It seems people in America like to eat. They like to eat a lot. I like to eat a lot. Thus, they (and I, unfortunately), spend a lot of money on food. However, it is possible to eat lots of good food and not break the bank, as being a college student will force you to discover.

Eating Cheap for College Students

Eating out doesn't have to cost a lot of money.

Here are some ways I’ve found that work out pretty well:

1. When you and one other person eat out, order a small appetizer, 2 waters and one meal to share. Not only is this healthier, you’ll walk out for about half the price of a normal dinner, and considering you probably don’t finish an entire meal on your own, you’ll still feel full (does not impress potential girlfriends, by the way).
2. As far as pizza goes (and a college kid knows their pizza), consider skipping the brand-name pizza Hut or Papa John’s in favor of Little Caesars or Papa Murphy’s. One large pepperoni pizza from Little Caesars will set you back only $5 dollars, and one huge, very filling large pizza from Papa Murphy’s runs about $8 dollars.
3. Visit your favorite restaurant or convenience store’s website to check out what freebies they have available. For example, an awesome gas station/convenience store in the Midwest, Quik Trip, sends you coupons for one free item every month, provided you give them your E-mail address. Many restaurants will provide you with a coupon for a free item on your birthday, such as Coldstone Creamery… and let’s just say that it can be your birthday several times per year if you work it right.
4. Simply Google “grocery coupons”, and site after site will appear, all full of various types of coupons available for printing and taking to your local grocery store.
5. The way to save money on food that nobody really likes: Leftovers.
6. Grocery stores usually have severely discounted holiday-specific food items the day after a holiday. The day after Halloween, my local Wal-Mart had all Halloween candy and accessories 75% off.
7. Make meals at home. Yes, I’m suggesting you actually cook something. Try to make it fun though by cooking with a girlfriend/boyfriend, spouse, or your children. In the end, by buying cheap ingredients rather than the name brand ones, a complete meal at home can be much cheaper than going out to eat.
8. Don’t order soft drinks at restaurants, no matter what. You can always find a vending machine for at least half the price of what they charge you at a restaurant. You know all those free refills you get? They aren’t exactly free when you’re initially charged $4 for a soda.
9. Buffets are always cheap for the amount of food you receive, which is usually all you can eat.
10. Restaurants that offer free food are the holy grail of cheap meals. For example, Olive Garden gives you an unlimited amount of free breadsticks and salad to munch on while you’re waiting for your meal, and trust me, you can fill up on just breadsticks and salad. Some others include Texas Road House, On the Border, Playa Azul, and Outback Steakhouse.

Your Take on Eating Out

What do you do to save money on your food bill? Do you have any tips on eating out? Do you set a budget, eat whatever you want,  and just stay within the limits?

Photo Credit: lucianvenutian

There is current controversy stirring because a British Conservationist believes we should let pandas go extinct and “put them out of their misery” because they are “stupid” and possess poor survival skills.  My question is, if the Panda looked like Golem from Lord of The Rings, would there still be an uproar?  The Black Rhino and Beluga Sturgeon are equally as endangered but you never hear about them.

I was at an MBA recruiting fair the other day and I noticed several of my fellow corporate representatives spend a disproportionately longer time with one particular candidate.  Where average conversations last 3 minutes, conversations with this one candidate would last 10+ minutes.  Coincidence this candidate was probably the most physically attractive person there?  I don’t think so.

STUDIES SAY

According to a study released in 2005 by the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, “beautiful” people tend to earn 5 percent more an hour than people who look like me.  Economists also found that women considered obese in terms of their body mass index (BMI) in both 1981 and 1988 earned 17 percent less than women within their recommended BMI range.  Short men also are disadvantaged by 3% vs. their taller counter parts as well.

Whether we like it or not, better looking people have an advantage over normal looking people with all things being equal.  If you had a 5% advantage over the house, you could literally bankrupt any major Vegas casino. In fact, as one who’s studied publicly traded gambling companies such as Wynn and Las Vegas Sands, any customer win percentage greater than 3% leads to massive losses for the quarter.

WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?

