Compelling Ways to Save Money as a Student – Step by Step Guide

How to Save Money as a Student Without Working

Save 20% of your Monthly Pocket Money

Calculate your Monthly Expenses

Don’t Get Addicted

Avoid Going Out Every Other Weekend

Bring your Tiffin to School/College

Walk or Cycle to the School/College

Open Child/Minor Savings Account

Buy and Sell Used Books (Unessential Items)

Where to Sell Used Books

Buy or Take on Rent the Used Books you Require

Use Personal Expense Tracker App

What Part-time Jobs can I do as a Student?

My Opinion

This Valentine was different. 

This was our 3rd Valentine’s Day after marriage. 

This time, we did not plan much as we both were swamped with work and were not sure whether we would get time to go out or not. 

We both have the 2nd and 4th Saturday off, just like banks, but we are corporate ninjas. 

Thankfully, Valentine’s Day came on the 2nd Saturday. Due to work pressure, we did not even realise that. 

On Friday night, we realised that tomorrow is Valentine’s Day as well as the second Saturday. We kinda got relieved. 

Headed to sleep knowing tomorrow was a holiday. 

PS – How to Save Money as a Homemaker

Valentine’s Day 

Here comes Valentine’s Day. 

We woke up, greeted each other and headed towards the kitchen to make coffee. 

Till now, no plans. Usual routines, usual chitchat. 

I did my yoga, and he also finished his planting session.

After finishing our routine work, we sat together in a hall and started chatting about our Valentines’ before marriage. 

During that conversation, I ordered gifts for him from Zepto (he was not aware that I was ordering gifts for him on Zepto; he thought I was ordering some snacks), and he already bought a gift for me. We exchanged gifts and were happy at that moment. 

Then we divided household chores and started working on respective tasks.  

And honestly speaking, we were so relaxed and totally into those moments. 

No feeling of doing any extra, or fighting over not planning a day, we were completely happy in those moments.

Realisation

Here, one thing I realised: with time, excitement about Valentine’s Day may finish, but our care for each other will remain the same.

Now, we understand that going to pubs, restaurants or buying expensive gifts is not the only way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. 

After marriage, sharing household duties and understanding each other’s needs and accordingly, surprising them with gifts, that’s what matters. 

Day Ends with

After finishing our chores, we started cooking together, had lunch and rested for a while. 

For us, rest has different meanings. 

For him, it is DIY,  and for me, it is reading and writing. 

Around 5 o’clock, we decided to go out and get some fresh air. 

Had a cute fight, which is common between husband and wife, and ended our day with eating a light meal at night while watching Netflix. 

Bottom Line

As you can read, we have not done anything fancy or extraordinary; we were with each other and enjoying “us time”. 

For us, spending a good time doesn’t mean that we have to buy expensive gifts or go to luxury restaurants; it’s all about giving the attention another partner requires. 

Though we go out sometimes, it’s not necessary for us to go out every time. Just being with each other is enough.

For many of you, it may look boring, but for me, it is more than enough. 

Manners matter. 

I’m not certain about other people, but for me, it matters a lot. 

For me, manners come in different types. Because your behaviour changes depending on with whom and where you are. 

With different groups of people, you should maintain your way of behaving. If you think that no I’ll behave the way I behave in front of my loved ones, or I’m like this, you definitely need to reflect on your manners. 

Let’s categorise the group of people and how you have to draw a wise line of manners. 

Different Types of Groups

Family

For me, family means parents and siblings. The most closed people, who know everything about us. 

They know how we react to different situations. With them, we normally don’t have to include manners. 

In a family, there should be respect for each other, and with that, manners come automatically.

You don’t have to fake anything. You can be completely yourself and express your feelings without hesitation.

Relatives

In this group of people, what matters is your relationship with them.

For some people, relatives are a headache. For some people, it is an unbreakable bond. 

As I said, it completely depends on your relationship with them. There is a strong possibility that you may not have a good bond with every relative, somewhere you have to pretend and maintain a boundary of manners. 

Even if you don’t like a few relatives, you have to make sure that you are not crossing your limits to maintain social courtesy. 

I personally believe that whether you like that person or not, we should never cross our limits.

Here, when you have a good bond with them, you don’t have to pretend anything; everything comes naturally.

