Guest post by Mrs. BudgetsAreSexy ;)

Life as a graduate student is notoriously tough. Generally, you're operating on a slim-to-nonexistent source of income, yet with the workload of a full time job and the expenses to go along with it.

I consider myself very fortunate to be a married grad student. It's great to know that I am not forced to work out housing and other living expenses all on my own; however, even with this "safety net" of sorts, I still strive to maintain my own expenses as much as possible. My husband may be "Mr. Money" on this blog, but I try not to call him that at home - wouldn't want to crouch his fiscal style if I can avoid it! ;)

Many of you may be aware of how we generally operate financially as a married couple. Typically, we get our paychecks deposited into our separate personal accounts, and we each deposit a certain amount of these into a "common account" for home-related items like the mortgage, groceries, etc. This worked out great when I was working with a full-time job, but as a student, my tiny TA stipend just isn't enough to cover the same monthly needs. Thanks to personal savings, some financial help from family/selling off some inherited stocks, I was able to put together a good chunk of money to pay off my "share" of the common expenses for most of the first year or so of my being in school (much of which is noted in the "cash savings" area of J's net worth updates).

As with any savings, however, they start to dwindle when you actually need to use the money! Thus, I have made a tremendous effort during my grad-student days to continue to build up my portion of the "home fund" for the duration of my schooling. Below are a few of my favorite frugal-living tips on a grad student (or any kind of student) basis:

1. Save, save, save. It's the same tip that everyone tells you, and there's a good reason for that: It's just hands-down the most important. Since my portion of our "shared" expenses comes out of the stockpile of cash I accrued before starting school, the rest of my salary (a whopping $12K annually), almost entirely goes directly into my savings account. If I have an immediate personal expense, I pay for it out of this money, but otherwise, it's all stuffed into my own "home fund in waiting" account.
2. Conserve your travel expenses. If you're a commuting student, trying to condense your class schedule into 2 or 3 days a week can save a ton on daily commuting costs.
3. Keep an eye out for extra work opportunities. If you can find some good RA or TA jobs on campus, even the pittance that these jobs pay can definitely add up in the end - I think I added a solid $3K to my salary last year based on RA jobs alone. (Just remember not to take on more work than you can handle!)
4. NEVER buy your textbooks at full price. EVER. Go through Amazon, Half.com, or any other online textbook source - or if you don't need to keep your books, get them from your campus library! Take the extra time to shop around for good book deals; it def. pays off in the long run.
5. Avoid falling into the campus Starbucks/fast food/vending machine traps. Pack snacks, drinks, and a lunch from home as often as possible.
6. Alcohol can be a major drain on expenses when you're in college. Though this would apply more to most undergraduate than graduate students, my advice would be to A) drink less, B) drink cheaper stuff, or C) drink at home or at a friend's house. If you must go out on the town, options A or B can at least keep the cost at a more manageable level!
7. Become well-versed in the art of window shopping. And if you're shopping online, make use of the "save for later" option instead of buying things on impulse. You'd be surprised how waiting a couple of days can give you the necessary perspective on whether or not you "really need" a certain item.

All in all, life as a grad student doesn't have to be a total sacrifice - besides, so much of your time is spent on schoolwork that you tend not to worry about a ton of frivolous spending anyway! Just stay focused, save as much as possible and remember that light at the end of the tunnel. Now back to the paper-writing cave I go...

Labels: advice, grad school, money management, one of my lists, saving

I was forwarded this kick Ass graphic by College Scholarships.Org. You have to click over to see it, but here's my favorite line: "Look for scholarships and grants, or anything that can reduce borrowing. Otherwise you could be drinking PBR well past your P.H.D." Hah! I happen to love Pabst Blue Ribbon, but yes, very very good advice ;) You can check out the pretty picture here.

Labels: awesomely awesome, education, grad school

Although it's very likely I just haven't put in the time or effort to maximize my earnings ;)

But you would think having 4 credit/debit cards & 3 grocery savings cards signed up would have produced more than $7.08 in an entire year! Sheesh -kabobs. Perhaps I'm too frugal to reap the benefits? After all, I do limit as much shopping as necessary. And w/ Upromise, the less I shop the less i can earn back in tuition. It would still be nice to earn a bit more though.

If you're not familiar with Upromise, here's how it works (copied from their site):

"Every time you make an eligible purchase, our partners return a portion of that money back to you. Those earnings accumulate in your Upromise account until you decide to use it to invest in a 529 plan, help pay down eligible student loans or assist with college expenses—all tax-free!"

Basically, every time you swipe your credit card or grocery savings card when out and about shopping, a portion of what you spend (*on eligible items) goes into an account in your name. It's a freakin' brilliant idea if you really think about it, esp. since it doesn't cost you, the consumer, anything to do! You just go about our business collecting "free" money for your college/school tuition.