We shouldn’t hate good looking people for being beautiful.  After all, looks are an exogenous variable that nobody can control.  Instead, we need to accept our attributes and improve on what we have, the endogenous variables if you will.

1) Work out. If you wanted to lose the spare tire, you know you can.  Just look at all the contestants on “The Biggest Loser.”  They all lost at least 30% of their body weight after 3 months!

2) Eat right. Donut, latte, ice cream, pizza say goodbye.  More than working out, eating right is the most effective way to lose weight.  See “Losing Your Way To More Money.”

3) Groom. Wash your face, pop your zits, smell nice, get a tight haircut or professional style, and make sure there is no broccoli in your teeth.  Ask one of your closest friends or family members to give you an honest opinion of how you look.

4) Invest in a modern wardrobe. You need an outfit that blends in with your manager or potential employer. Wear nice shoes too. There’s something about a beautiful pair of shoes for both men and women, that just stands out and says success.  Women love to check out guys shoes, as well as other women’s shoes.  Feet are our foundation, strap some nice leather on them.  Looking the part lets you earn the part!

5) Keep your hands dry. Sweaty palms really leave an impression; a bad, sickly, clammy impression!  Hence keep a small towel in your pocket to dry off your hands right before you’re about to shake.  Some talcum or baby powder in the other pocket works well too!

CONCLUSION

Life isn’t fair, but unattractive people have a tremendous advantage over beautiful people. Attractive people can’t get that much better looking, but we can!  Why do you think the “ugly duckling formula” in movies always works so well?  Let’s use our comeliness to our advantage and wow our colleagues.  From every line of work, you will find very successful not so attractive people.  Perez Hilton, celebrity Blogger is a great example and blogging phenom.  Not that attractive,  he decided to do something about it and lost 40 pounds.  We’ve been so used to his sloppiness, he now looks relatively handsome with his new weight and threads!

Since the original thesis is that better looking people earn more, we rationally should want to look better, and we can!  Let’s not let the beautiful people beat us out on things we equally deserve!  Unattractive people of the world unite!

Finding a cheap plane ticket for a vacation or trip abroad is always cause for celebration. However, excessive celebration can blind you from the fact that the plane ticket is just a sliver of the entire travel expense. The actual travel portion of a trip – plane, bus, gas for the car, subway, etc. – is usually the most expensive aspect of traveling and the most deceiving for budgeting. It is the hidden costs of travel that can cause an exciting adventure to quickly turn into a financial nightmare.

I’ll show you a real life example of this and demonstrate how adding an extra 70% to your travel budget can cause those hidden travel expenses to be handled properly. Leaving home and seeing the world is a  great time in anyone’s life so plan ahead so you can stop worrying about money, and start enjoying your trip.

My girlfriend is planning on visiting me in Japan and we found a one-way plane ticket from Chicago to Tokyo for a reasonable price, $484. The excitement set in and we were ecstatic that she would soon be visiting. However, a second glance at the receipt, as well as consideration of the logistics of her getting to my apartment, made that $484 quickly turn into $1000.

The plane ticket was advertised as $484, but the fees tacked on by the airline were unexpected. Fees for fuel, the USA Transportation tax, and the Canada Airport Improvement Fee caused that affordable plane ticket to actually cost $599 – a 24% increase from the advertised price. (insert pic of ticket)

Picking her up and getting to my apartment was another financial issue that we overlooked. I’m located eight hours from Tokyo and the cheapest option for getting to my apartment is an overnight bus that costs $90 each way. Add on a round-trip ticket for me, a one-way for her, and we are now out $270 in bus fares.

We’re also making a weekend trip out of her arrival in Tokyo, so we have to budget at least $60 for travel expenses around the city.

These hidden costs add up fast. Originally, we started with a $484 plane ticket to get her to Japan, but the actual cost of getting her to my apartment is $929 – 91% more than the original ticket price!

By breaking down the numbers to see the true cost of travel, we can see how important it is to take action ahead of time.

How do you deal with these costs?

Plan ahead!

