Speaker 1: I'm so excited for this video today because we are talking money. I'm a full-time PhD student, so I can't have a full-time job. So in this video, I'm going to be sharing my money tips that I use to save money, pay down my loans, even though they're not due yet, and live my best life. What this video is not going to be is BS tips that are completely obvious, like live with roommates so you can save money, or carpool to school so that you're saving on gas. Those are way, way, way too obvious. I'm going to be sharing the real deal things, the things that you haven't already thought of, the things that nobody told you in school. I'm going to be sharing what helps me, and I really hope that it helps you. After this intro, we'll get into it. Welcome to Grad Life Grind. If you're new to this channel, thank you for checking it out, and if you're already a subscriber, thanks for being back again. My name is Arielle, and I'm a PhD student in clinical psychology, and in this channel, I bring you information about the mental health field and talk about my journey as a PhD student. As I said in the intro to this video, I'm a PhD student, and that means that I'm spending up to 50 hours a week doing school-related stuff. My program does not allow me to work full-time. There's just not enough hours in the day, and my program actually has a limit on how much we can work part-time. That limit is about 20 hours per week, which I honestly don't even think is feasible because the PhD can take over your life. Most importantly, I'm going to be sharing tips that are related to passive income, money that you can make doing little to nothing, and perhaps even more importantly, I'm going to be sharing things that aren't going to take you too much time. If you're a grad student, if you're any student, if you're just a human, I know that you don't have time to be spending doing additional things that aren't worth it. Lastly, this is not a video about how you can fully fund your PhD or how to pay your tuition and rent using little extra streams of income. This is going to be a video that will just help you save a little extra money or take a little bit less out in loans or pay your loans as you go. This is not how to fund your PhD because that's a whole other animal. Finally, I am not a financial advisor. These are just the things that I have found helpful, and I'm sharing them with you because I think they can help you too. So let's do this. The first thing you need to know is that my program is five to seven years, and it is not fully funded. It's a private institution, so I pay most of my tuition out of pocket or using loans. I also have a loan to cover my living expenses, which is a lot of money when you think about it. And if you're wondering how you're going to pay your PhD or if you're thinking of applying to programs that are not fully funded and you're like, how do people do this? Let me give you a really quick breakdown. So I apply for loans, one for tuition, one for living expenses. They get approved. They come from the federal government, and then my school takes their portion out at the beginning of each quarter. Since we're not on a semester system, it's quarterly. Then after they take out their portion, they give me a small piece of my loan for living expenses each quarter. So I get one in September that's supposed to last me until December, and then I get another in January and so forth. So I'm getting a chunk every few months that's supposed to last me for the next few months. Now every loan is different, and the terms of your loan may be different than the ones that I have, but one of the things that I like to do is I take a certain amount and then whatever I do not use for my living expenses, I give it back. And that is way more useful than having it sit in the bank when it doesn't belong to me and it's accruing interest. So there are a lot of different philosophies. I know some students who don't care, they just keep whatever they don't use in case they need it later, and that's totally fine, no judgment there. But one of the ways that you can reduce your loan amount before you're even due to start paying them is by giving back what's not needed. So let's just say, random numbers, you get $20,000 for September to December and you only use 15. If you pay that $5,000 back, it's considered a reduction in the principal, which is the amount you borrow. So if you pay that $5,000 back because you're not using it and your loan was originally 50 grand, now you're down to 45. So when you're accruing interest, really by the day, you're accruing it on a lesser amount. So my number one tip for those of you who have loans and you're not using the full amount is pay it back. It's going to help you in the long run, it's not going to help you at all to keep it in the bank, and it's definitely not yours. So the next question is, what if I do need all that money, Arielle? What am I supposed to do? I can't give back money that I need? Correct. Now that leads me to the most important tip is, where are you holding that money? So a typical savings account for most banks is less than 1% interest per month, which is very, very, very little. The most important thing that you can do right now is open a money market account. And I'm not going to go crazy getting into what that means. I'm not your financial advisor. You can look up on your own money market account rates. And basically what will happen is it's a savings account, just like any other, that accrues more interest than the typical traditional ones. So if you get a disbursement at the beginning of the quarter for $15,000 and you're not going to use it all immediately, you can put it in a special savings account called a money market account. And if you say the interest rate is 1%, you're going to