The most profitable tip I can ever possibly give you

Hello everyone! My apologies for the severe lack of posting over the Holiday. In addition to some much-needed extreme relaxation, I spent most of my time scrambling around doing interviews and attending events for my major.  I also actually managed to score the BEST freebie of my life to date over break: a FREE trip to New York City, 2 nights FREE in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, and a FREE cocktail hour and dinner (valued at $750, apparently) with top industry leaders. Oh, and I'll be getting a FREE check for $5,000.  Total worth of freebie? $6,600. It inspired me to write this post, which details The most profitable tip I can ever possibly give you. (How Profitable? It could potentially pay for your entire tuition.)

 So how'd I do it? I entered and won a Merit-Based Scholarship. There are tons of them out there, and they're yours for the winning. If you can find 'em, enter 'em! Few people actually do, which means if you really take it seriously and put your heart into it, you've got a GREAT chance of winning. I only wish I'd known this before my last year in college! I've been discovering many amazing scholarships this year, and I want to share them with you, my readers, so that some of you can take advantage of these amazing opportunities. Not only do they  frequently pay in cash, but they look SO, SO, SO good on your resume. Having won a merit-based scholarship says to hiring managers that you have initiative and drive, seek out opportunities for yourself, take on extra projects and have a competitive edge. In short, the perfect hire!

So how do you go about finding these opportunities? In my case, I get a lot of emails sent out major-wide from my advisor, so I'm going to share a couple of those with you. I also hear them mentioned in classes (write those down and ask the professor about them afterwards!) and, of course, if you search around online, you can find them easily.  Also look at public bulletin boards on campus: not only are they great for finding new activities to go to, but they frequently advertise scholarships.  Look for scholarships offered for anything you participate in on campus: your dorm may have one, your major probably has a few, and any clubs/activities you're involved in may offer some as well. Here are some major-based scholarships I've found to share with you all. Get working!


For All Universities


- Sign up for these sites: http://www.meritaid.com/, http://www.scholarships.com/, http://www.fastweb.com/ and use them to search for scholarships to apply for
- Google "Merit Based Scholarships [Your School's Name]" and you should get some good results

For Indiana University Students
Your department's page will have a section titled "Scholarships." Go there to view all available scholarships for your major.

THE 2012 HENRY A. BERN MEMORIAL ESSAY COMPETITION
PRIZE: $1,500
Deadline: Tuesday, May 15, 2012
ELIGIBILITY: Any current Indiana University Bloomington undergraduate student.
Details: Read More Here

Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design Scholarships
PRIZE: Varies by specific scholarship, deducted from your bursar bill next fall semester
Deadline: January 18th, 2012
ELIGIBILITY: Scholarships are open to Indiana University Bloomington students who are either majoring in Apparel Merchandising, Fashion Design, Interior Design, or are earning the Fashion Design Certificate. (Not seniors, though, apparently).
Details: Common Application and Details Here

IUAA Alumni Scholarships
PRIZE: Varies by specific scholarship
ELIGIBILITY: Depends per scholarship - some are based on location, some campus, some group affiliation, and more.
Details: Read More and View All Available Scholarships Here

Oh - and the scholarship I won? It was the Y.M.A Fashion Scholarship Fund. If your school is a participating member, and you know a thing or two about fashion (either design or the business/merchandising aspect), you can apply next fall!

So what are you waiting for? Go win some scholarships! 


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Last Minute Gift Idea: Cake Mix Cookies! And, Free Downloadable Gift Labels

So I made a gift guide a few weeks ago, but I know most of us spent the past week or so running around like crazy trying not to succumb to the horrors of Finals Week. Now that it's over with, let's all breathe a big sigh of relief (PHEW!) and then try to scramble around and figure out what to give everyone for the holidays!