Whatever you think your travel expenses will be – budget for 70% or more. This seems a little steep, but by planning your expenses ahead of time – which means you may have to put that trip off a month or two – you can properly save and avoid using credit cards or student loans for trip expenses.

Don’t let what appears to be a low price for airfare on Kayak or Orbitz deceive you. Right away, add $100 to the price for a rough estimate of taxes and the actual cost of your plane ticket.

Also, take five minutes to research the cost of getting to your actual destination, not just the airport. Thanks to Google, I could find the exact price of train tickets around Tokyo, the price of an overnight bus, and suggestions for cheapest ways to travel from fellow travelers online. Every site could be translated to English and was simple to navigate. Just five minutes of research can give you a more accurate picture of travel costs, which will prevent you from having to go to your credit card in desperate financial situations.

If you end of saving money on travel because you budgeted too much, congratulations! Have that extra drink on the beach, buy your mom an extra souvenir key chain, or just keep that extra money in your wallet. It’s a good problem to have and you’ll appreciate it when you return home.

Planning trips can be stressful and expensive, but by planning for the biggest expense – the travel portion – you come out ahead in the end. The excitement of a trip should not be held down, so don’t let your travel expenses suppress your adventure.

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Photo Credit: Olastuen

By now you it would be virtually impossible to not have heard of Dave Kori, the 17-year-old high-school student who called a Virginia school administrator, Dean Tistadt, at home. He left a message asking why a snow day had not been declared after a three-inch snowfall. The student apparently intended to speak to the Fairfax County chief operator, as he left his name and return phone number. If his goal was to get a return call, he certainly succeeded. Dean’s wife called back, leaving an angry message for the high-school student, which Dave posted online for the world to hear.

While there may be some privacy issues and potential school code violations, the actions Dave Kori took were arguably commendable. In fact, what he did exudes characteristics that I believe will make him very successful in life. Maybe it wasn’t the right thing to do, and I’m sure there was a better way to handle the situation, but to get what you want, you have to break the rules now and again. He believed strongly about something, and he went straight to the source to have his questions answered.

Photo Credit: Lida Rose

There are many Dave Kori’s in the world, and the one’s I know personally have translated those tenacious characteristics into wealth. Let’s examine:

• Gumption: Becoming wealthy requires the ability to take and handle risk, and at times requires a bit of an attitude. What Dave did was bold. He didn’t just complain to his friends that he had to go to school, he took the steps necessary to either get an answer or to make the school administrator reconsider his decision the next time there is a snowfall.
• Successful Strategy: Self-made millionaires do not become wealthy without implementing a well thought-out strategy. In this case, Dave wanted his thoughts to be heard, wanted an explanation from Dean, or just wanted a call back. Either way, he pretty much got what he was looking for. His message was clear and compelling enough to actually get the administrator’s wife to call back.
• Went to the Source: When wealthy people have questions, they don’t try to figure it out on their own. That would cost them too much time, and time is money. They go right to the most knowledgeable person they can find for answers. The high-school student had questions that were apparently left unanswered, so he went to the only person who could give him an explanation. He went directly to the decision maker.
• Resourceful: What appears as good luck to others, is actually just millionaires being resourceful. They have the ability to uncover rocks in order to find new investment opportunities and get connected with the right people. Dave had the brains to figure out who was in charge of this decision, and then took the time to find a way to track him down.
• Curious: The rich want to understand how things are done and decisions are made. Maybe Dave was genuinely curious, and wanted to know why the decision was made to keep the school open, or maybe he wanted to know how that decision was made.
• Dignity: Wealthy people have a lot of self-respect, and don’t allow others to mistreat them. Dave stood up for what he believed was right, and wanted answers. Any risk or fear in calling the chief operator at home was overshadowed by his strong desire to be vocal with his beliefs. Then when the administrator’s wife left a message, he did not allow her to disrespect him. As a result, he publicly allowed the public to decide if the return call response was just.

While the public’s opinion on how the high-school student handled the situation is either criticized or hailed, I find his actions to be redeeming qualities that exemplify a highly successful person. Identify your objective, focus on the strategy to reach that objective and take no prisoners in reaching that objective.