I'm very excited to announce I will be starting a new blog on my area of expertise, mental health and well-being, at Mental Health for Everyone! I would encourage you to visit if you want to know more about optimal mental health, as well as tricks and tips on keeping in mental shape.
Have no fears, I do not plan on abandoning this blog, however, the posts will likely still be less frequent, as been the case for the past year or so.
Take care!
-Candie
Frugal Green Girl
Friday, March 11, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Student Discounts - YES please!
Being a student can be a bittersweet experience. You get to learn more about things you are interested in and keep a flexible schedule, of many other things. However, it typically also comes with a price of not making a great income and living poorly, unless you have wealthy parents or a highly paid partner who can support you. Being a graduate student, I hate to think about how much debt I carry, especially during this time of year when all of those end-of-the-year statements come for tax purposes. Ugh. Anyways, one thing that students CAN use to their advantage is having a student ID card. Many businesses provide discounts to students, and its important to always ask/research even if it doesn't explicitly say.
Most commonly, I think students use their student IDs for movie theater tickets, which can give you at least a couple of bucks off of your ticket. These discount tickets can similarly also be found for other types of shows like concerts and plays. Universities and colleges tend to also provide discounts on computers and other essential technology from stores like Apple and Dell, which you can shop online for in addition to a school store. Microsoft Office, for instance, also provides a line of their software specifically for the student budget that can get you through college with the just basics. If you travel a lot, this is another great place to look for student discounts - Amtrak (Train) and Greyhound Bus lines provide student discount programs, and STA Travel and Student Universe provide excellent databases on airfare at a student price. Major cell phone service providers may also provide you a student discount, including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. I'd recommend googling these for more information, but I want you to know they do exist, and cell phone bills are insanely high, so be sure to check it out if its applicable for you!
The list can go on, so just be sure to look anywhere you go or stores that you frequent to see if they provide discounts for students. My favorite student discount I have found is through Amazon.com. They provide a free 1-year membership of Amazon Prime, which is a great way to get free 2-day shipping on most of the items Amazon.com sells. If you would like to learn more about how to sign up for a free student account, click here. I probably buy 75% of my non-grocery items from Amazon, simply because they have great deals for people on a budget, and fast free shipping only makes things even better! The point here is, NEVER stop looking for student discounts, because there are a lot of sympathetic businesses out there to help you during a financially difficult time in your life!
Most commonly, I think students use their student IDs for movie theater tickets, which can give you at least a couple of bucks off of your ticket. These discount tickets can similarly also be found for other types of shows like concerts and plays. Universities and colleges tend to also provide discounts on computers and other essential technology from stores like Apple and Dell, which you can shop online for in addition to a school store. Microsoft Office, for instance, also provides a line of their software specifically for the student budget that can get you through college with the just basics. If you travel a lot, this is another great place to look for student discounts - Amtrak (Train) and Greyhound Bus lines provide student discount programs, and STA Travel and Student Universe provide excellent databases on airfare at a student price. Major cell phone service providers may also provide you a student discount, including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. I'd recommend googling these for more information, but I want you to know they do exist, and cell phone bills are insanely high, so be sure to check it out if its applicable for you!
The list can go on, so just be sure to look anywhere you go or stores that you frequent to see if they provide discounts for students. My favorite student discount I have found is through Amazon.com. They provide a free 1-year membership of Amazon Prime, which is a great way to get free 2-day shipping on most of the items Amazon.com sells. If you would like to learn more about how to sign up for a free student account, click here. I probably buy 75% of my non-grocery items from Amazon, simply because they have great deals for people on a budget, and fast free shipping only makes things even better! The point here is, NEVER stop looking for student discounts, because there are a lot of sympathetic businesses out there to help you during a financially difficult time in your life!
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Next Groupon
Hello out there! I know its been quite some time for me, but to recap what has been going on for me the past 6 months, I'll fill you in:
Well, Groupon has definitely caught on fire the past couple of months, which I wrote about last year, and now similar sites have popped up. Livingsocial.com is one that I stumbled upon today after a friend posted in his status on Facebook. Today's deal: $10 for a $20 Amazon.com giftcard! Great deal for me, since I frequent Amazon for their prices and my current free Prime membership provides free 2 day shipping. LivingSocial also provides an incentive by providing you with a link after you purchase the deal - if you get 3 friends to also purchase the deal, yours is free! Checking other types of sites like these are helpful incase your area might not be covered by Groupon or other sites yet. From what I can tell LivingSocial seems to have a longer list of cities available for deals.
In addition, I and fellow readers of this blog have noticed that local programs have begun to do things in their smaller cities. In my city, for example, the "giveback" program runs via local participating businesses which contribute a certain percentage of your purchase to a selected charity - for me, its the local humane society - and also gives you $10 back to use after you have accumulated a certain amount of purchases with the card. And recently they have added a monthly enewsletter where a "groupon-like" deal is presented. A couple of months ago I got a 30 minute massage from a local therapist for $15 on our giveback deal, a treat I rarely get to have for myself!
Be sure to check out your local area to see if any type of programs like this exist - they are a win-win situation!
Expect to see more posts in the upcoming weeks - I'm hoping to get back on track as one of my New Year's Resolutions!
- I took and passed my doctoral comprehensive exams in September - yay!
- I successfully proposed my dissertation topic and began doing analysis - yay!
- I applied for a predoctoral psychology internship (October/November), which are highly competitive, and have been interviewing at various sites in the region for the past month.
Now that my interviews are over, things are settling down and life can slowly get back to normal, at least for a little while. But as you can see, if you ever get a Ph.D., its no small task, and they love to cram in all of your big tasks in the last year. Anyways, onward and upward to the blog!
Well, Groupon has definitely caught on fire the past couple of months, which I wrote about last year, and now similar sites have popped up. Livingsocial.com is one that I stumbled upon today after a friend posted in his status on Facebook. Today's deal: $10 for a $20 Amazon.com giftcard! Great deal for me, since I frequent Amazon for their prices and my current free Prime membership provides free 2 day shipping. LivingSocial also provides an incentive by providing you with a link after you purchase the deal - if you get 3 friends to also purchase the deal, yours is free! Checking other types of sites like these are helpful incase your area might not be covered by Groupon or other sites yet. From what I can tell LivingSocial seems to have a longer list of cities available for deals.
In addition, I and fellow readers of this blog have noticed that local programs have begun to do things in their smaller cities. In my city, for example, the "giveback" program runs via local participating businesses which contribute a certain percentage of your purchase to a selected charity - for me, its the local humane society - and also gives you $10 back to use after you have accumulated a certain amount of purchases with the card. And recently they have added a monthly enewsletter where a "groupon-like" deal is presented. A couple of months ago I got a 30 minute massage from a local therapist for $15 on our giveback deal, a treat I rarely get to have for myself!
Be sure to check out your local area to see if any type of programs like this exist - they are a win-win situation!
Expect to see more posts in the upcoming weeks - I'm hoping to get back on track as one of my New Year's Resolutions!
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