There are pros and cons to everything in life. Admittedly, this one has a few more cons, not being able to buy a tiara like Kate Middleton being a major one for me. However, there are some benefits to being broke, so you should focus on the bright side until your degree pays off.

Chef Supreme

While the Hollywood types make it look like its a pizza party all day every day, you and I both know that gets expensive fast.

In between your weekend fun is the weekday grind, which can be pretty tasteless if you don’t know what you are doing. You’ll be healthier and more frugal cooking at home and learning cooking skills now when everyone is struggling to boil water is much better than putting it off until your future kid’s first bake sale. Embrace the chance to eat weird ramen while you still can. 

Creative Masterpiece

There comes a time in every creative’s life when the chips are down, you’re all-in and I don’t know gambling terminology. Point is, you’re under great stress, it’s now-or-never and that’s when some people really shine. You can never know how many times you can wash paper plates until you do it. It’s research.

Reduce, reuse and then, only then, do you recycle.

Just like you challenged yourself to see how many foods you could eat with just a spoon because you didn’t want to do dishes, try challenging yourself to cut costs in interesting places to test what you really do need. While there are sure to be quite a few failures along the way, every once in a while you have an idea turn into something more. Even if it doesn’t work out the stories and skills you learn doing it will last a lifetime. 

Bonding

I don’t know about you, but there is nothing like passing the time with your friends for hours in the middle of nowhere because you thought it was a good idea to pile everyone into a 2000 MINI Cooper at half gas for a trip out to see that indie band four hours away. Sure, it sucks and you shouldn’t do that, but college is a time when you’ve got a lot of people in the same boat as you along for the same ride.

This is the time to really buckle down on those budgets to make sure you get the most out of your college years, and you’ve got peers around you all trying to do the same. Shared experiences bring people together; just remember to write down that hilarious thing Blake did in case you need to hold it over his head later — you know, for bonding.

If you want to know more about how to manage your finances you can visit the SDSU Extension family finance page, or for articles geared especially toward college students, visit CashCourse.org. It’s free!