Spring Break always serves as an ominous milestone for the last few weeks of the spring semester.
Like running a race, the last stretch forces us to draw upon our various sources of energy (energy drinks included) and inspiration to push us toward our goals.
I always struggle with these last few weeks of the semester.
As we slowly become consumed again with classes, graduation, organizational events, elections and our demanding social lives, I want to encourage us not to forget about the rest of the world, or even just the rest of America.
Are you tired of reading about the current economic crisis, the spending of AIG and other financial topics that are downright depressing?
I don’t have any ingenious solutions for solving this economic situation, but I know that we can all help the economy if we begin to re-examine and adjust our own lifestyles.
Here’s a list of things you can do right now to help yourself and your fellow neighbor cut some costs:
Budget your finances. Track your expenses and budget your spending each month. Mint.com is a great tool for this.
Learn to refrain from impulse buying. I usually try to sleep on any financial decision I make. Don’t reach for that credit card so hastily!
Consider what recurring costs you can reduce. Magazines you don’t read, cable television shows that you could watch online and other bad habits like gambling and smoking.
Improve your health. Exercising and eating healthily can reduce your risk of sickness. This can help lower your medical bills. Cut back on carbonated beverages and excessive alcohol; you don’t need to go out every Tuesday/Thursday night, even if the happy hour is really good.
Decrease your ecological footprint. We may not see an immediate impact from this, but think about the costs we can all help save for future generations.
Instead of always eating out, consider some home-cooked meals.
Generic brands are cheaper and not necessarily a bad thing. Think about purchasing generic brands for certain products where the quality is more or less the same.
Consider using textbook swaps or purchasing used textbooks from others. Two great resources are chegg.com and dealoz.com.
Use the DART. Get a DART pass from Park ‘N Pony for only $5 for your entire time at SMU. You can renew it every year for free. DART can be a great way to explore Dallas.
Instead of spending $20 on a movie for two, look into some free alternative forms of entertainment. Check pegasusnews.com to find out what’s going on around Dallas.
Volunteer your extra time. Not only will you be doing something good, you will feel good about it too. Feed your soul!
Get involved with a cause. Finding meaning and purpose is a free form of inspiration.
Recycle. SMU makes it so easy to recycle on campus. White trash bags will take any kind of recycling and black trash bags are for waste products like food wrappers and wet garbage.
Consider walking or getting a bike. You don’t really need to drive five minutes to campus every day, do you?
Leave the plastic at home and carry cash. If you still find yourself going out a lot, make yourself a savings jar and before you go out, put $10 in it.
Changes in lifestyle never sound easy. However, I think you would be surprised by how much you can save every month if you just start budgeting. I think you might even surprise yourself with how much money you spend on things that don’t really improve your life in the short or long run.
These economic times will really affect the youth of America. I’d be interested to see how our government addresses the much-needed financial education that our country needs.
Maybe some SMU Cox graduates would be interested in starting up a nationwide educational program for elementary and middle schools.
Maybe our engineers have some better ideas on how our campus might better utilize its resources. Let’s hear your ideas!
Daniel Liu is a graduate engineering management student. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
