Time and Money-Saving Tech Hacks for Students
Being a college kid isn’t what it used to be. It’s increasingly becoming a larger investment of both time and money with tuition prices higher than ever, textbooks apparently having gold-leafed pages costing up to $600 for a single book, and more schools requiring a number of pieces of expensive hardware and software. On top of that, curriculum is becoming more challenging, unpaid internships outside of class are often a basic requirement, as well as group projects requiring lots of time out of class. It’s no secret that during these college years, time and money are sacred.
Luckily, with the increase in basic requirements also comes an increase in tech to help with that. While it doesn’t get rid of all the stress of school, it can certainly help. Here are some free tech-hacks aimed to help you get more of your time and money back!
Quite possibly one of my favorite tools even post-college. Evernote not only lets you take basic notes, but it also has about a thousand other features that you can utilize on their free plan. You can create a notebook for each of your classes, making all of your notes searchable. It works across all your devices, updating in real time, and even works offline. Don’t feel like having your laptop, phone, or tablet out in the middle of class? Go old school and take your notes with pen and paper, and take a photo of your notes later and upload them into your Evernote notebook later. Evernote allows for you to annotate with text, highlighters, arrows, you name it.
If you’re able to shell out a couple extra bucks, Evernote also works with these special Moleskin notebooks. You can write your notes in the notebook, and have them transferred into your Evernote notebook. You can do that if you want to get extra flossy, but the free version has more than enough features!
2. Chegg
So yea, when did textbooks start costing a downpayment for a car?! Chegg offers rentable textbooks at up to 90% off, as well as test prep, office hours, and tutoring. Their tutoring program is pretty cool (that is, if your school doesn’t already offer free tutoring… check out your school’s student resources page, as they often have free peer tutoring) and starts at $15/week with 30 minutes of free tutoring, and 30 minutes of one on one tutoring there after. Not a bad deal if it’s finals season and you need to freshen up on a couple of topics! The coolest feature is really the textbook aspect however, as they offer a digital and physical copy of your book, so you can use the digital version until your physical book comes in the mail! They also allow for you to highlight the books (you can’t annotate, but just snap a photo on your phone and upload it to Evernote and annotate your heart out!), and make a purchase if you’d like to keep the book. All in all, a great little hack for the rising price of textbooks.
Nothing better than finals week rolling around with a whole new schedule for exams, all while still finishing up regularly scheduled classes. If Advanced Calculus wasn’t enough to make your head spin, scheduling and planning around rotating classes definitely will.
My Study Life is a one-stop-shop for managing your schedule and assignments, and goes deeper than the average calendar and to-do list. Manage the stages of each assignment, school breaks, group projects, exam schedules, and more. My Study Life syncs with all your devices, and sends you real time reminders. For those who are great at school but bad at adulting, this is a great solution to ensure you don’t let anything slip through the cracks!
4. Pei
There is no getting around spending money in college — whether it’s food, entertainment, supplies, gadgets, clothes — just because you don’t have money, doesn’t mean you don’t have to spend it (welcome to the real world, kids!). Pei gets you cashback on the purchases you have to make, without the annual fees and interest of a credit card (beware of credit card companies who set up booths at your school to get you to sign up- it’s easy to slip into credit card debt during your college years, and the credit card companies know that!). At up to 20% cashback, a dollar here and a dollar there can really add up, and could even cover a night of beers, or your Netflix subscription!
Here is a guide on some of the national brands that help you save more through Pei!
Back-to-School Basics:
We don’t need to tell you the beauty and glory that is Target. From dorm furnishing and new clothes, to groceries and toiletries, you can get everything you need at this powerhouse Pei merchant. At 1% cashback, you’re looking at some sweet cashback for the astronomical cost that is back-to-school. Here are some of our other favorites:
CVS- 1% Cashback
Walgreens- 1% Cashback
GameStop- 1.2% Cashback
Cost Plus World Market- 2% Cashback
Clothing:
Old Navy- 1% Cashback
Gap- 1% Cashback
Banana Republic- 1% Cashback
American Eagle- 1% Cashback
Nordstrom & Nordstrom Rack- 1% Cashback
Urban Outfitters- 1% Cashback
Zara- 1% Cashback
Express- 1% Cashback
Foot Locker- 1% Cashback
Meals:
Mama Fu’s- 7% Cashback
Chick-fil-A- 2% Cashback
Shake Shack- 1.5% Cashback
Subway- 1.5% Cashback
Chipotle- 1.2% Cashback
Starbucks- 1% Cashback
Dunkin’ Donuts- 1.5% Cashback
Panda Express- 1.5% Cashback
Late Night:
Jack in the Box- 5% Cashback
Taco Bell- 2% Cashback
Whataburger- 1.5% Cashback
Domino’s Pizza- 1.5% Cashback
7-Eleven- 1% Cashback
Pei has thousands of local spots as well — be sure to hop on the map and check out what campus hot spots are offering free cash!
5. Mint
The best way to stay ahead of your finances is to keep a budget, and Mint is definitely our favorite tool for doing so — especially if you’ve never kept a budget before. It allows for you to create a budget line item for each of your expenses — from fixed expenses (utilities, rent, car payments, cell phone bills, etc.) to unfixed expenses (groceries, entertainment, gas, etc.). They also allow for you to track your credit, create financial goals, and give you suggestions on other financial tools (beware, sometimes they suggest more credit cards which isn’t always a good thing!). It’s another cross platform tool, allowing you to use it on your desktop or phone, and gives you push notifications when you have a bill coming up. Mint is yet another tool that gets you working smarter with your finances.
Your college years are some of the best years of your life, so don’t let silly things like time, money, and your impending adulthood get you down. There are hundreds of thousands of tools available for whatever you need, you just need to look for them. College is meant to make you smarter, so be smart! And find the tools that will help you be the best version of yourself. Time and money don’t become anymore plentiful for your first couple years out of school, so learn how to manage it now and it will make adulting way easier moving forward!
