Chat with the Chief: Scraping pennies

 

I’ll level with you: money is a little tight for this newspaper woman at the moment. 

Despite having given up fancy coffee drinks years ago, and all but neglecting my beauty expenses (I know, don’t look at my roots), I still find myself with a little less wiggle room than I would like. 

In my case, I took out fewer loans this year because I did the math on my payments after school, which I don’t want to talk about, and decided that I could be living a little more frugally.

The thing is, the media has this nasty habit of portraying college kids as broke and living off of Ramen noodles, but it stops being funny when you check out at Meijer and you’re only 90 percent sure that you won’t overdraw your account. While things aren’t quite that dire for me (yet), I know many people that struggle with simple costs like groceries and utilities. 

How is a girl to focus on her final projects when she isn’t sure she’ll be able to pay for gas this week, or go to the laundromat?

The holidays coming up make this issue ever more pressing. It’s a joke thrown around on social media a lot, but in all seriousness, what do you get your mom for Christmas when she deserves a vacation in Cancun but all you can afford is a scented candle? Or your friends, or your significant other? 

I love giving presents, but when you have six or seven friends, a boyfriend, your boyfriend’s parents, mom, dad, siblings, grandparents, nieces, nephews… it all starts to stack up. 

For the time being my plan is to raid the couch cushions, hit Salvation Army for my holiday attire and stock up on baking supplies. 

Nothing says Merry Christmas like a box of cookies, right?

Click here for last week’s Chat with the Chief focused on elderly drivers.