- UNITE Editorial
5 Ways To Save And Earn Money
Have you ever stared at your bank account balance and contemplated selling your soul? You are not alone.
Being a student can be challenging. While we desire almost everything that catches our interest, it’s a pain to look into our wallets accept that we can’t. But fret not – we are here to help. Here are five ways you can save or earn money:
1. Save loose change
You’ve probably heard of this before, but beware – if you don’t do it right, you may end up spending more than saving.
Most banks charge fees according to the number of coins that you deposit. For example, POSB charges $0.012 per coin. Now, imagine you deposited 100 pieces of 5-cent coins. You would be charged $1.20, which would be deducted from your savings. Instead of depositing $5, only $3.80 would be credited into your account. Oh dear, why are we getting punished for saving money?
The next time you are thinking of saving loose change, try saving coins of bigger denominations like one-dollar coins. If you want to avoid being charged any fees at all, then exchange these coins into ten-dollar notes before banking them in.
2. Do NOT fall for discount traps
Have you ever entered a store with the intention of buying only one bar of chocolate, but ended up buying three because they were on discount? Ha! Guilty as charged.
Don’t be fooled by the discount banners. You wouldn’t be saving money; you’d end up spending more! If you really cannot resist the temptation to maximise the price offer, then make sure that you buy the discounted products with a friend. At least you wouldn’t end up with more than what you need.
3. Flash that student card
What did we spend money on the concession card registrations for? Use them to get student prices at restaurants, cinemas, dessert stores, game cafes, bubble tea, and almost everything else.
While some stores have a maximum age limit for students, most don’t! But before you get excited, be careful of #2 and do not spend more than you intend to. Use student cards to your benefit when purchasing necessities and be sure to monitor your spending.
4. Sell your personal lecture notes
Trust me, lecture notes from Carousell can be a lifesaver for students who take modules that do not have webcasts or notes from lecturers. I have purchased one myself, and it was almost God-sent.
The notes easily cost me $10, and soon I realised that many of my classmates had bought from the same seller. Now imagine how much money he gained from that…
So before you declare liberation from this semester’s modules, be sure to tidy up your notes and sell them online. That is, of course, if you are sure that your notes are of quality that would benefit other students.
5. Participate in interviews
The next time you’re in school, look out for posters put up by students or professors who are looking for interviewees or focus groups. These requests may sometimes come with monetary incentives. Although this cannot be a regular income, you’d be able to fill up your time by earning money while helping others. Perhaps good karma will even happen to you the next time you need an interviewee for your study.
There you go. Now let’s sit back and watch that bank balance increase.