Picture of Retorte's Cake Mix Cookies

The easiest, most wonderfully delicious and inexpensive idea I've come across this year are Cake Mix Cookies. What are cake mix cookies? Well, exactly what they sound like - cookies made from cake mix! Except they don't bake like cake, they bake like delicious cookies, and then when they're done you don't have to decorate them. The reason I love these cookies and am making them in spades this year is because they are easy and cheap. A box of cake mix is typically around $1.00 - don't pay any more than that for it. Hit up your local dollar store or Wal Mart to snag a couple boxes. I highly recommend getting a Butter Yellow or Golden Butter mix, from any brand - it's MUCH better than regular old yellow cake, and it's the most adaptable mix out there. Duncan Hines, Pillsbury and Betty Crocker all have their own version of Butter cake mix. If you're a chocolate person, get some sort of chocolate mix, and if you're adventurous, try a Spice Cake mix or a Cherry Cake mix or Funfetti or whatever catches your fancy!

Here's what you need:
- 1 Box of cake mix (any kind)
- Eggs
- Oil or butter
- Water
- Chocolate chips, M&Ms, nuts, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, dried fruit, candy, ANYTHING you want to put in your cookies

Here's How to Do It:
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Dump your cake mix in a bowl. Add 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup oil or butter (if you're using butter, that's half of a stick.) Add 1 egg if you want cookies that rise but don't spread much (they will be puffier and fluffy inside),  2 eggs if you want your cookies to spread and flatten out more (they will be slightly more crispy). Mix furiously. The dough will be sticky and tough, that's perfectly normal. Work those arm muscles, and pretend you're burning off some of the calories of the 92862768276 delicious cookies you're going to be eating later. Once your dough is all mixed together, add whatever mix-ins you want to add and mix again. Now that you're all mixed and ready to go, grease a cookie sheet and form little dough balls/clumps on the baking sheet, spaced about an inch or two apart to allow for spreading. Try to make them as roundish as possible, because especially if you only used 1 egg, they probably won't spread enough to become magically round on their own. Once your cookie sheet is all filled, pop those suckers in the oven for about 15 minutes or until the tops of the cookies have hardened and the bottoms are slightly browned. Wait for them to cool before eating one!

Here Are Some Interesting Cookie Ideas:

Chocolate Cake Mix Sandwich Cookies from Annie's Eats

- Peppermint Holiday Cookies! Stick an Andes mint inside each cookie, or crumble up some candy canes to use along with chocolate chips.
- Cookie Sandwiches! Ice your cookies and stack them on top of one another. Roll the edges in holiday colored sprinkles.
- Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches! Sandwich ice cream between your flattened, cooled cookies. Roll the edges in holiday colored sprinkles and freeze before wrapping.
- Pinwheel Cookies! Make 1 batch of "white" dough and one of chocolate or red velvet dough. Using this technique,  roll out your dough onto a big rectangle of wax paper and place in fridge until firm. Stack your doughs one on top of the other - place any fillings you want rolled inside on top - and roll carefully into a log. Wrap log in wax paper and roll on surface to achieve optimal round log shaping, and firm in fridge again if necessary. When log is well shaped and firm, slice cookies. A knife might flatten your log so you may want to use unflavored dental floss instead. Voila!
- Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies! Add dried cherries and chocolate chips to your cookies, and possibly walnuts too.
- Chocolate Caramel Cookies! Get some chocolate caremel candy such as Rolos or Milk Duds and roll one inside of each cookie to create a melty chocolate caramel center when cookies are baked.

Package your cookies by putting them in a cookie tin from the Dollar Tree, or sticking them in plastic sandwich baggies and tying those up with ribbon. Gifts for everyone!!

Also, for those of you who ventured down the homemade alcohol route I discussed in my gift giving guide, I've made some labels for my gifts that I want to share with you all to download and use on yours! I created these in Adobe Illustrator, but they are all converted to plain .JPGs that you can color in yourself. The Skittles basic logo is easily customization just by using the "Paint" fill bucket tool in any photo editing program (heck, even MS paint will work). I added the flavor names for my labels and I've included a .zip file of all of those labels, which are for the "Blenders" Skittles. The Apple Pie Moonshine label is pretty much ready to go, you can fill in the background with a color if you want and then just slap it on your mason jars! Note: the images are very large, so make sure to measure your containers and then scale the labels down to the correct size.