Friends

I personally believe that when you are with your friend circle, you can be completely yourself and don’t need to pretend anything.

When it comes to close friends, there is no need to follow manners as well. 

I have five close friends, and when I’m with them, I don’t have to follow any manners. I can be completely myself because they know me quite well and accept me with every flaw. 

But we have to follow some manners when it comes to friends of friends, where you can not be completely yourself because of obvious reasons, and follow certain manners. At least with me, this is the case. 

Neighbours

There is a saying in Hindi, “Pehla Saga Padosi,” which means neighbours are the first family you have.

I have a lot of experience where neighbours are the ones who came to help in the first place.

Also, it is always advisable to have a good relationship with neighbours. You never know when you’ll need their help.

Just forget about help, but those are the people who live closest to your house, and you will see them every day. 

So try to maintain good relations with them. Greet them on a daily basis, and invite them to your home occasionally.

Personally, I like to do all these things. 

Corporate Friends/Colleague 

I’ve been in the corporate industry for more than 8 years now, and I’ve seen many bosses and employees who completely lack manners.

I’ve seen bosses who take their anger out on employees, treat them like slaves, abuse them – in short, lack manners.

These people mostly have ego problems. They can’t accept their mistakes. Accepting their mistakes is a colossal task for them.

I personally believe that it doesn’t matter from which background, post, or designation you come from; all employees should be treated with respect and manners.

No boss or manager has the right to take their anger out on employees. 

The same goes with colleagues. Treat all your colleagues with respect and follow basic manners.

Being at a higher post doesn’t give you the right to abuse or treat junior employees as punching bags.

Corporate is a place where we should strictly maintain a few boundaries and stand for ourselves wherever needed.

Bottom Line

Every school should include this curriculum and teach children the basics of manners. 

While growing old, they would realize the importance of manners and include them in their day-to-day life.

See, you can learn and incorporate manners at any stage of your life. But the important thing is you should start. 

So, when are you incorporating manners in your life?

Being a homemaker is a big job and responsibility in itself. When we say homemaker, society thinks of women only. 

However, it’s no longer gender specific. Anyone can be a homemaker. It could be a man or a woman. Mindsets are getting changed slowly, but they are. 

Being a homemaker, you have to take care of everything, including saving money. 

You may reside in any corner of the world (India, USA, UK, Australia, etc.), but the intention to save money is the same.

There are tremendous options available on Google, YouTube, podcasts, etc., on how to save money. But the question is, do those tips really work? 

Well, it entirely depends on an individual’s lifestyle, where they live, how many members they have in their family, total net income and most importantly, their willingness to save money. 

If one is really interested in saving money, she tries every way possible to save money and invest it for better future and stormy days. 

So, in this blog, I’m going to talk about some useful yet simple ways a homemaker can use to save money. 

Well, for this article, I assumed that you are only a homemaker. So if you are a homemaker and have any side hustle still this blog is helpful for you.

When I was a child, I recall how excited I used to get when I saw greenery. From childhood, I’ve been fond of peace and prefer solitude rather than pleasing random people for no reason. 

Due to this reason, I faced difficulties making friends instantly in my childhood. I remember one day, I was trying to figure out how other people could make friends easily, and I struggle (childhood, huh).

Well, it does not mean that I did not have any friends in my childhood. In fact, I really had good friends. The only difference is I take time to make friends and cannot fake anything, and to this moment, nothing has changed. 

So, going back to the topic. I’m fond of peace and greenery. Actually, these two things are synonyms for me. But at that time, I was not aware of their benefits to that extent as I do now. 

When I was in Nagpur, I used to go for morning and evening walks in the garden and loved to spend time by myself (again, solitude). So I was inhaling oxygen and fresh air automatically without even thinking about it. 

But when I shifted to Hyderabad, things had changed drastically. I was not able to go for walks for obvious reasons: “traffic” and “the parks and walking tracks” were far away from my location. 

As we all know, AQI levels are increasing everywhere. So I thought of buying plants, but again we had a common balcony and not-so-supportive neighbours. Here, I started my research and thought of going for indoor plants. We all know how plants lighten up the mood by simply being present. 

Before jumping into the list of indoor plants you should have in your home, let’s talk about how these plants could improve your mood and thought process instantly. 

