A college male's road to riches

Or a garbageman. My upstairs neighbors are loud and obnoxious, throw beer bottle off their balcony and pound around on their floor. Its really annoying. However there is one thing they do for me.
I might have mentioned before, but I'm not too used to getting money back for your recycling like you can in New York. You come out even if its your own containers, but if someone else paid the deposit, its free money.
When I got home from work today they had thrown 3 large trash bags out onto the lawn. Being the compulsive person I am, I picked them up to put them on our trash pad and I heard a significant amount of glass and aluminum. Well, I opened the bags up and donned a pair of nitrile gloves. After 20 minutes of rooting around through matter best not described, and a quick trip to the store, I was 6 bucks richer. It's not a lot, but its a night out at a bar or a lunch or two home cooked meals. Perhaps its too little for too much effort, but I like free money.

I got paid on Friday, and I finally balanced all my different funds for different things and budgeted out the money I had. Unfortunately this weekend was also a time of quite a lot of drinking, so there was a lot of money spent for misc. purchases. I got myself a flask, which I consider an investment in future nights going out, but it was ouch, 30 bucks.
I've made a list to go food shopping tomorrow, I'm hoping to start my grocery price book on this trip. I think I'll go without my roommate this time, so I don't feel rushed and I can take my time comparing prices and using coupons without hearing him complain.

Well, thats not true, theres a lot that I could do, just not a lot I want to.
This weekend has been pretty cheap. Went to a friend's house party on Friday, so I got boozed up for cheap. Unfortunatly, between the gift and the chinese buffet beforehand, the damage was around 30 dollars. I don't feel too bad about it though, because I haven't eaten out in a restaurant in two weeks, I missed it. Saturday hit the gym, made dinner, and went to the mall. It seems my sneakers are falling apart and need to be replaced. Went to DSW and got a hot looking pair of New Balances for 55 bucks, plus a 10 dollar pair of shoes for the lab at Payless. Now I can wear sandles to work on really hot days. Those two expenses are thankfully covered by my parents, but I like to try to still get good bargains on them. Gives me practice for when I'm really on my own.
I'm anticipating a 70 dollar payment from Amazon for selling one of my textbooks online. So while I was at the mall, I decided to buy a Fatboy Slim CD, as I haven't bought a CD in over a year. It felt good to do it again. The rest of that money goes toward the credit card bill.

I got my money software in linux up and running. Now I have to copy my budget file over from windows, and unfortunatly start sticking to it. I thought it would be simple, but now I'm starting to see I might need some more restraint with myself, plus the motivation to keep the records up to date, so I know how much I have left.

Yesterday was a late day at the lab for me, but I absolutly HAD to get to the grocery store, fridge and cupboards were getting pretty bare, and I was down to eating frozen chicken patties and tater tots (not a horrible meal, but I usually do much better). I've been reading the couponing guides and forums on here and I've been itching to try some stuff, but I need to plan the time and not start 30 minutes before I have to head out to the store, including making my list. All the same, with a quick look at internet printable coupons, I found 2 bucks worth of usable ones, and I have about another dollars worth of recycling (I live in NY, I can't believe you get money for doing something I've been taught to do all my life. I know you pay the deposit up front, but to me thats just rolled into the price of the item).
There are two main grocery chains in my area that I've found (outside of the warehouse stores), Price Chopper and Hannaford. PC is cheaper, but Hannaford is fresher and has more selection. Price Chopper also has a discount membership card, as far as I know, Hannaford doesn't. The solution: buy almost everything at PC, stuff I can't find there, or stuff I want fresh (produce, eggs, meat). The PC stuff isn't horrible, but it usually goes bad before I have a chance to use it.
My roommate tagged along, so I spent more time shopping than I wanted to, but I stuck to my list, came in under my 60 a week limit, and saved $13 with coupons and member discounts. Hannaford had a special on split chicken breasts only .99 a pound, I couldn't believe it as I was used to paying about $3.00 a pound for the boneless skinned breasts. I figure I learn to skin and bone it myself, I save that much more money. It doesn't matter much if they get mangled as most of the time I cut them up anyway for the dishes I use them in.

I can say I love this site. I've been poking my nose around lots of other blogs, signed up for the newsletters, and really taking advantage of the techniques I'm learning on here.
But one thing I've noticed is it's difficult to find blogs by college students about their attempts at saving and getting out of debt. It's something I think we should see more of.

My current financial situation isn't grim, but it could use improvement. In the past I've fallen prey to the call of credit cards and currently have about 3500 on those. I just took out a 10k car loan, and those Stafford loans are looming in the future. But all is not lost. I'm working full time in a research lab making decent money over the summer, and will continue into the school year, though not as much time most likely. My parents pay for my rent, utilities, and food (up to 60 a week), so I'm VERY lucky in that respect. But any other expenses come out of my pocket, and I've come to realize when you're living on your own, theres a lot.

It's about time to hit the sack, but I look forward to keeping up with this. I hope I'll inspire or at least interest some people, and posting here regularly will help keep me in check.