Food Waste Friday and an Unexpected Expense

Hey Everyone!

It's Food Waste Friday, and I'm happy to report I have wasted no food this week!

However, I found out today that I've been wasting a lot of money indirectly. At Haverford, we have a student account that we prepay with $600 at the beginning of the year. We can spend this money at the bookstore, but it is also used for fines and other charges.

As many of you know, I can be kind of scatter-brained sometimes. Ok, a lot of the time. In high school, I always left my lights on, locked my keys in my car, and just plain lost my keys. I don't have my car anymore, but I have a new set of challenges. Namely, I will often lock my room with my key inside.

Now, if I had a roommate like the majority of other college students, this wouldn't be as much of a problem. I might have to wait until my roommate came back to get in my room, but that would be the extent of it. Since I have my own room, I have to call Safety and Security and have them unlock my door. This costs money. I just didn't realize how much.

I have locked myself out six times this semester. The first time is free, the second time is $5. Not so bad. But everytime after that? 10 bucks a pop! I've spent $45 dollars here just because I'm forgetful. That's more than I spent on my textbooks!

So I am taking some action. This afternoon, since I'm not too busy, I made myself a sign:

Yes, I'm in college and sometimes I'm just waiting for an excuse to color. But I'm really hoping this will help me save me my money.

Do you have any forgetful and costly habits?

Food Waste Friday: A Good Week and Rescued Bananas!

Hey everyone!

This week has been fall break for Haverford Students, so most of my classmates are gone. This means that the dining center is closed and I've had to fend for myself this week--I really don't mind, but it is a bit hard to eat well when you have no access to a kitchen.

Thank goodness for microwaves and mini fridges! We have a microwave on our hall and an anonymous person from back home donated two lovely mini fridges to Lacey and I. Though they were a bit dirty when we got them, the fridge has been a life saver this week.

This is all of the fridge food I have left from grocery shopping this week. I've been fortunate that I've let none of it go to waste. I was slightly concerned that I had way more overripe bananas than I could eat, but I solved that problem with a tip I learned from The Frugal Girl blog. She slices and freezes her overripe bananas for smoothies or banana ice cream, but they also taste great by themselves. I eat frozen bananas like candy, so I'm grateful they are much more nutritious!

TIP: Don't freeze your bananas with the peel still on them. You will spend precious time struggling to peel a frozen peel, and your banana will probably suffer in the process. I learned the hard way! You can leave them whole--just make sure you peel them!

I actually love frozen banana ice cream (essentially frozen bananas with milk in a blender), and it doesn't have to be anything fancy. But play around with it--I found that just bananas and skim milk has a slight after taste, so I add peanut butter and it's awesome. You can add a lot of other ingredients too and generally it will still be much cheaper and healthier than any ice cream you can buy at the store. If you want to try it, there is a great one at a website called Pennies on a Platter. I actually don't remember whether someone posted this recipe on The Frugal Girl Blog or if I found it on Google. But if someone did suggest it to me, I'm very grateful!

Let me know if you try any experiments with frozen bananas!

First Food Waste Friday!

Hey everyone!

You probably haven't heard of Food Waste Friday, because it's a concept I discovered on another blog, The Frugal Girl. Every friday, her posts tell readers the food she wasted that week and usually she includes a picture (not to gross you out, but because photography is a hobby of hers). These weekly posts serve as a way to be more accountable for her food waste. She has asked others with blogs to join her in practicing Food Waste Friday, and I think it's a great idea!

I think it will help me waste less because I will be more aware of my waste; it's also embarrassing to publicly admit to waste on a blog, which will also help me waste less.

So here is what I wasted this week:

This is the remnant of a once beautiful tomato. I feel awful about wasting it, especially since I got it from the Haverford Garden Club's garden. I just forgot about it.

In addition, I wasted a small portion of vegan baked beans. The Dining Centers at Haverford and Bryn Mawr always have vegan food, and I like to try it sometimes, but these beans just tasted really strange.

Join me in keeping track of your food waste! If you are a college student eating in the dining center on campus, try writing down your waste right after you have your meal. If you are at home, clean out your fridge every friday and see what went bad. I think this will definitely be a helpful practice for me!