My Experience with Indoor Plants

When I decided to go with indoor plants, I was a bit reluctant. I thought managing them could be difficult. But I had my supporting hand, my husband. 

In the first place, we decided to try with two plants. If everything goes well, we will add new friends. 

So, we brought two green friends to our home, placed them in our hall, and the way the atmosphere changed instantly, you couldn’t believe it. 

Every time I saw them, my mind would relax, and I started being present in the moment. Most importantly, we were inhaling fresh air. I know two plants are not enough to purify the complete air quality, but I guess my mind got hallucinated in such a way. 

Having this positive experience, we decided to buy at least one plant every month. Now, if I count them, I have almost 12 plants at my home.

Before jumping to the list of indoor plants you should have at your home, let’s talk about their benefits.

Benefits of Having Indoor Plants

We all know that plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, but there are many other harmful toxins that plants help to remove from the air, like formaldehyde, benzene, carbon monoxide, xylene, and others. 

So, it’s never about only getting fresh air; plants are more than that. 

Now, let’s see the list of indoor plants that you should buy for your home, which are absolutely low-maintenance.

Top 11 Indoor Plants for Purifying Air

Snake Plant

The Snake plant is mainly deep green in colour, with yellow or light green edges. On top, maintenance is very low. No requirements for regular watering, and it is compatible with low light. 

Peace Lily

ZZ Plant

Yes. 

You’ll definitely like this ZZ plant, also known as Zamioculcas zamiifolia. 

Its glossy dark green colour will amaze you. It thrives in low to bright indirect light and requires infrequent watering. When watering, ensure that the soil is completely dry. 

Money Plant

When I was a child, I used to think that the Money Plant was a plant that gave real money. Now, I can understand it gives something which is more valuable than money, which is fresh air and oxygen.

The Money plant has green leaves with yellow or light cream patterns, which can sustain in low light or indirect light. The good part is that it can grow in water with no need for soil. So you can either use soil or water to grow them. The choice is yours. 

English Ivy

It does require low to bright indirect light and moderate watering to keep its soil moist. 

Parlor Palm

Dracaena

The Dracaena plant has green leaves, often with yellow or red edges. It requires bright and indirect light, though it has a capacity to tolerate low light. Keep the watering at a moderate level; don’t overdo it. 

Chinese Evergreen

Boston Fern

Cast Iron Plant

Lucky Bamboo

As the name suggests, you’ll be lucky to have Lucky Bamboo in your home. It has bright green stalks and leaves, which survive in bright and indirect light. And the good part is that it grows in both soil and water. If you are keeping it in water, don’t forget to change the water every one to two weeks. 

Bottom Line

All indoor plants are good ones and have different features, but one quality is the same, which is improving our mood.

If you want to check the options, refer to the list I provided and go for the ones you really liked. 

Hope this blog helps in decision making. 

Happy planting!

Just imagine. Friday evening is about to end, and your weekend is about to start. You have the whole two days in your hands. No deadlines, no meetings, no Outlook. 

How does it feel? 

I know the most amazing feeling in the world. Corporate ninjas can definitely relate to it. 

But then the Sunday evening knocks on your door, and all your pending tasks come in front of your eyes. 

Trust me. I know this feeling. I’m a corporate warrior myself. 

However, I used to feel the same way. But nowadays I embrace the time I have in my hand. It took me a lot of time to get rid of this Sunday anxiety and feel positive about it, which I’m sharing in this blog. 

So, let’s unfold one by one what I’ve done or am still doing to not feel anxious on Sunday evenings.

Things I do to Manage Sunday Night Anxiety

Slow Friday Evening

For a slow Friday evening, you should first finish all your work in the first place. 

What I do. The first thing I do is create a list of tasks that I have to wrap up by Friday and work on those tasks in the first place, so that I don’t have to think about those tasks the whole weekend. 

Mostly, I finish those tasks in the first half and then repetitive or less concentrated tasks. Trust me, by doing this, most of the burden is already gone. 

I know many people by thinking it’s Friday don’t even work at all and become anxious on Sunday evenings. 

Spend “me” Time/Self Care

Do you remember when you were in school, as soon as the weekend would arrive, you were completely present in those moments – no homework tension, no teacher tension. In a similar way, you should enjoy your weekend at every age. 

