Right now, your options are going to be limited. You don't want to take on more work while still in school, because getting through school is the most important thing.

I would not suggest stopping paying bills for your mom: if you're an adult living at home, you should be contributing somewhat to the household expenses.

This is a rather location-dependent suggestion, but if you're spending $255 monthly on bills at home, plus $80-$120 on transportation, it may be less expensive and less time consuming for you to move out of your mother's house. I'm in Hamilton, and the average room in a student house will run you about $300-$450. If that's not your cup of tea, you could try finding a roommate online to share a smaller apartment. Another option is to discuss the possibility of moving in with your boyfriend. It's not like your relationship is new and fragile at 6 years. Depending on what his living situation is, it could save you both money.

You are absolutely correct in refusing to lower your savings. It's a great idea to have savings in place in case something happens and you lose your job or are out of work. Really, I don't think you should be feeling at all bad about yourself financially! Do you realize that you're better off than most new grads? The average grad leaves school with $17000 of debt in Ontario. I have co-workers who have had to go back to school, taking on more debt, just to avoid having to start making OSAP payments because they couldn't find full-time work. Your smart thinking has kept you out of the pit. Being poor is a temporary situation for you. Even if you have trouble finding work in your field right away, you have the right money sense in place to keep you out of trouble, and that's something not a lot of people have. You don't learn smart spending by having excess amounts of money! Trust me, those skills you're learning now will carry you through life. I am so glad that I learned how to feed us both on $30 a week, because it means that bumping our budget up to $75 a week makes us feel like royalty :)

Some things that my husband and I did a lot while we were in our poor student phase: picnics, walks in the park, free events in our city (no matter how weird they sounded). If you live in a larger city, you'd be surprised at how many free or very inexpensive things are around this time of year: concerts, film festivals, street fairs, buskers. All lots of fun and easy on the wallet! We also made sure to budget for entertainment, even if it was only $20 per week for the both of us. It meant that there was always money for us to go see a movie, or we could save up for something bigger. It made sure that we weren't splurging on bigger things that we couldn't afford.

Stay strong. It's just a little longer, and you'll be out of school and able to take charge of your finances. If you keep being resourceful and responsible, you will do just fine.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. You really did make me feel better. And I could move in with my boyfriend but I would not want to live there without contributing and do nothing would really change. I'm working on a new budget for myself. Thanks again.

My Personal Forum

My name is Amanda and I'm 26 years old. I'm currently studying electrical engineering. Armed with a fairly odd sense of humour and a sunny outlook on life, I'll take on just about anything. I'm also cussedly stubborn, which has its ups and downs. Things get tough sometimes, and I've never been one to run from it.

In my last 8 years with Advicenators, I've gone from honours student to failing out of university (and getting back on top again!), from single to married, from tenant to homeowner.

Until lately, I have been struggling with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and OCD, which had basically ruined my life and taken just about everything from me. I'm thankful every day for every experience I've had because of this ordeal, because it's helped to make me who I am today. Things like that really make you appreciate what you do have. Now that I'm back in work and school and starting to become myself again, I couldn't be happier. I credit Advicenators with saving my life back when I was a teenager, which is a big part of why I'm still here.

I won't necessarily give you the answers you want to hear, but I'll always be honest and do my best to help.

Gender:
Location:
Occupation:
Age:
Member Since:
Answers:
Last Update:
Visitors:
Main Categories:




Favorite Columnists