To Download: Click to open full-sized in a new window, right-click and "Save As."

To Download these labels as a .zip compressed set of files: Click Here

To Download: Click to open full-sized in a new window, right-click and "Save As."

Enjoy and have a wonderful holiday break!
- The Broke Student Guide

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How to get everything free: a useful guide (pt. 1)

If you've been reading the blog for a while, you know that I post up a list of freebies each week. These are usually mail-in samples of random things - everything from shampoo to peanut butter - and, while they absolutely come in handy and can save you money, they're still small samples, take a while to come in the mail, and you don't get much of a choice about what's available. Luckily, there are a myriad of ways to get free stuff outside of mail-in samples. The following is a useful guide about ways to get a large amount of things for free (legally). Enjoy!

In part 1, you'll learn how to get the following things for free (legally):

Movies and TV
Food
Magazines

First, there are a few sites it would be helpful for you to join before I begin, because I'll be referencing those sites frequently as sources of free stuff. First, you'll need to find your local Freecycle chapter. Freecycling, also known as Free Recycling, is the act of giving away usable unwanted items to others instead of disposing of them in landfills. The Freecycle network connects people locally so that they may give away unwanted items to each other, for free. To find your local Freecycle chapter, you can search the Freecycle site itself, or just google "Freecycle [my location]." You can use Freecycle to ask for absolutely ANYTHING that you want, and there's usually a pretty good chance someone will have some they are willing to give away. Think of it like the last resort for all of the categories below.

The other sites to be familiar with that I will frequently reference are:
1. Craiglist's Free section (find it in For Sale)
2. Recyclebank, where you can earn points for learning about being environmentally friendly and then redeem them for free prizes
3. Swagbucks where you can earn points and redeem them for Amazon gift cards - I get at LEAST $25 in gift cards per MONTH from this site.
4. HauteLook because if you can refer a few people who make a purchase, it's a great place to get high-quality stuff for free using referral credits.

All signed up? Now, let's begin.

How To Get Free Movies and TV
Who needs to pay for satellite TV when you have the internet? There are tons of free resources for watching movies and TV online. Here are the top ways to watch what you want without having to pay for it.
1. Amazon's Instant Streaming Videos. In case you missed the post, Amazon Prime is FREE for students for one year! So just sign up with your .edu email address, and you'll have access to thousands of TV shows, movies and more - all completely FREE during your Prime trial membership.

2. Netflix - although it's a paid site, your first month is FREE. Now, don't just go to the site to sign up. Have you joined Swagbucks yet? Once you have, go to earn and select "Special Offers." Most likely, there will be a big advertisement banner telling you to sign up for Netflix and receive 1000 points. If not, search around until you find an offer for Netflix - most offer categories will have one. 1000 points is enough for 2 $5 Amazon gift cards, with some left over! Not bad, eh? Now, you'll need to enter your credit card information when you sign up for Netflix, but it won't be charged unless you don't cancel after that first month is up. So set an alarm on your phone for the day you need to cancel so you don't forget. Or, think of it this way - $7 a month for free streaming TV shows and videos? If you have a roommate you can split that account with, that's only $3.50 a month. If you have a couple of roommates, it gets pretty darn cheap. So consider buying a Netflix account for your house or apartment, and splitting the cost. No matter what, it's still cheaper than satellite or even cable TV!

3. Still can't find anything good to watch? Try searching on Hulu, SurfTheChannel and OVGuide. And if none of those found what you were looking for, try BlinkX. And remember, downloading is illegal - but streaming from a site in another country? That's completely legal! (Also, if your school is anything like mine, they WILL punish you if they find you illegally downloading anything, so DO NOT DO IT.)

How To Get Free Food
There are numerous ways to get free food, ranging from a lot of free food to a little. Here are my favorites:
1. Take advantage of free coupons, deals and offers. Most of these offers will be for signing up for an "e-club", during which time you'll enter your birthday and then receive birthday coupons. I try to only eat out when I've got a free coupon for something - like the from Recyclebank. For a list of places that give you freebies on your birthday, read this entry.