From what I can tell, however, this money really doesn't add up all that much unless you change your habits. For instance, if a package of applesauce lands me 5 cents @ Safeway, then whenever I need applesauce I better remember to pick it up @ Safeway every time - and the same brand. Same thing goes w/ hamburgers @ McDonalds, books @ Borders, etc. Not everything counts, and not every store participates.

Still, it's definitely worth looking into. Here are some of the pros and cons I could conjure up just from my own experiences thus far, but by all means let me know if I've missed something entirely! The more info and thoughts the better :) Here's what I've got:

PRO: You don't have to DO anything to get this money! Sure you have to spend a few minutes signing up and getting your credit cards and grocery card #'s in place, but when you're done that's it - You're free to swipe and start racking up that dough! If I recall correctly, it took me about 15 minutes from start to finish, so I guess that's about $28 buck/hr so far if I look at it that way ;)

CON: Yet another database out there with my credit card info on it :( Yeah it states a billion times the site's safe and verified and all, but it's still a scary thing to think about. At least the cards give us some protection though. Plus, I haven't heard of 1 story yet against Upromise, and it's been around for years now.

PRO: You can earn even more if you get your friends & family to join! The more people who sign up their cards to our account, the more you earn. So now Uncle Joe and Cousin Joy can help you build up some money too every time they swipe away! The more people you have signed up, the more passive money you get to earn. Of course, the same *eligible items* still play a factor here - but maybe your family members pick up those items that you yourself do not?

CON: There's still that database of everyone's info out there! haha...yeah, sadly enough i can't think of another Con here, but obviously the more cards you have signed up to our account, the scarier it becomes if ever hacked.

So is Upromise worth it? Yeah I suppose so. All this money can really build up if you can get off your a$$ and market it all around to your contacts ;) Shoot, even if they all earn just $7 a piece for you - that's still free money towards your tuition! All in all I think it's at least worth a shot if you haven't tried it already. And if you have, let us know if you broke my $7.08 record! haha....

Labels: free money, grad school, saving

I can't believe i haven't blogged about this yet! Man, and i call this a personal finance blog? Shoooooooot. Guess losing one salary doesn't merit much around here! haha....So today's post is about how we're putting Mrs. Budgetsaresexy through grad school. AND, you'll be happy to hear that she pulled straight A's this first semester!!! Keep doing your thing baby :)

The last i mentioned, the Mrs. had gotten into 2 good schools, but couldn't decide which to choose. School #1 was a more prestigious one (at least in ranking), but didn't offer any scholarship whatsoever, and actually didn't offer her specific major. School #2 offered a full scholarship AND paid teaching assistantship, specialized in her major, but wasn't as highly ranked.

After some visits and budget review w/ yours truly, she *luckily* decided to go w/ School #2 ;) I stood by her her either way, but deep down the financial part of me was like "ohhhhhhhhhhh mama! pick #2, pick #2!". Cuz you have to remember, her schooling now wipes away her hefty $50k/year salary which means we're rolling on ONE salary for 4 years now! So this def. took the sting out a little ;) There's a whole mess of variables that play into this, so i thought i'd break it down a bit for ya:

All amounts needed to cover 1 year while in school:

• $14,400 to cover house/livings expenses normally received from her $50k salary
• $30,000 yearly tuition
• $2,000 miscellaneous fees/books
• TOTAL: $46,400

All amounts we have been fortunate to receive for the 1st year:

• $8,000 (est. after taxes) Teaching Assistantship salary - $12k/year
• $30,000 Scholarship for yearly tuition
• $12,000 Sale of oil stock a while back - saved for this reason
• $x,xxx Summer internship/job
• TOTAL: $50,000+

Man, looking at the numbers like this really does a doozy on the brain! As crazy as it sounds, i'd never broken it down like this...makes you realize a) how EXPENSIVE school is, and b) how blessed we are!!! Damn. I'll have to remember to thank The Man upstairs again at church this week ;)

So, as you can tell from the above numbers, 80% of the amount needed each year is taken care of from the scholarship & T/A. That leaves us with at LEAST (the Mrs. still needs "play" money and all) $8,400 needed to cover the rest of the yearly expenses once the stock money disappears next year. We still have a majority of the "pay it forward" money we received a while back, but we're hoping the summer job and other budget-y things make up for the rest.

So 1 semester down, 7 more to go! Yikes. But as my Auntie always says, "when you're on the right path, things have a way of working out for you." and so far so good! In the meantime, i'm conjuring up some grad school ideas of my own for when she's done... I'm thinking either a PHD in Texas Hold 'em, or a Masters in Fieldgoal Kicking so i can help out my aching Washington Redskins ;) Either way, i'm sexcited!

Labels: education, grad school, money management

Is there a best place to pick up your college books from? That's what the Mrs. set out to discover just yesterday.

As many of you know, Mrs. Budgetsaresexy is starting grad school this month, and is thus trying to find the best bargains out there for her reading material. And I gotta tell you, a LOT has changed since my days at the old university!

