It’s daunting for a parent when they wave their child off as they begin the next chapter of their life as a college student… it only seems like a short while since they were starting kindergarten.
Parents do as much as possible to educate their children with life skills: necessities like how to separate the whites and the coloreds when you do the wash. But have you prepared them adequately financially? Here are some tips that will help them stay on the right track financially.
1) Trim Your Shopping Budget – Buy the Basics
Before they fly the nest, make sure your child knows how to cook some basic meals. Encourage them to try and get into the habit of making a shopping list and plan for the week. Suggest looking for the cheapest deals in supermarkets so they can stock-up and not be buying take-out pizzas every night of the week.
2) Protect Your Belongings from Damage and Theft
Hopefully your kids will be pretty street-wise when it comes to taking care of their possessions. Being prepared and protecting items like their computer and smart phones will mean they are safe from the risk of thieves but they also need to realize that “touch” devices are fragile and can break if bent, put in pockets or gotten wet. Remind them to be alert to theft opportunities like locking car doors and dorm rooms and not to leave valuables just lying around.
With the extra risks are you equipped with an insurance policy that will cover all eventualities, including items like televisions, computers, iPhones and other expensive and treasured goods? You might consider checking with your insurance company.
3) Look for Discounts and Deal-Savers
Many shops and food emporiums offer student discounts, but most of them don’t advertise it very well so it may take a bit of investigating often the best source of information is the college itself. There may be other deals you can scoop up such as railcards for travel, reduced gym memberships and student discounts for concerts, plays and cinema tickets.
Why not introduce them to the benefits of a monthly budget-planner? Which includes financial aid, estimating monthly spending, the gap between income and expenses, managing your budget and your actual expenses. Offer to go through it with them so they get on-track with finances before they start term. If they know how much money they have on a week-to-week basis, they are less likely to spend unnecessarily just because of a swell in their bank-balance.
4) Clothes Swap
Suggest to your children that instead of buying new garments, they could hold a clothes-swapping party with friends. That polka dot skirt that has been folded away in the wardrobe for years and is now a size too small may catch the eye of a housemate willing to trade a barely-touched pair of lovely loafers. Students can also find great deals at Thrift shops for a fraction of the price of new clothes. Often these clothes are perfectly good and have simply been outgrown or the owner has just gotten tired of them or received them as a gift and never even wore them.
See Also:
- Improve Your “Save-ability”
- Choosing an Online College
- College Savings Accounts
- Teaching Your Kids Money Management Skills
- Useful Tips to Get Your Finances On Track
Image courtesy of Vichaya Kiatying-Angsulee / FreeDigitalPhotos.net