See, I know being an adult is different, but when you get time for yourself, try to enjoy those moments by being present.

Do whatever you like to feel better. You can read a book, take a nap, get a massage, give time for your hobby, anything you want. 

Just make sure you enjoy what you are doing. 

I personally believe that spending time with yourself is equally important. Before enjoying other company, you should enjoy your company. 

Spend Quality Time with your Loved Ones

Spare some time for your loved ones. Let me tell you how I divide my time. 

Being married, I live with my husband so mostly we see each other after work and talk about our day. Share stories, sorrows and spend that time in a quality way. 

But I don’t get much time to talk with my parents or in-laws. When I was in Nagpur, I used to visit them on alternate weekends. After moving to Hyderabad, every now and then, we can’t travel. So we video call them or call them and have long conversations. 

It feels good to have such a conversation after long working days. 

Then during the rest of the weekend, my partner and I divide household chores, spend time together and make sure we both have some “me time” individually. 

Get into Nature

This is my favourite part. I love greenery more than malls or fancy restaurants. I love to spend time in nature. After coming to Hyderabad, the thing I miss the most is the morning walk. 

In Nagpur, I used to go for morning walks. There were so many parks near my home. Currently, in the place I live, there are no parks. There is one park which is 15 min via vehicle from my location, but due to Hyderabad traffic, it seems like 15 KM away. It doesn’t make any sense to go there every morning.

So what we do is we go to parks on alternate weekends to give our eyes some relaxation. It’s our time, away from the screen and immersing ourselves in nature. Here, I mentioned we, as I usually go with a partner. 

You also look for your sweet spot and see when you can experience this. 

Self Talk

Don’t tell me you never did this before. Well, if you didn’t, you should start doing this. I’m not saying start talking with yourself in public like an idiot. Definitely not!

Instead, what you should do is look at yourself in the mirror and talk aloud all your feelings that you carried that week. Embrace yourself. Encourage yourself. Give clarity to yourself. Tell yourself you are doing a great job. 

Many people do this every morning. But if it’s not possible for you, start doing it on a weekly basis. Trust me, you need this more than you think. 

Meditation

In many of my blogs, I talked about meditation. Well, I’m not a regular meditator, but I’m really looking forward to this year. I really want to improve my morning schedule. However, whenever I get time, I meditate or at least do breathing exercises. 

If you can, try meditating at least on a weekly basis. Better than never. 

Most people say, morning time is the best time to meditate and even I feel the same. Again, if you don’t get time in the morning, just do it as per your schedule. I can totally relate to corporate warriors. Sometimes, we don’t get time for ourselves, and if someone lectures us like this, it feels literally irritating. 

That’s why I’m repeating it again and again, do the things as per your schedule, but make sure that when you do that, you are 100% present in that moment. 

Journaling 

I do this quite often to get clarity on my thoughts and help me in decision-making. However, nowadays, I don’t get time for this a lot, so I do it on a weekly basis, mostly on Sundays.

Journaling about your thoughts is one of the great ways to understand your inner self and your thought process. 

The little secret, my best decisions come from journaling only. 

Get Ready for the Next Week

I know this doesn’t sound exciting, but it will prepare you for the upcoming week. Mostly, I do this on Sunday evenings at around 8 pm. I overview my last week’s tasks and what are the important tasks for the upcoming week, and accordingly, I divide my time. 

See, don’t take work as a burden. I enjoy my work, but working with others could be a difficult task. You get to see different types of people in the workspace who think they know everything, and whatever they say should be the line. But learn to accept and ignore those people at the same time. 

Enjoy your work. Do what you can and stand up for yourself wherever needed, and don’t panic for every small thing.

My Thoughts

The weekend is for relaxation and household chores that we often ignore until the weekend arrives. But after this, you also need to do something productive for yourself.

Think for a moment, you work hard for a company that pays you a monthly check, but how much time do you get for yourself or for your hobbies? 

I’m pretty sure not much time or no time at all.

So instead of just lying on a bed, try to do something productive. I’m not saying don’t rest at all, but give some time to your hobbies that you enjoy working on.

Difference between Passion and Perfection

Passion

Perfection

Till the year 2025, I never travelled alone and never had to. But things changed this year that I never thought would happen to me. Usually, I travel with my family and friends. Here I’m not talking about roaming around a city; I’m talking about going to a different city or place, living alone in a hotel, catching a train alone, and many other things that are involved in traveling. 

