by Jen Woodlee
Christmas took a toll on your bank account, and just when you were getting those credit cards paid off, your significant other informed you of the perfect gift to serve as a token of your love. This probably turned out to be a rather expensive token. Thankfully, the gift-giving season is over, because your bank account might not even be worth budgeting. College students are remarkably resourceful when it comes to saving money, doing whatever is necessary to make it to your parents next pay day or the next available time to donate plasma. There’s not a whole lot that college students won’t do short of selling a kidney to save money for the additional late night beer run, but even we have standards.
Using the term standards lightly, places like the 99 cent store, Goodwill, and the plethora of dollar stores in town are making a killing off of the expired off-brands that they sell at excitingly low prices, ($1.00 for a pack of four avocados??). Ranging from cosmetics to contraceptives, olive oil to oil for your car, and everything in between, there is nothing you can’t find at the dollar store, and that’s where the standards come into play.
When I say “standards” regarding college students, it means that an entire weeks’ worth of breakfast, lunch, and dinner consists of Spaghetti-O’s or Chicken Noodle Soup; if it doesn’t smell, wear it; and showers can be taken in your apartment complex’s pool. Don’t lie, one of these applies to you. It’s all about priorities, which is why you’d rather skip class to donate plasma so that you can party on Thursday night.
It’s comical, really, thinking about the priorities that college students change to keep money in their pocket, while fulfilling their basic needs. We eat Ramen noodles religiously, and the 99 cent store workers secretly laugh when we pile up on their “produce,” but there are some items you are better off buying at HEB. Sure, buying some dollar store coffee is pretty acceptable, but what about dollar store condoms? (Note: Under no circumstances will your girlfriend find this funny.) Same concept goes for pregnancy tests, oil for your car, and makeup foundation. Using Dollar Tree eye shadow is probably not going to do too much damage to your money-maker, but that off-brand foundation brings back memories of that awful summer when you were known around town as the girl with the mountain range on her face.
The point is that the average college student should be classified as a whole other species. We are willing to undergo various degrees of starvation and hygienic perils to maintain our social lives, and needless to say, it’s an adventure everyday to make it to payday. Resourceful when we lack the funds, creative when we lack the resources, and dirty when we lack soap, college has taught us the value of everything we buy, and don’t buy. Buy smart, and buy often, because we can’t blame our lifestyle on the recession, that’s just the college student way of life.