get a little bit monthly in interest for just holding your money there. And every month you'll just pull out what you need to pay for your rent or your other expenses and you let the rest sit there. That's one of the ways that I've been able to save money and make money using money that isn't mine. So I put my loan disbursement, the big lump sum, into this money market account each time I get a disbursement and I just take out what I need each month. And after taking out what I need each month, I also take out what I didn't need, pay it to my loans, and then the money that sits there is growing interest. And each month I'll get $15, $20, depending on the interest rate and the amount you have in there. You're growing money that you're borrowing. So 10 out of 10, recommend that. That's tip number two, look into money market accounts and find the best interest rate for your area. So let's just say that you don't have loans or you're already paying money towards your loans each month and you don't have that much money in the bank. So you think it's not worth it to have a money market account. Fine. How do I save on the money that I do have? How do I reduce my expenses? Okay. So there's a couple of ways that I do this. And the big word here is cashback. So there's a number of ways to earn cashback and I'm going to hook you up really, really well. So the number one way to earn cashback is using a cashback credit card. So I use a card called Discover It by Discover and I get 1% cashback on all of my purchases and then I get 5% cashback on select stores every quarter. I'm going to break this down. So let's just say I spend $100 a month using my credit card and I get 1% cashback. That means that I will get $1 in rewards that month because I'm making 1% cashback. Now I don't know about you, but I spend way more than $100 on my credit card. So I get 1% back on whatever I spend and those rewards can be used to either transfer money to my bank or what I do is pay it towards my credit card bill. So let's just say I spent $1,000 and I got 10 bucks sitting in my rewards. I can pay that $10 towards my bill for the next month. That's one way. 1% cashback isn't a lot, but there are a lot of credit cards that have higher cashback. Now the card that I use does 5% on select stores every quarter. So for one quarter of the year, they do 5% cashback on grocery stores and gas stations. Then around the holidays, they do 5% cashback on Amazon and Target and Walmart. So places that you're going to frequent during that time. So getting 5% back on something like gas or groceries is really going to add up and then you can use that reward money towards your bill. So you can also get any other cashback credit card. You can look up the ones that are best for you. If you just search in Google best cashback credit cards, I'm sure you'll find a ton of options and there'll be articles breaking it down for you and you can pick what's right for you. Like I said, I use discover it and I can put a link in the description for this video in case you want to check out the card that I use. And that's one of the ways that I get cashback. Now there are also a bunch of other ways. The other ways I get cashback are through apps. So I use an app slash website called Ebates. I'm obsessed with Ebates. I tell everyone about it. So the way that it works is it's kind of like a search engine for places that you would shop online. So first you open Ebates and then you type in Amazon and then it reroutes you to Amazon. But because you went through Ebates first, you'll get a percentage back on your purchase from Amazon. Now let's say the next time I decide that I'm going to shop at Macy's and I look on Ebates and Ebates is offering 10% back on your purchase at Macy's. Cool. So I type Macy's into Ebates. They take me to the Macy's website. I get all my things. I check out my order ships and then Ebates is like, cool, I'm going to give you 10% and Ebates keeps track of your earnings or your cashback in their app on your Ebates account. And then each quarter they'll either send you a check or they'll send you the money by PayPal. So this is something that also adds up and you get money every time you refer someone. So that's awesome. I'm going to have the link to Ebates in my description for this video as well. Ebates is the best way to make money on stuff that you were already going to do because you were already going to do that online shopping. For the holidays, it saves me so much money because I do Cyber Monday or Black Friday shopping online and I just do everything through Ebates and I can get up to a hundred dollars just buying gifts for people. And then when that money hits my account, I can use it towards my bills in the future. So I told you that cashback was going to be a big one. The other app that I use is called Ibotta and Ibotta is basically a grocery app. The way that Ibotta works is that they offer cashback on certain brands and certain items. So let's just say before you go shopping at Walmart, you open the Ibotta app and you're like, Hmm, I'm going to buy shampoo. And so you look under Walmart's deals on Ibotta and you see that they're offering, you know, $5 cashback on your Pantene and you were already going to buy that. So you're like, cool. And you kind of, it's almost like clipping a coupon on the app. And then you go to Walmart, you buy your Pantene and then after you shop, you just take a picture of your receipt in the Ibotta app. They'll see that you bought the Pantene and then they'll give you $5 and you can pull out that $5 on PayPal or Venmo or any other way. Once you hit $20 in Ibotta, you can cash out. So it's super easy to use. This is another one of the ways that you can get a little bit of money back on the things that you were already going to buy. So if I