2. If don't mind waiting, sending emails to companies in the hopes that they will send you coupons for free is a great way to get a lot of free groceries. You can read more about that here. From personal experience, I can tell you that you will catch more flies with honey - more literally, you'll get better coupons if you compliment the company rather than complain. A good place to start is White Castle, who typically sends free burger coupons.

3. If you're really in desperate need for food, there should be a free food pantry in your area. Often, the food pantries are no-questions-asked places to get food and groceries completely for free - though some may ask for proof of need. Food pantries are often run by charities or churches, and get their food from local stores. The food might be past it's sell-by date, which DOESN'T mean it's expired, but DOES mean the stores can't legally sell it. Rather than dump it into the trash, they give it to food pantries for free. NOTE: Food pantries are a resource for the entire community, including the homeless, the disabled and families with small children - so please only take advantage of a food pantry if you truly NEED free food, not because you WANT some free food. To find your local food pantry, just google "food pantry [my city]" or "food bank [my city]." Indiana University Students: the local food pantry in Bloomington is Mother Hubbard's Cupboard.

4. Another option for getting free food without a food pantry is going straight to the source - grocery stores, health food stores, bakeries etc. Small, local companies are best. You'll need a bit of moxie for this one, but you'll basically just go inside or call and ask what they do with their goods that are past the sell-by date. For example, bakeries and bagel companies must throw away all remaining goods at the end of each work day - and in my experience, they are typically happy to give these goods to those in need rather than dumping them in the trash. The same applies for smaller, local health food and grocery stores. Larger chains typically have a corporate policy, but there is always a chance they wouldn't mind giving you some of their discarded food - it doesn't hurt to ask! You can always call anonymously. IU Students: Bloomington Bagel Company throws out its bagels at the end of the day, but the non-downtown locations are happy to give them away to students. Just try to show up as they are closing. Also try Bloomingfoods.

5. As a final option, relying on the kindness of individuals can be very helpful. Make a post at your local Freecycle or on the Craigslist Free board (or your campus classifieds) asking for any and all food donations. You might need to go and pick them up, but most people do have food that they just don't want or need sitting in their pantry and they are often happy to give this to someone in need. Again, don't take more than you truly need- this is a pay-it-forward sort of honor system that should not be abused. When you are able, do try to give something back! Always pay it forward.


How To Get Free Magazines
Everyone loves magazines. But who wants to pay $4.00 a pop for something that's only fun to read once? Not me. Here's how to get them for free:
1. Recyclebank offers several free 1-year magazine subscriptions, starting at 115 points. You can earn 115 points in less than an hour on the site, so it's a great way to get free magazines for the next year! Go to "Get Rewards" and choose "Music, Books & Magazines" to see what's available.

2. Magazines will often run Free Subscription promotions themselves, because in order to sell ads they need a minimum number of guaranteed readers - and if they're not meeting their numbers, it makes more sense to give away subscriptions, since ads generate more revenue. I do post every time there's a free subscription available, but you can find some yourself by googling "free magazine subscriptions" and seeing what's available. One site I found is All Free Magazines. Now, most of the free magazine subscriptions available are trade magazines, but I HAVE managed to get free subscriptions to Elle, Glamour and Martha Stewart Living this year. You just have to make sure you sign up whenever they are offered! So keep checking back here to find those.

3. When most people are done with their magazines, they either donate them to the gym (which CAN be a good source of free magazines!) or recycle them. At least, I hope they do, because magazines are completely reycleable. Anyway, If you live in an area where you have access to the recycling center - like a self-sorting dropoff location, or even a local paper recycling bin - it might be worth it to look inside the bin for any good magazines. No, it's not gross. It's just a bin full of paper waiting to be recycled. But you can find a lot of good stuff! When I lived near a sort-your-own recycling center, I collected quite a number of free magazines from the paper bin - which I gave away on Freecycle when I was done with them! So if you're still needing free magazines, try asking on Freecycle or Craigslist. Lots of people have too many magazines that they want to get rid of.