One of my favorite things to do was to visit the bookstore and see the hundreds of students mingling around, all excited to be back in school and ready to party ;) In fact, i liked it so much that i even worked there! I tell you one thing, it's a helluva way to meet girls people. he he. Ahhh the good ol' days...*tear*

But anyways, back in the day we only had one real way of getting these books - the college bookstore. It was the #1 cash drainer for our pockets, or should I say some of our parent's pockets (i love you Mom! not that you know this site exists). But these days? Not anymore. There are a plethora of ways to get our hands on them now, and sometimes for much cheaper.

Mrs. Budgetsaresexy literally JUST emailed me a spreadsheet she put together to calculate the best bargains out there for her newest list of books needed. It was intended for MEO (My eyes only), but i got her to share it with us :) There's nothing graphic in there, so why not right? haha...

So, here's the email she sent me word for word which summarizes her findings, minus a few identifying details: (the spreadsheet can be found here, for all you visual people)

"Dear sexiest man alive (editor's note: i put that in...he he)

i compiled a spreadsheet of all the books i need, and their respective costs in 4 places: amazon, half.com, overstock, and the college bookstore.

if the edition or translation of the book was questionable in terms of what the professor wants, and/or if the cost difference wasn't significant enough to matter much (a few cents to a dollar or so), i went with the default college bookstore to make things easier. for all other books that were pretty much standard editions everywhere, OR where the price differentiation was HUGE (was for at least 3 books), i went with any of the other 3 online dealers.

to make a long story short, if i went ONLY with the college bookstore, my total spent on books thus far (not counting whatever i have to spend on my 3rd class), would have been : $254.50. my grand total for what i spent using the methods above? $145.99. i SAVED a total of $108.51!!!!

now, let's just hope that all the books i ordered online arrive on time, AND are the right version of what i need and all. but if they all are? well hot diggidy, i think i am a hefty little save-a-roo!!! :) "

As you can see, going with JUST the college bookstore in this case fails miserably. It seems the best route to take is to pick and choose from a combination of Half.com, Amazon, Overstock, AND the college bookstore. It's a little time consuming, but the $100+ we'll be saving is well worth it!

The Winner: Combination of all 4 places! (Anyone wanna guess what her major is?)

Labels: bargains, education, grad school, link lovin, mrs. budgetsaresexy

This is a HUGE day for us, Hooray!!! She's been working like crazy on all her applications, and killing the GRE's, and it's now coming to fruition :) Without going into it too much (she's not as carefree w/ the open details as myself) she now has 2 acceptances and 4 no's out of the 9 total applied to. This is very good as the odds of getting into just 1 well respected school in her field is extremely hard.

Of course, with every positive comes it's negatives, and as you can imagine this will have a major impact on our finances. The steady $50k she brings in not only allows us to save more, but also allows us to live a financially comfortable life. In a good 6 months though, this hefty sum will quickly dissipate as school begins. Sure it'll more than even out over the years, but YIKES!

There are a couple variables here that will totally make things easier or harder for us in this adventure. Here's what we got:

1. Full Scholarship: A lot of PhD programs offer a majority of their accepted students full tuition. This is HOTTTT! Can you imagine scratching off that $150k loan + interest that you'd otherwise have to get? This is a dream come true for all PF'ers :) And anyone else too of course! ha ha...
2. Stipend: From what i understand, this would be IN ADDITION TO the whole scholarship stuff. So not only would the tuition be totally paid from the start, but then you'd receive an additional stream of $ while studying! Granted it wouldn't even be close to the $50k we're used to getting, but that's still incredible. Talk about having less stress while you're immersed in hardcore education for 4+ years.

So, which possibilities are in the air for us at this moment? As it stands, both. The first school, which is at the bottom of her list, has granted her a full scholarship so far (AWESOME!), but no word yet on the stipend situation. The second school, currently her top choice, has just recently notified her of her acceptance with no additional details as yet.

Either way, i totally support her decision 100%. Getting a Masters or PhD is a dream for many and has consistently shown higher results down the road, so I'm proud of anyone going after it. Receiving both a scholarship and stipend will obviously make things much more easier money-wise, but i have total faith we'll be able to navigate the financial waters just fine :) Congrats again baby!


***UPDATE: April 7th***

The Mrs. picked her school! Before I tell you which one she chose, a few more details came about. The lower rated one (barely, really) has offered her a stipend TOO. So that one not only pays the full ride, but also gives her a little side income as well! The higher rated school offered her nothing, just acceptance into the school - which is still pretty damn hard to get.

So, after hours of soul searching and speaking around with students and colleagues, she has chosen the full ride one!! Cuh-ching! haha... While i did my best not to sway her one way or the other, it's pretty obvious this helps our financial situation the most :) I'm sure i'll go into more details down the road, as this affects us in many many ways. But yay!

Labels: education, grad school, mrs. budgetsaresexy