate colleges, choosing how (or if) to continue is not at all easy.

For most couples, this means entering a long-distance relationship. Going from seeing each other daily to as rarely as once a month is not at all easy, and it’s no surprise that nearly every long-distance relationship eventually ends by the end of freshman year. It takes a lot of work, and your relationship might not be up for it. Keep reading »

Many college and university dining halls offer all-you-can-eat food to students. Unlike high school and middle schools which try to serve healthy foods, not all of these foods are the best to eat for you. Combine fatty and sugary foods with sodas and unlimited portions and you get the “Freshman 15″ — the 15 pounds gained by many students in their freshman year of college.

Is the Freshman 15 real or just a myth?

Well, it really depends on the person. If you eat unhealthy and don’t exercise, there’s a good chance you’ll experience some weight gain in college. However, if you’re able to control your eating habits well and/or exercise, you won’t have much to worry about. After my first year, I noticed that most people hadn’t really changed weight at all, though there were definitely some students who had put on a few pounds over the year.

So, what can you do to avoid the Freshman 15? Keep reading »

I was browsing through sites with StumbleUpon when I came across this pretty picture:

Posted by Westwood College, this picture provides a pretty interesting breakdown of spending by college students. Definitely worth a look!

I was surprised at how much discretionary spending makes up. As a college student, I do my best to be thrifty whenever possible — I avoid eating out more than I have to, I avoid spending too much money when not necessary, and so forth. It’s interesting knowing that cutting back on the discretionary money can cut back expenses for the average student by such a significant amount.

The high credit card debt is a bit scary as well — you definitely want to graduate school with as little debt as possible.

Having food to snack on in your dorm is always a plus. Some people have massive stores of food — cup of noodles, ramen, cookies, crackers, chips, soda — and others just have a small supply. Even if you have the dining hall food to count on, having food around your room is convenient and (sometimes) more tasty.

Delicious.

Earlier in the school year, my roommate brought up a box of raisins to snack on. Later on, I brought up a bag of M&Ms from Christmas. The next weekend, my roommate brought some peanuts.

As we were snacking, we realized that it would make far more sense to just combine them and make some trail mix. And what a hit it was! Ever since then, we’ve been bringing up more M&Ms, peanuts, and raisins to keep it going.

The last time I went home, I decided it was time to make a much larger batch. I went to WinCo and went to the tubs of seeds/nuts, where you can buy in bulk by weight. I bought sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, raisins, peanuts, and M&Ms. When we combined them, the bag weighed easily about 4 pounds. Keep reading »

Asking a girl to prom can be pretty nerve-racking, even if you think she’s likely to say yes. There are all kinds of doubts swimming around in your head: what if she says no? What if I get nervous and mess up? What if I come across as weird?

Don't be afraid to ask a girl to prom

Having confidence is always the best way to handle any romantic affair — including asking a girl to prom. Being confident not only increases the likelihood of receiving a yes, it also will make it easier if she says no. However, confidence doesn’t come to everybody easily, and sometimes a push in the right direction can make a huge difference.

How are you going to ask?

If you’re trying to come up with a creative and cute idea to ask her to prom, that’s always a good choice, though I would only recommend it if you’re confident she’ll say yes (or don’t care if you get turned down). If you’re looking for cute ideas, I suggest you read my post that has some suggestions. I’m going to be assuming that you’re just going to walk up and ask her, however.

Keep reading »