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5 Practical Tips To Stay On Track With Your Finances At University

Alex — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 21:47:43 +0000

Based on the 80-20 rule, I’ve created a simple list of tips that will help minimize the majority of your main areas of expenditure, and therefore keep it as simple as possible to implement, whilst reaping the most returns i.e. saving as much of your cash as possible.

Weekly Meal Plans. > Not hardcore, know what each of your meals are going to be, meal-plans, but you should be able to shop bi-weekly for your groceries, and make the portions last for the 3-4 days that you’ll need them, without having to go out and buy more food. I’ve found that as well as saving some money, this is also a great way of getting more fresh food into your diet, since it means that you need only keep fresh food for 3-4 days max. before you will eat it. This will also reduce your wasted food items, which will in turn minimize your cost per calorie.
Pre-drink. > We all know drinks at the bar cost a heck load more than when you buy it at the off-license or supermarket. So limit yourself to entry fee + one drink inside the club. You don’t need buy more drinks when you’re out…
Eat out as a treat, and look for deals. > The last two times I ate out were on 2-for-1 offers. The cost was significantly less, and the food was equally good. Since you’re buying your groceries twice a week, eating out is no longer required out of necessity: make sure you buy enough when you shop, and you wont go hungry. Instead, you can eat out once or twice a week, and it will be a treat. Go with a friend or two and enjoy it.
Simplify your wardrobe. > This is a moot point, and some girls wont be able to do this. Guys, on the other hand, should think about their clothes stash, and what they currently wear and don’t wear. Do you need that new t-shirt that you saw in Top Shop or can it wait to be gifted at a Birthday or Christmas? I find, if I make a point of waiting a week or two before making a decision, I find that I haven’t really missed the item, and so don’t buy it after all. On the other hand, if there’s a good sale on…
Don’t snack & keep to water. > These are two biggie’s. Snacking out on chocolate bars and, really, anything other than fruit will substantially increase the amount spent on food in a week. Good way of avoiding the temptation to snack-out are: not buying the stuff on your grocery shop, switching to fruit snacks (apples, oranges etc.) and also exercise, which depresses the hormones which tell your brain you’re hungry. Drinking water, as opposed to soft drinks, will keep your food bill way down.

These few tips should decrease costs by 30-40% each week, which you can either save, or put towards something you’ve had your eyes on for a while. For instance, with the money I saved over the last two weeks (+a little extra) I decided to splash out on a nice new keyboard to use with my laptop. It’s the Logitech DiNovo Keyboard for Notebooks, and it’s super hot!

Will Smith On What It Takes To Be Successful

Alex — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 00:20:36 +0000

I have a lot of respect for Will Smith. He’s accomplished so much in his life, and seems to me to be one of the most likeable Hollywood actors around. This video is a compilation of his thoughts on making your own success and sculpting your own life, one step at a time. I really like what he has to say, props to him.

Will Smith – What It Takes To Be Successful

[I originally found this on Frank Kern's (the marketer) blog, posted under the title: Who knew this guy was so cool?]

UPDATE: our new (improved) mission

Alex — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 01:53:03 +0000

So we haven’t updated this blog in about six months. Luckily, one of my new year’s resolutions was to keep this blog updated regularly, which means I’ll be pouring lots of my energy into it over the next 12 months. Get ready for some really valuable content, even if I do say so myself, ha.

The first thing I did was redefine what my idea of what this blog was, and my vision for its future. I believe I’ve now nailed that through my new elevator pitch ~styley about me page. Let’s hope this is the start of a posting revlution. Woop woop!

Seth Godin’s Tribes & And What To Expect

Alex — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:01:42 +0000

Seth Godin speaks a lot of sense when it comes to marketing, and whe this guy has something to say, it’s worth taking note, and thinking what the implications are on your business. To this end, when he comes out with a book, it’s even more definitely worth reading. I’ve already listened to the audiobook, and the content is new and interesting; two things a lot of marketing gurus fail to be a lot of the time.

In honor of today’s publication of my new book, Tribes, I asked the people who joined the online triiibe group to write an ebook.

And they did. It’s more than 240 pages long, and it’s free.

Download CurrentTribesCasebook.pdf

You can get it from the link above. Feel free to share it or post it or print it, but please don’t sell it.

From Seth’s Blog – On The Release of Tribes, His New Book

Here’s the thing.

Seth reasons that, marketing ISN’T good enough any more. To truly connect with your prospects in this 21st century environment, you have to actively lead a tightly knit group of followers – a tribe. I’ll let Seth go into the details himself, but please don’t hesitate t pick a copy of this, it really is cutting edge in it’s field.

Moving away from that.

It’s not very useful mor me to post stuff about marketing until you KNOW what sort of project you’d like to start online, so my next run of posts are going to be aimed at online money-making newbies. And no, I’m not gonna talk about stuff like paid surveys; I’m talkin ‘big bucks‘ here .

To your success, and I’ll see you later.