Ballin' on a Budget: Ideas on How to Save Money & Still Have Fun
As a recent college graduate, I can definitely say that I put in the work to receive my bachelor’s degree, but I also should have been awarded a degree in ‘ballin’ on a budget. To me, being a baller on a budget means not letting my bank account determine what I can and cannot do while living my best life. The experience of living on a work-study stipend taught me how to be creative with my money. Here is how I made it all work.
All The Deals
Having a set amount of money that I was able to spend every couple of weeks taught me to look out for deals. I found restaurants that offered meals at a reduced price, movies theaters that offered deals to students, and stores that would honor a student discount. Knowing about these places stretched out my budget and allowed me to do more fun things. It did take some time searching on my part and reaching out to different businesses to find these deals, but once I did it seemed like every place I liked to go to offered something of the sort.
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If It’s Free, Take Three
Living in a city makes it easy to find free events. With a simple Google search, I could find out which museums and gardens were doing free admittance. Taking advantage of the free admittance gave me new things to do that would not break the bank. This also plugged me into free fitness classes that are being offered at my local Parks and Recreations centers. Free activities and classes took a lot of stress of my budget and allowed me to put my time and energy towards other things.
Too Blessed to be Stressed
This is something that I had to remind myself when my budget was running low. Just because I did not have the budget to do a certain activity did not mean that I could not be a baller. This is when the creativity of doing things at home with my roommates really came out. We would have marathons of our favorites shows or movies while being master chefs and making a ‘clean out the refrigerator’ meal. These moments are some of my favorites because I was being present with the people who mean the most in my life.
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Ultimately, slowing down and finding things I could do with my budget gave me a new appreciation for the people in my life. I was able to unleash my inner baller with people who were going through the same experience as myself. I learned that being a baller is more than the activities I was doing and more about the mindset I had.