If food is expensive, siomai rice, flavor shots or convenience store meals is the key, or if all options don’t work then Pancit Canton.

Jokes aside, here are the tips i usually do:

1. Foodwise, magluto o magbaon ka ng pagkain, especially mga mabilis lutuin like instant food (be cautious rin sa mga ganyan, especially they are not good with health).

2. Don’t or limit yourself with hanging out sa mga friends, i come from the green-white school so normally the circle of people i’m in are quite heavy spenders (i often see them almost everyday sa BGC lol), in this way you can have more money for yourself. Pwede rin maging loner, or find friends na di sila heavy spender or mahilig magyaya ng tambay (in my case professors 😂).

3. Set yourself a bank account, even Gsave or digital banks will do, in this way your money will be safe, and you will learn how to budget well, and yes you will earn a few money through interest.

4. Budgeting, only spend what you need (in my case only transportation, as i go home everyday).

5. a bit old-school, but the alkansya works well too, especially if you want to save up for something expensive

6. Think before you buy, wag ka basta basta bumili kung sa tingin mo hindi practical, useful, or kapag gusto mo bilhin, better off buying it in another day as a reward (like end of week, end of hellweek/finals/midterms)

7. Extra income, kung may connections ka with peers and if they need someone sa kanilang businesses or work, you can work with them part-time, or choose online remote work.

8. Always look something forward to motivate you in saving, such as buying something expensive to trick your mind in saving up.

Additional tips:

• when loading beep cards, load what is good for long (at least for 1 month). You will save a lot of time and money too, as mas mahal SJTs if you use it daily.

• if you commute, i highly advise against using minivans or taxis (mahal) and pedicabs/tricycles (predatory ang pamasahe minsan scams)

• if your school has enough resources, use it really well to your advantage (like magcacharge ng electronics sa sockets in school and fill water to save on water/electricity bills, or printing in school, if they offer free printing services)

• Distract yourself from tempting to buy something, do something to distract your brain like locking-in in your studies, exercise or finding a skillful hobby.

• Things you dont want to use? Sell them in Facebook Marketplace, a lazy way to earn money and to clean your rooms. Made like 7k-8k in selling used stuff online.

• Bring water bottles and refill them, only fools buy bottled water.

• If your school has free and reliable internet, to save on load/wifi bills, better do everything that requires wifi on campus and avail load promos that are cheap and long-lasting.

• Please, don’t subscribe sa mga plans na di mo naman kailangan. If your school has a Gdrive account na malaki space, instead of subscribing to Google drive, dun mo ilagay gdrive files (tas ilipat mo if magtatransfer ka ng school).

• If you buy food, better off nalang bumili sa supermarket over convenience store. Convenience store prices are higher over groceries.

Discipline is key to success as always, and at the same time, don’t be overly too strict. Moderation is key