Illustration by Greg Griesenaufe
Balancing your budget
How eating out can empty your wallet By Kelsie Smith, Jayplay writer
Molly Brescia's addiction runs all year. Every month, it drains $110 from her bank account. She indulges in her habit once, sometimes even twice daily. Her parents know about it and they've warned her.
She knows she should stop. She's even tried. But when there is homework to be done and that afternoon headache sets in, the Dayton, Ohio sophomore throws her backpack over shoulder and heads out to get her fix: a tall caramel frappuccino, steaming hot in that familiar white-paper with its simple, green label.
Brescia's Starbucks habit is too obvious to overlook, but like many college students, her concern is not enough to spur change.
For some, it's unconscious spending – a few dollars at the Underground for lunch, perhaps a latte in the afternoon, maybe Chipotle for dinner – adding up the total past each receipt isn't a concept many want to employ.
Molly
$3.54 frappaccino x 7 per week= $24.78/
week
Grand total: $817.74 per school year
Jayplay 11.17.05
But what if you saw how much you really do spend on burritos and beer? What if you sat down, pen in hand and did the math?
Brescia is a perfect, if not extreme, example. Even though her frappuccino fixes ebb in the summer (down from at least seven to four or five a week), she still spends around $2,000 caffeinating herself in one year.
Brescia says she knows it's a lot of money but that without that Starbucks caffeine kick, she gets headaches. "I have tried to lessen my habit but I just can't do it. My parents always tell me I need to ease up, and I try to, but I just love going to Starbucks to do homework and study for tests," she saws.
As Breschia knows all too well, coffee is an expensive habit. Buying, say, four,$3.20 caramel macchiatos at Pulse each week adds up to $12.80 over seven days. Take that multiplied by the 33-week standard school year and you're out $422.40.
Ashley
$6 on-campus lunch x 3 per week=$18/week
Grand total:$594
per school year
Ashley Hutchison is no Molly Breschia. The Lenexa junior spends her lunch hour at the Underground two or three times a week and makes a point
to limit her meals out. But even though she doesn't share Breschia's love for lattes, Hutchison's on-campus meals, which average around $6 still add up to a significant chunk of change.
Whitney
If she spends $6, three times a week,
that's $18 each week. Since this example
involves on-campus meals, multiply that $18 a the number of weeks in
the school year. That brings Hutchison's
Underground funds to a total of $594.
Yikes, huh?
$10 restaurant dinner x 1 per week= $10/week
$5 take-out x 2 per week=c $10/week
Grand total: $660
per school year
But college students don't just buy food on campus. Whitney Eriksen, Hutchinson sophomore, only eats once a week at the Underground and limits her restaurant visits to the same number. She estimates that weekly meal costs her about $10. Plus she orders take out a couple nights each week as well, those totaling about $5 each. Those three meals cost Eriksen about $20 each week, which, again, counting just the school year, turns into $660 from September to May.
Scale down your spending
Those $3 and $4 swipes of your debit card can end up being no small matter. In an article on MSN Money's Web site, author Adriane G. Berg suggests keeping a journal of your spending habits in a effort to curb the rate at which your dollars disappear.
After establishing spending habits, the next step is making the always-threaded budget. Limit those lattes and make more meals at home.Make a meal on so you aren't left clueless standin front of the fridge and ultimately going to Steak 'n Shake.In the end, bank account - and maybe even waistline - will benefit.When you out for dinner, make small adjustments to keep the tab limited.Drink wastead of soda or cocktails.Share a meal with a friend.Skip the appetizers have a bowl of ice cream at home instead of ordering desserts, which can sometimes double your check.
And if you aren't the do-it-yourself type, try creating a budget with help from online templates and worksheets. The Web site www.free-financial-advice net has an excel budget worksheet available for free download. And a simple Google search of the words free budget plan will give you similar results.
Hey, budgets aren't easy, and they sure aren't fun. But taking time to save yourself some financial strain will surely, well, pay off.
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