know that I'm going to go and buy a certain brand of yogurt or a certain brand of milk and I see that they have a deal, I just click on it. I save it for later. And when I'm done with my purchase, I scan the receipt. They register that I bought the thing they're offering a deal on and then I get my cashback. Now, this is not something that you're going to make millions of dollars on. Sometimes it's 10 cents, sometimes it's 50 cents, sometimes it's a dollar depending on the items that you're buying, but it adds up. So I've made over $100 on Ibotta and I just cash out once I reach a certain amount. Right now, I think I have like 30 or $40 sitting there and I haven't cashed out because I don't really need the money. But whenever I do, I know that I can just transfer it to my PayPal. So I love Ibotta. I'm also going to have the link to that in the description. And these are just my suggestions. You don't have to do these. I'm not getting paid to promote these in any way. I wish that I was, but these are the things that are really easy. You just scan through the app before you go grocery shopping. When you get back, you scan your receipt, which takes two seconds, and then you might get a couple of dollars. Like why not? So credit cards that do cashback are basically money for anything that you spend. Ebates is cashback for online shopping and every store has a different percentage back because Ebates works with all those companies to decide what percentage they're going to offer. So Ibotta is mostly for like grocery stores or places like Target. And then we have Fetch Rewards. So Fetch Rewards is another app that I use and it allows you to scan receipts and you can earn points on basically any receipt. So I used to think that it was just for grocery stores and that you would get points for just your grocery purchases. But then I found that I can literally scan like a restaurant that I went to and I'll get points. So the way Fetch Rewards works is you scan your receipt, you get a certain number of points. And if you get a certain number of points, you can cash out for money. And you can get a Visa gift card or an Amazon gift card or whatever gift card. And again, this is not something that you're going to like triple your income scanning receipts. That's ridiculous. But if you're already buying stuff and you're already getting a paper receipt, then you might as well take half a second to scan it and then you get points. So this is another one that I'm going to drop the link to in the description below. But it's another super easy way to earn money. And I know some people make fun of me that like I'm always scanning receipts and I don't really care because it's money that I didn't have. Even if I only get 5 points or 20 points, like who cares? So sometimes Fetch Rewards gives you like 200 points because you used a brand that they're like promoting or something. And who knows? Like I just scan it and see what happens. And I lose literally nothing by doing it. It doesn't take a lot of time. So I don't like to waste my time. I'm sure you don't either. But this is a super easy thing to do. And if you earn money while doing it, why not? Okay, so that was cashback. There's a ton of other cashback apps out there. I'm sure you can do your research and look for whatever works for you. I like to use Discover It, which is the credit card I have. I also use the Venture Card by Capital One. That's a travel card. So you get kind of miles for each dollar you spend. And that's important for me because I live really far from my family. And the other apps that I use are Ebates and Ibotta and Fetch Rewards. All those are going to be in the description for this video. So you can check that out. Or you can do your own research and find whatever you like. So the next tip that I have for you while we're on the topic is related to grocery shopping. So actually one of the ways that I'm saving money on groceries right now is by using a grocery delivery service. And this is different from the ones like HelloFresh where you get ready-made or ready-to-cook meals. This is more like you're getting produce and actual grocery items delivered. I use Imperfect Foods. I love it so far. They support local farmers and they're actually cheaper than regular groceries. So this is another one that saves me time, money, and it's good for the environment because they're trying to reduce waste. They don't really package that much plastic in it. And it's supporting local farmers which is also pretty important to me. So Imperfect Foods, I think I spend like $30 a week getting the items for me and my partner which is a lot cheaper. I feel like every time we went grocery shopping we're spending over $100. And that was even when we were doing it weekly. So check out Imperfect Foods. That's going to be in the link to the description. If you want to see how it works, I have a reel on my Instagram that shows me going to my mail room, picking up my grocery box, and then showing what's in it. So the other way that I'm able to save money as a grad student and still look pretty fly is by thrifting. And I hope you already know why fast fashion is so damaging. We're all guilty. We've all shopped at places that contribute to the fast fashion problem. So no shade if you are buying brand new clothes. But thrifting or buying things second hand is one of the things that has saved me money and also of course contributes to reducing the fast fashion problem. So recently I bought this shirt and like five or six other shirts for someone on Facebook Marketplace for like $20. So if you're bougie and you want to buy everything brand new, no shade, that's fine. But another grad student that I met told me that she bought all of her professional clothing for like practicum and jobs and interviews at Goodwill and