I was thinking of not writing this, but somehow I need to let go of my emotions that I felt during the journey. So, I recently joined a new company, let’s call it X, and during an interview, no one told me that I have to travel and that too quite frequently, not a single word.

Basically, my profile is Digital Marketing Executive, and in these 8 years of experience, I have never had to travel, as it was mostly a sales team job.

So this X company asked me to visit their site, and in the first place, I thought it was going to be one time, and after that, I don’t have to travel, so I was like, let’s give it a shot.

On 27th Oct, I headed to Rajahmundry via Vande Bharat; however, while going, I was not alone, as one colleague gave me company. It was a kind of smooth ride. 

But the real struggle was going on inside me, as I never traveled alone. My inside struggle started a few days before travelling. I was confused, startled, and terrified. So many things were going on. How the hotel would be, what if something happens during the journey, and many other thoughts that were beyond my control. The icing on the cake, I have motion sickness. 

Back to the story, I landed at Rajahmundry at or around 9:30 pm and headed to the hotel. The colleague knew where the hotel was; therefore, she booked a cab, and we arrived at the hotel. The hotel receptionist gave us a room key, and she went to her room and I went to mine.

There was no water bottle or water in the room (basically, they don’t provide water) . So I went to my colleague’s room and asked her to call a person to bring water bottles. So she called and asked them to bring water bottles to the respective rooms. After this, I left for my room.

Someone pressed the doorbell, and I opened the door, and that guy was holding a water bottle, and I went to take my phone to transfer him money online. And he followed me. I got scared as hell. I was like I don’t have change, let’s go to my colleague’s room and take money. 

She also transferred money online. I told her about this incident, and she asked me Don’t worry, they don’t have that manners, just ask them to stay outside and they will. 

After that incident, I was freaked out as hell and couldn’t sleep at all by imagining all the worst scenarios. 

The next morning, a cab came to pick us up and we went to our site, which was around 55 to 60 km from our hotel.

I was already tired and didn’t have any energy to work on anything. Still, I managed to complete my tasks, and after that, my colleague was supposed to show me around campus, but she got busy with other stuff. So she asked someone else to show me around, and that person introduced me to important people and showed me around. After that, around 7 pm, we headed for our hotel. 

Now, here comes the twist: a cyclone. Between October 27th and 30th, 2025, Andhra was affected by a cyclone, and my return train was scheduled for October 29th.

I asked my colleague to accompany me to the station the next day. She agreed, but in the morning, she didn’t show up, and I couldn’t blame her. She might have been tired as well.

So, while coming back to the hotel, it was already raining heavily, and the whole night it rained, which was 28th Oct 2025. 29th was my return time to Hyderabad. Trains were running late. My train time was 7:30 am, and it came at 8:30 am at Rajahmundry station.

My train was about to reach Secunderabad around 3 pm, but I reached it at 8:30 pm as the train took a different route due to the Cyclone. 

Here, my partner was getting worried, and he couldn’t sleep for those days. When I reached home around 10 pm, I could see a sigh on his face.

Though, while coming back to Hyderabad, I was feeling good that I handled things quite well and had a sense of relief that in the future at least I could travel alone. Well, I’m not talking about living alone in a hotel. Maybe in the future it could be possible, but not now. 

I can travel to my hometown alone, as I know that after reached there, my family would be present for me, and in any unfortunate circumstances, I could call them, but travelling alone in a completely new location with no contacts would be a terrifying situation for me. 

However, my husband loves to travel, but because of me, he has to plan in such a way that my health won’t be affected. 

Though I have a lot of respect for women who travel alone and face every situation with courage. But personally, I feel that when any lady, girl, or woman traveling alone be extra cautious. We all know traveling alone in India for women is not safe at all.

PS – Very Small Apartment Living Room Ideas

Bottom Line

I talked to the concerned person and told them that I couldn’t travel, and if they want I am ready to leave the job. But travelling alone that too to another city with no contacts for now, is not my cup of tea. Somehow, management agreed. Hopefully, it will stay the same.

Again, I’m really proud of women who travel alone, but it will take time for me to build that courage. Thanks for reading.