The Exact Steps I Followed to Save $10k Despite Growing Up Poor
I’m 22 and long for financial security. Here’s how you can save money too.
It’s Saturday night, 2 am, 2018.
I’m not partying like most of my peers. Although my second semester at the university has just started, I’m working. I serve drinks, clean the tables, do small talk with stinky men, and navigate through a bunch of drunken people weekend-by-weekend.
I’m happy because I have a job.
Financial security in my family always meant living paycheck to paycheck. My parents had no savings but debt and five jobs. Yes, five jobs simultaneously. My father averaged three, while my mom could only maintain two. They only spent money on the necessary stuff and still struggled to feel secure.
I longed for more. I still do.
When I entered university, I knew I didn’t want to take out a student loan and put a financial burden on my parents. So I went to work.
Now, I’m about to graduate. I’ll finish university without debt and with a reasonable amount of starting capital.
How did I do it?
My most crucial investment was asking for a coffee machine for my 19th birthday.
How to Save Money When You Can Barely Cover Your Living Expenses
While you can spare money at any stage of your life, I will focus on how young adults. It’s because I’ve been there and done that.
Still, my advice is highly subjective. I outline a minimalistic lifestyle I feel comfortable with, including goods I feel okay eliminating from my life.
Here are the exact measures I took to save $10k during my studies:
Cut down on “unnecessary” expenses
Does an additional $50 per month matter to you?
It mattered to me. In my first year at university, I only had $120 for food. So I had to be careful how I spent it.
I lived a life with strict rules.
- Coffee
I’m one of those coffee-loving students. For me, it’s impossible to start the day without gulping down a strong espresso with milk and a lil bit of sugar. Though buying coffee in the city was no option for me. It would have cost at least $15 per week.
Being a broke student, I couldn’t afford to buy a coffee machine either, but I had loving friends and family members who helped me out.
Assuming I’d drink 5 coffees per week, without overspending on expensive cafés I’d save $60 per month.
- Meat
I’m a vegetarian; therefore, I don’t spend money on meat. This saves a hell of a lot of money, plus I manage a healthier lifestyle than my meat-lover friends.
Reducing the amount of meat you eat not only helps you financially, but it’s beneficial for the animals and the planet.
The vegetarian diet is cheap: I only have to spend $120 on food per month.
- Restaurants
Eliminating restaurants — including fast-food chains — makes a big difference. How many times did you ‘just order a pizza’ or think ‘it’s just a hamburger’? Those occasions add up by the end of the month.
Eating out is a privilege, and life goes on without it just as well.
Healthier, for the record.
- Alcohol
One of the decisions I made was to reduce alcohol from my life. I’m one of those weirdos who can go to a pub with a bunch of friends and sip orange juice or a glass of water while the others are getting drunk. If I occasionally consume alcohol, though, the experience is exceptional.
Besides being expensive, alcohol is extremely harmful. It’s worse than many other drugs. A hangover plus the price of the alcohol simply aren’t worth the short-term artificial boost these drinks can provide.
Therefore, I can’t remember when was the last time I spent money on alcoholic drinks.
- Clubs
I said I don’t waste money on alcohol, not that I don’t party. I love dancing, and fortunately, my favorite place has no entrance fee. (Obviously, I only went to clubs before the pandemic hit.)
You can save $20–40 per month by opting out from clubs with an entrance fee.
- Digital subscriptions
I save $14 per month because I have neither Netflix nor Spotify.
Although Youtube might not be as convenient as Spotify, I can still listen to music. Instead of Netflix, I read.
$14 per month may not seem like much, but if I add them up from the last 3 years, that’s $500. That’s the price of my volunteering holiday in Costa Rica for two months — accommodation and food included.
- Clothes
I only buy new clothes only when I find my old ones unsuitable. And guess what: I’m fine and happy without them.
One item won’t change too much, but they add up by the end of the month. No cafés, less meat, no food delivery, free clubs, and no digital subscriptions can spare you at least a couple of hundreds of dollars — per month.
Let’s be honest with ourselves. Everything I mentioned here is a privilege to have and doesn’t make us any happier in the long run.
Take advantage of the free stuff
At the marketplace, vendors throw away good-quality food.
I know because I regularly go there to tell them I’d bring home the products they’d otherwise throw away. This way, I had fruits and vegetables in my kitchen for free.
It sucks because every time I’ve done this, I felt poor.
What’s even worse is seeing how society throws away food to the trash just because they can’t sell it. We waste way too much food while there are so many people starving.
Have the balls and ask for the products that would otherwise end up in the trash. This is my most precious advice.
TooGoodToGo, a foodie startup, does this at scale. It’s one of my favorite companies. With their app, you can collect food at the end of the day for a 70–90% reduced price. Otherwise, restaurants, cafés, and grocery stores get rid of everything that is not top-notch quality.
Work
Obviously, sorry guys.
It was so damn hard to work while studying at university, but I had no other choice. I could maintain a study-work-life balance without going crazy because I had to.
And there are pretty good options out there.
First, you can choose from many part-time jobs. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past two semesters. I’ve been teaching English and Spanish online with a fantastic company called GoStudent. You can also try it out here. They pay nearly 17$ per 50 minutes.
Most of the time, though, I was a waitress. On weekends, I’ve been to pubs, restaurants, and hotels. I catered to balls, weddings, and even soccer matches. Some time ago, I served food for the Business Class on trains. Being a waitress also meant free food, which was awesome for a student like me. Oh, and they also gave us free coffee.
I could cover my rent by working less than 10 hours per week.
However, most of my income and savings came from jobs I did during the summer breaks.
Once I traveled to the mountains in Germany and stayed there for two months. Working in a hotel also equals free food and accommodation for the entire duration of the contract. I had no expenses during the summer months, plus I had a decent salary.
3 other summers consisted of being a waitress in a restaurant. Smiling and being nice to disgusting old men sometimes meant a tip of $50. Welcome to my reality.
Get some social help from the state
Doing the research led to a decent scholarship after my 4th semester. Although it took me weeks to find one I could apply for, it was worth it. The European Union supports students in need.
Despite my scholarship, I didn’t stop working. This means I had a little more than $700 per month at my disposal. This amount covered all of my expenses, including accommodation, and I could even put money aside.
Life got easier.
Put aside money every month
As my income grew, I didn’t spend more but saved more.
I use MoneyStats to keep my spending in mind. I know exactly how much money I need to survive and how much I can put aside each month. Being more conscious about how I spend my available income gives me a sense of security.
I always spent the bare minimum, even after my income has gradually had increased, and kept saving.
Privilege
While I come from a low-income family, I’m still aware of how privileged I really am. I was born in Europe, which means I have access to free higher education. The public healthcare system is affordable as well.
Most importantly, people in need receive social help here. Although I did the research, I had actual options to find scholarships, which made life easier.
Privilege is something I can’t influence. I am grateful for it, and I do my best and keep reminding myself this isn’t the case for everyone I meet.
Summing it up
Although I started to have money for coffee, alcohol, and digital products, I still maintained my lifestyle. I use TooGoodToGo, go to the marketplace for free products whenever possible, and work besides university. I’m also aware of my privilege.
My income grew, but my expenses almost stayed the same. That’s one big lesson we should have been taught at school: Increase your income — depending on your position either radically or incrementally — and keep your expenses flat.
This little trick made it possible for me to save $10k over the past three years, which is, for me, a huge amount of money.