Whew! That's a lot of free stuff. Coming up in parts 2 and 3, you'll learn how to get the following for free:
Clothing
Makeup and Beauty Products
Furniture
School Supplies (bags, pens, etc)
Entrance to Disney World
Do you have a request? Post it in the comments! If it's POSSIBLE to get it for free, I'll write about it!

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Real Talk: Student Bank Accounts, Credit and Finances

First let me start off this post by emphasizing that I am i no way a financial expert and any advice I give is based off of my personal financial knowledge, which comes mostly from my financially stable parents, and some economics and accounting classes. Please remember that I am currently a college student and you should always consult with a professorial or expert before making any big decisions regarding your finances.

That said, let's talk about bank accounts, credit and finances. I spend a lot of time talking about ways to earn extra money , but what do you do when your first check from Treasure Trooper or Inbox Dollars arrives? Perhaps you have a joint bank account with your parents and they can deposit the money for you, as well as keep track of your finances on your behalf (this was me for quite a while!) Or perhaps you already have a bank account and are well-versed in managing your own finances, but do not have any credit or investments. What steps, if any, should you take to begin building a foundation for your finances in the future?


First, the basics: How to Open a Checking Account. A checking account is a bank account that allows you to withdraw money by writing checks or by using a debit card at an ATM. Unlike credit cards, debit cards withdraw money immediately out of your checking account and if there is no money in your account, you may be charged an overdraft fee. Up until recently, the majority of checking accounts were free. However due to the recent Overdraft Protection Act, which is meant to protect people from exorbitant or frequent overdraft fees, banks are losing money by offering free checking accounts and have begun charging monthly fees. Few banks remain with free checking accounts, and most of them are switching to monthly fee systems within the next year or so.

College students, however, are happily exempt from these changes (at least for the time being.) We can open what's called a Student Checking Account: it's basically the old free checking model, but it's now only available for students. Of course, every bank is different and some may or may not offer this option, so check with your local bank first. I can tell you that one bank that DOES offer Student Checking Accounts is U.S. Bank, which is one of the largest banks the country with locations everywhere except the east coast. (Note:I originally found U.S. Bank because it still has free checking accounts, but it turns out that next month those will be switched - it is however still listed on their website at this time.) With the U.S. Bank Student Checking Account, you get free checks and no monthly fee or minimum deposit. It's valid until you turn 25, at which point you will need to switch over to a regular checking account - so cross your fingers that you can afford the $8.95/month fee by then!

Now once you have your student checking account and have deposited some money into it at the bank (just walk into the bank with your check and ask a teller for help depositing if you need a walkthrough! It's super easy) you need to avoid overdraft fees. Like I mentioned before, an overdraft fee is when you go to get money out of your account and there is no money available, but you take out money anyway which leads to fees - usually something like $30-$60 per overdraft charge. The Overdraft Protection Act makes it possible to opt out of overdraft protection - meaning if you go to purchase something with your debit card and there are no funds available, your card will simply decline, avoiding any overdraft fees - but potentially rendering you without access to money, so ONLY choose this option if you have a second card available or carry cash at all times in case of emergencies! You can also opt into overdraft protection, which lets you set up a secondary account or card so that when you go to spend or withdraw money and your account is empty, it will be automatically transferred to your secondary account or card instead. IMPORTANT: you can still be hit with overdraft fees from automatic bill-paying or writing checks without having sufficient funds in your account! To avoid overdraft fees once and for all, ALWAYS monitor the money available in your account. You can look at your balance using online banking at most banks.

So now you have a checking account with some money in it and you've been careful about knowing your balance to avoid overdrafting. You're on your way to being financially responsible! The next step you should be taking is Building Your Credit. Credit may not be very relevant to your life right now, but once you graduate from college it will be EXTREMELY important. You will need a credit history (and preferably, a good credit score) to rent an apartment, buy a car, get a loan or buy a house. And if you graduate without any credit, you might find yourself unable to find a place to live - most apartments will not rent to anyone without credit history, so unless you can find a co-signer with good credit to add their name to your lease, you could very well end up homeless or couchsurfing. Building credit takes time, and you can't do it immediately, which is why it is very important to start NOW while you're still in college (and not homeless or couchsurfing, hopefully!)

