Adjusting to Post College Life

Once you get out of college, student loans are going to be due, which means you might be struggling to pay for housing, groceries, transportation costs and more. Being able to survive those first few years may be stressful, but you could reduce that stress by creating a budget.

Part of the budget should be a plan for how to get out of debt and avoid credit card debt.

Living Life on a Tight Budget
A college graduate will always be on a tight budget and must learn to manage money to avoid financial stress. Learning about ways to save as you start your career not only reduces financial stress, but it also teaches you to save money throughout the rest of your life so that you don’t have to rely on social security when it’s time to retire.

Create a Budget and Look for Ways to Save
When you start your career, you will be entering the workplace at a lower salary. As you spend more time at a job, your financial position will improve as you work your way up the ladder. Look at your paycheck and use it to create a budget. If your job offers bonuses, don’t count those right away—just count the money you are guaranteed to make each week because bonuses are not guaranteed.

Determine how much you spend on housing, utilities, groceries, transportation and other bills every month and then look at where you might be able to save. For example, if you have the top-of-the-line cable package, knock it down to a lower tier. Companies play the same movies over and over each month, and they rotate the movies through different movie channels. Get rid of all but one. If you don’t watch that much television, get rid of all the movie channels or switch to another television provider such as Netflix or Amazon Prime.

Reduce your electric bill by turning off lights when you are not in the room and by turning your computer off when you’re not using it. You could also save a significant amount by turning your hot water heater off at the breaker panel. About 20 minutes before you need hot water, turn it back on. It takes about 20 minutes to heat up the tank full of water instead of having it constantly run to keep the water hot.

Change Your Shopping Habits
Every week, create a meal plan by looking through your cabinets and refrigerator to see what you need to make meals for the week. Add those items to the list. Add other items that you are running low on. Shop at a discount store and look for coupons and sales. If you base your meals on what is on sale each week, you could save even more and will be able to adjust your grocery budget as you learn more about shopping when the stores have sales. If you find a particularly good sale and have space in your freezer, buy an extra package of meat or something that freezes well. Next time you need that ingredient, you’ll already have it and will end up saving even more.

Save Just a Little Every Week
It might seem to be impossible, but after a couple of weeks, you won’t even miss that little you put away. Just open a savings account and transfer $10 or $20—whatever you can start out with—each week into that account. Put that into your budget. You’ll be able to create an emergency fund. If you never use it, you may be able to put it into a 401(k) or an IRA later.

Always look for ways to save—a penny here and a penny there adds up after a time. When your paycheck goes up, put at least half of your raise into savings. Use the other to pay down the principal on larger bills or to pay extra on smaller bills to get rid of them faster. This is a good way to pay down a mortgage or car payment. While you may not think it's much, you are saving on interest in the long run.