Five Ways to Save Money While Working in A Big City
May 29, 2008
This is my second summer interning in New York City. Although the experience is invaluable for my career and personal development, it has also hit hard on my bank account. While learning about the corporate world, I have also learned ways to be smart about spending. Here are a few personal tips:
- Write down everything you spend. Food. Utilities. Rent. Clothes. Presents. Coffee. Transportation. Insurance. Alcohol. Travel. Charity. Anything, including the gum ball machine. The more aware you are of your spending habits and how they impact your budget, the less likely you are to spend frivolously.
- Plan out your week. When you plan your schedule – what you are doing for breakfast, lunch, dinner and socializing – the better you can prepare your budget. Plan ahead for birthdays, graduations or any extra money you may have to spend during that week or month.
- Use public transportation. And use it well. Large cities usually have good public transportation systems. It may be intimidating to learn the system at first, but understanding the subway or bus lines may be crucial to your stay. Usually a monthly or unlimited pass is much cheaper than buying daily passes. Once you buy the bulk travel pass, make a day trip to an area of the city that you want to learn more about. It’s like a mini vacation.
- Be a window shopper. With extensive shopping areas in most cities, it is hard not to spend money. If you want to go shopping, bring a coffee from home (to keep your hands off merchandise) and walk on the sidewalks throughout popular shopping areas.
- Do free things. Make tea or coffee at home or at work. Take a look at your city’s Web site for upcoming events. Usually in the summer there are plenty of free outdoor shows and marketplaces (you can window shop in a marketplace as well, minus the windows) open to the public. Sometimes sitting on a bench in a park for the afternoon can be just as exciting as any movie you would see in the theatre.
What are some other tips you have used to save money?
-Carla
Entry Filed under: Finances, Professionalism. .
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1.
danielb | May 29, 2008 at 11:48 am
Thanks for the link!, I like the post.
As someone who did a summer internship in LA, the biggest way I was able to save money was by bringing my lunch to work. It’s a little step, but you end up saving at least $50 a week. It was easier for me to do as an intern than now that I’m in the workforce. Once you enter the workforce, people try to recruit you into their lunch groups where they go out every day, and it is very hard to say no. I’ve been good, but my wife and I give eachother one day a week to eat out.
And since it appears to be only women writing this blog. One of my wife’s best friends works in NYC, and she claims that in bars she just has to go up to the table of guys who appear to be investment bankers, and she gets free drinks everytime she goes out…without flirting with them.
-Daniel @ Young and Frugal
2.
carlablumenthal | May 29, 2008 at 11:20 pm
Daniel- Bringing lunch is definitely a great way to save money. I brought my lunch a lot last summer, and while budgeting I could definitely tell a difference between the weeks I went out to lunch a couple times and when I brought lunch.
Thanks for your ideas and suggestions!
3.
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4. Just Got Paid « Life Before Noon: A Millennial’s Manual | August 4, 2008 at 10:20 am
[...] was to take away what I could from the posts and apply the advice to my life in the city. Taking Carla’s and Haley’s advice I decided to start writing down everything I was spending money on, good [...]