Textbook Tips: Creative Book Buying

Textbooks aren’t cheap. All college students know this, yet many of them succumb to purchasing the newest books at full price. As I wandered the book store searching for the books required for my classes, the prices astonished me—my Statistics Book was about $140 new, and a pricy $102 used. My Urban Culture and Society class required 4 books—one main text book for about $100 new, and three smaller books adding up to roughly an additional $100 new. Used, these urban culture books would still cost well over $100 total. For my other classes, the book prices were equally astronomical.

I refused to spend hundreds of dollars on books. The used book prices weren’t too much better. The cost of the books I needed added up to around 400 dollars. So I had to get creative. I’m going to share with you how I spent only $39. No, that was not a typo, and yes, I really did spend only thirty-nine dollars.

Here are a few tips and stories that I hope will save you money next semester.

1. Ask around. Do you know anyone who has taken the class already? Do they have their old book? Though this might have been hard for first semester, next semester you will know more people and more upper classmen. Haverford is unique in that freshmen have a Customs Team. This is essentially a group of upper classmen mentors. I found out one of my mentors had taken Abnormal Psychology and had given her book to a friend. This friend still had the book, so my mentor got it from the friend and gave it to me. I got this book for free. The only thing you have to do is ask.

2. Don’t be afraid of strangers. Sometimes you ask upperclassmen and they don’t have their book anymore or they still need it. Don’t let this stop you from asking more people. I randomly ran into a girl from Bryn Mawr (where I take Urban Culture and Society) while at Haverford. We started talking, and I told her that I was taking Urban Culture. She still had her book, and was offered to sell it to me. I bought the main text book for $39 (all the cash I had on hand), and she let me borrow one of the smaller books for the class. Even though we had no connection with one another, it was not awkward inquiring about her text books or determining a price. She was happy to have the money—the book store doesn’t pay students well for their used books. Be open and willing to meeting new people! You might get a cheap book.

3. Check the library for books on reserve. Because Haverford has Shopping Week and I didn’t know my classes right away, I needed to hold off on buying books. Our library often times has textbooks on reserve. This means you can check the textbook out for two hours so you can do your homework without buying the book right away. I intended to do this until I had confirmation that I got into my Statistics class. In some cases, if you are frugal enough, you can use the book on reserve for the entire semester. I could have done this with Statistics, but I didn’t need to—my fourth tip explains why.

4. Does the library have any old editions? I found that the library had an older edition of the Statistics book for regular checkout. I could keep the Statistics book for a whole month, and even renew it over the course of the semester. The book is essentially the same as the newer edition, though some of the numbers have been updated. For this reason, I compare the numbers in my book’s homework problems with someone who has the new version. Again, you might not be able to find an old math book to check out for the entire semester, but if you’re willing to get creative, you can find free solutions to getting your text books. For Urban Culture, I have ordered two of the smaller books from a library partnered with Haverford. I only need to do a few readings in these books, so there was no sense in buying them!

5. Ask the Professor whether or not you need the newest edition. Buying older editions can be cheaper, but sometimes they are lacking in information. My Urban Culture book is an outdated edition, and doesn’t have every article. However, I don’t need the new version because the professor posts the readings online that aren’t found in the older edition.

6. Does your class really use the book? Find out. I have four classes, the last one being a writing seminar. There are a few books my teacher uses, but I she posts the articles we need to read online (there are few because we mostly write) and I haven’t needed to buy the books yet.

7. Have a friend in your class? You could invest in a book together. This way, each of you pay half the price. This is a great way to develop a new study partner! Just make sure this is someone you can trust and get work done with.

8. Check online postings and compare prices. Though I’ve heard Amazon is sometimes more expensive, it doesn’t hurt to check. You might find a great deal. Look for used versions just like you would at the book store.

9. Check campus postings. At Haverford, we Have the Go! Boards. Here, the have a Classified Section where people post everything they are buying and selling. Though I didn’t find any of the textbooks I needed here, I saw numerous ads for cheap books. This way, you can help other students out too.

10. Do a book trade. On occasion, you may be able to find someone you can swap old textbooks with. Be on the look out for people who have books you want and are taking a class that requires books you have. Both of you will be extremely happy to recycle the books!

I hope you found these tips helpful! Do you have any textbook tips or helpful stories? Post them here. There are many ways to get creative when buying books!