29 Aug 2019

So you’ve been working your ass off trying to maintain a weekend job whilst juggling assessments and exams and major works to get that sweet cash money. The real issue is that as soon as you've earned it, all this money seems to be gone within the week, spent on free-period adventures to the local takeaway joint, paying for petrol and... well... who really knows?! It just seems to keep dwindling!

Either way, there's a whole heap of spending going on and not a whole lot of saving. 

It can be easy to justify this kind of spending considering you'll be done with school soon and will have way more time to go to work and earn some moolah. Plus, there are a heap of 18ths and events going on at the moment that it's easy to want to splash your cash before the crushing reality of final exams sets in.

You need to quickly start having fun and spend all your money now before all the events dry up for the rest of the year. Right?

Wrong.

If you've got a job and even just a small amount of dosh saved up, then you are in a perfect position to finish the year with a bang. While things might slow down for the rest of the school year, there are still a lot of big social events coming up at the end which will be way more fun with a bit of cash in your pocket.

Think schoolies. Think formals. Think end-of-exams parties.

If you can just hold on for that little bit longer, you’re going to have the freedom to properly enjoy yourself when the year is out. When school is finished for good, you're going to need the money to pay for the petrol that'll get you to and from the beach every day and the booze that you'll drink way too much of at your mate's graduation party. 

The moment school is over; people are going to be celebrating their newfound freedom for weeks. Maybe months.

Plus, Schoolies will more expensive than you think. Flights, accomm, food every day, day trips and adventures. It all adds up, fast. The same goes for formals. Suits, dresses, shoes, transport, venue hire, food, drinks. The dry cleaning fees when your best friend throws up on your brand new outfit. 

Don’t forget that once school finishes, you won’t be spending your Monday to Fridays in class anymore. You’ll be hanging with mates, probably spending a bit of money on burgers and movie tickets and gigs. There’s usually quite a few months to fill between school finishing and whatever you choose to do next, so it’s easy to eat up some coin then too.

On top of that, as you start to reach the pointy end of the school year and exam time closes in, you probably won’t be able to work as much as you would like to. Study is going to take up more and more of your time, so now every time you spend money you won’t be able to replace it by doing a few extra hours next weekend.

So, save your cash for now. Every single cent you can squirrel away, do it. Resist the temptation to spend it all and instead let it sit there for the rest of the school year.

Be patient, because when the end-of-school celebrations come around, you’ll be the one who doesn’t have to say no to anything.