Cutting Entertainment Expenses

Posted by: Meredith K. | Jan 02,2008

As promised in my New Year’s post, I want to tackle the issue of getting out debt.  I’ve spent a lot of time on this blog decrying the practices of credit card companies marketing on campus.  I’ve spent equal time decrying students themselves for doing exactly what the credit card companies want and going into staggering debt for mountains of frivolous purchases.

Now you’re a grad and you need to deal with your debt picture.  Retiree Sophie covers some issues today regarding how to get out of debt, but I have to imagine that most recent college grads are not in the market for a home equity line of credit.  Even if you’re in the vast minority of grads who owns a home, your equity will be minimal.  She does make a very good point about bill yourself for savings every month to make sure that you do, indeed, save money, so be sure to read her entry.  

As a college grad you’ve got a lot going for you.  Much of the talk is how hard recent grads have it: low income, high debt.  But your debt picture is a lot more manageable than a lot of people struggling to pay the bills.  By and large, the people who go into bankruptcy are those who have struggled to pay off a house or large business loan.  The average grad debt of $2000, combined with low student loan debt, is small beans in comparison.  

Another thing students have going for them is the ability to live within their means.  If you ask a Boomer to sleep in a mattress on the floor in a shared apartment with furniture taken from the street, while supping on beans and rice, he’ll look at you like you’ve lost your mind.  It’s just easier to rough it when you’re young, so really it should be easier to save.  

The operative word there is “should” because too often it isn’t.  Not only are younger people good at roughing it, they’re also good at being more reckless, including the way they spend.  You’ve just got to set up a budget plan.  My guess is that one of the major expenses for recent grads is for entertainment: eating out, bars, movies, music, and so on.  This is the main area where you need to budget effectively.  Mark just how much you’re spending every time you go out.  Don’t just blindly use your debit or credit card and see how much you’ve spent at the end of the month – calculate this nightly.  It will slow down you’re spending.  The idea is to cut down your entertainment expenses significantly.  

Most grads know that they need to save on rent, the price of the car, and even food, but trips to a bar or trips to iTunes add up extraordinarily fast.  I know that cutting entertainment expenses sounds, well, less entertaining, but you be may surprised just how much you save every month by roughing it just a little bit more.  

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