There are only two ways to build credit. The first way to build credit is by taking out a personal loan and making regular payments (on time and in full) on your loan. This is a tricky option because it is hard to GET a loan without credit, which is exactly what you need right now. Yes, it's a total Catch-22. So what that means is as a college student, the best way to build credit is to open a credit card. Unfortunately, having a credit card can also ruin your credit and cost you a lot of money in interest fees - so you should ONLY open a credit card if you are absolutely sure you can pay your bill off each month on time! If you think you can handle the responsibility of a credit card, consider opening one with your local bank and linking it to your checking account. Some banks may offer automatic bill pay so that you can have your credit card bill automatically transfer the money from your debit account. You can also earn rewards through your bank in this way - for example, U.S. Bank gives 1% cash back rewards on EVERY purchase made with your credit card. Another option is to open a credit card with a lender who is not a bank, such as a retailer or store. If you shop at the store frequently, you can earn money back and rewards for your purchases. Some stores, such as New York & Company, even let you pay your bills just by walking into the store and handing over some cash. Store credit cards frequently have high interest, but no annual fee - meaning as long as you pay them off as SOON as you make a purchase, you can keep them open with no balance indefinitely, building your credit and getting rewards without racking up debt or fees. Here is an article about the dangers of store credit cards. Remember - you should ONLY open a credit card if you are ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that you can pay the bill off IN FULL and ON TIME each month, preferably as soon as you make a purchase with your card. Also, some banks and retailers may have a minimum age requirement to open a credit card.

If you are financially dependent on your parents, talk to them about some options regarding opening a credit card under your name. For example, my parents gave me an emergency credit card several years ago with a VERY low limit (like $250 per month). I only use it in the case of emergencies or when my parents have already agreed to buy me something (like filling up my tank, or a birthday present) and the bill is automatically sent to my parents who then pay it on time for me. Even though I only use it a few times per year, it is building up my credit score which will be very helpful when I graduate from college. If you are fortunate enough to have financially stable parents who don't mind helping you out with a few bills, this could be a very good way to build your credit.

You can NOT build credit by paying bills- although paying your bills late can HURT your credit. The same also applies for renting an apartment - it won't build your credit (though it will build your rental history which will be very important when you go to rent an apartment in the future) but if you don't pay your rent on time it could HURT your credit score. Ideally by the time you graduate, you have built up a little bit of credit and will have little trouble renting an apartment or taking out a loan for moving expenses, a car, etc.


Now, the last item on the agenda: finances - aka, managing, saving and investing your money. Say you are a graduating college senior (like me!) with a solid understanding of how to budget and manage your money (what little you may have, at least) and a decent beginning to your credit history. Should you be looking into making some financial investments? Frankly, no. Unless you have a brilliant understanding of the stock market already, investing isn't something you need to think about right now. You don't have enough money to go and give it away to someone else in the hopes that you'll get more of it back later - you need that money right now, to start your new life as a graduate. It won't be until the first or second year out of college, when you're more stable, with an extra 6 months or so of emergency funds saved up in your account, that you will have room to think about tucking some of that money away. At that time you'll probably start looking into saving some of your money for retirement in a 401K or IRA; putting some of it in the stock market, a CD or a mutual fund; or even consulting a financial planner to see what options you have available to you. But until then, just keep doing what you're doing and don't worry about it. You have the rest of your life to invest money that accrues interest, and while you're still living by the skin of your teeth you don't have that much to spare. If you happen to have parents or family members who have invested some money for you, or a savings account that has been accruing interest for some time, just leave it in their care until you're financially stable and can take on the responsibility of handling all of your own money: a few years out of college and earning your own income, say. Final verdict? Until you're financially stable, don't worry about finances. That takes one thing off your plate, eh?

For some more tips and different points of view, read these articles:
27 Money Tips for College Students
Top 10 Student Money Mistakes
Top 5 Money Mistakes College Students Make

If you have any questions, comments or advice, please post it in the comments or on my facebook page!