Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 22, 1995 TAG: 9508230001
SECTION: WELCOME STUDENTS PAGE: WS_2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ADRIANNE BEE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As soon as you graduate, you must don a business suit, wake up early, do responsible things and listen to Jon Secada in your station wagon. Essentially, your life is over.
Now is the time to work toward a happy, carefree existence - this may be the last time you can have fun. Alas, sometimes, a lack of money can prevent that.
Take some tips from a few Tech students who know how to stretch a dime from here to Giles County.
My friend Connie has a stash of money-saving contraband hidden in her bedroom. She possesses an array of drink cups from various fast-food places that feature free refills. Depending on where she plans to study, she carefully selects the proper cup and drops it into her backpack. Connie then has her fill of carbonated beverages free of charge. Sure, this is technically illegal. (Some might call it stealing.) The way Connie sees it, the world owes each of us a free Coke every now and then.
Now onto home furnishings. Scott, my downstairs neighbor, is his own home decorator. The motif in his apartment could best be described as "What I found lying alongside the curb." Scott borrowed a pickup truck last May when people were moving out of their dorms and apartments. Scott cruised town in search of good stuff people threw out because they didn't have room for it in their cars.
Many trips later, the apartment was chock-full of working lamps, a blue velvet chair, rugs, a couple of couches and a painting for the wall. All free of charge. Another peak time for this scavenging is in August, when summer-schoolers take off. Scavengers with savvy business sense might want to sell their new-found wares and make a profit.
Thrift stores. In college towns they tend to get picked over quickly. Students grab the good stuff and leave the gold lame and polyester. Try more remote areas - in Ivanhoe in Wythe County, I purchased knee-high black leather boots, platform shoes with big wooden heels and a somewhat Hawaiian-looking green dress with tribal images scattered about for a mere 50 cents. People out in the country will let you bargain. Sure, I haven't worn any of the stuff and probably never will, but I couldn't pass up such a deal.
Transportation. Cars suck money out of you quickly. Your parents haven't been saying that all these years just to get out of letting you have an automobile. Gas, repairs - it all adds up quick. Bikes and feet are much better. And if you're female and lack a car, you won't have to be patronized and called "honey" by evil mechanics.
Food. Use coupons at the grocery store. Always buy the generic brand. Go to every reception or organizational meeting on campus that serves refreshments.
And DO NOT take a credit card to a bar. Dave, a recent grad, claims it's a big mistake. "I got really drunk and generous once and started buying drinks for everyone at the table," he told me. "It was fun at the time, but then I got the bill and almost went into cardiac arrest." It is best to take a small amount of money with you when you go out and leave the ATM card at home.
Learning to budget your money is hard, but I have a fantasy: That someday we college students will not have to look under our floormats for change for a Slurpee. That landlords will not keep large amounts of our security deposits because we didn't vacuum each slat of the mini-blinds before we moved out. That someday the simple things in life really will be free!
Or that, at least, we could go back to the barter system. I have some boots, platform shoes and a really ugly dress that I'm sure somebody at the cable company could use.
by CNB