that it was actually really nice high quality stuff. And I was like, wow, that's actually really cool. And I started doing that myself and I found that it's a really great way to kind of spice up my wardrobe, buy things that are unique and save money. So I recommend doing that. Another thing that I did during the pandemic was selling all of my unused, never worn or worn a million times and I'm tired of it clothes. So I used a bunch of apps including like Facebook Marketplace, Mercari, and others to sell some of my old clothes. And I made over a hundred bucks in just a couple of weeks. So if you have clothes lying around, all you need to do is take one Saturday or one day off, take pictures of everything and then post it online. And this is one of those things that is also passive income because you only need to take the pictures and post them to the apps like once and that takes time initially. But then after you've done that, the items just sit there and people will message you when they want them. You print out the shipping label and then you send them out and you get paid. So I really recommend reselling your stuff if you can, if you have things that you don't need. If you haven't worn something in over six months, you probably can make money selling it. So that's another thing that I recommend. That's kind of a little bit of a side hustle and it may take a little bit more time, but it's another thing that I do to make extra cash. Now another way that I make extra money rather than saving money as a grad student with no full-time job is by investing. Now like I said, I'm not your financial advisor. I'm definitely not equipped to teach you how to invest your money, but I use an app called Robinhood. I know that there are a ton of other platforms where you can do trading, but Robinhood is a really good starter app and it helped me learn the very, very, very basics of trading and I basically just learned by practicing trial and error and now I'm able to make a fair amount of money every month. And I don't want to get into the recommendations because I know that on YouTube you can search how to start investing, what to invest in, how to make money investing. You can figure that out on your own, but I just want to say that if you have money lying around, which not everyone does, even if you have $50, you can start investing. And it's something that you have to learn by trial and error. It's something that you have to be willing to take a little bit of a risk doing, but I think it's really, really worth it and I think the younger you start, the better. I started when I was like 21, now I'm 23 and it's going really well for me after I had a little bit of a learning curve when I first started. And when you sign up for Robinhood, you get a free stock just for downloading the app. So you don't even have to spend any money to start. So I'm going to have the link to Robinhood in the description for this video as well. All you have to do is download the app and you will get a free stock. And it's a surprise stock. You don't know which one you're going to get, but you could get something that's worth a lot of money. If you get one share of Apple, that's amazing. So what I love about Robinhood is that it's easy to use. You don't need a lot of money to get started. I think I literally started with like $50 or $100 because I was so, so scared of investing. So if you're in that position, I completely get you. And over time, I've been able to put more money in, learn the ins and outs, and really make an extra income from this. So I definitely recommend starting that and if you have the time, learning how to invest and get good at investing. So I hope you've been taking notes because I've shared way more tips than I even planned to because as I'm talking about it, things are coming into my head. The next thing is different types of benefits that you can get based on your status or income. Now, my program required me to get health insurance in order to enroll in the program and a lot of private universities do the same. So I think one thing that a lot of people don't know is that if you're a full-time graduate student and you don't have a steady income because you're not working, you are probably eligible for free health care from the government, which is Medicaid. In California, it's called Medi-Cal. But if you're not working, then you're eligible for that. So you can apply for that and then save all the money that you would normally spend on the school insurance. And I know that people have very different attitudes about government benefits and there's a huge stigma attached to things like welfare and stuff like that. But I think everyone should have free health care and I have no shame about getting health care when, number one, it should be free and number two, I'm eligible because I can't possibly work during this program. So if you think that you might be eligible, you lose nothing by checking out the website in your area and figuring out whether you are eligible for free health care in your county or state or wherever you are. I'm speaking only for the U.S., so this is something to look into. The other potential benefit that a lot of graduate students are eligible for is food stamps or EBT. I'm currently not eligible for that, but a lot of times if you're not working and you're a full-time student, so your income is basically zero, you're also eligible for food assistance. And in most states, it's in the form of a card. It's kind of like a debit card. You can use it at any grocery store. And depending on where you live, you can get a few hundred bucks for groceries, which is one of the biggest expenses for people. And that makes sense because groceries are expensive. So if you can save $100 or $200 on groceries because you're using food stamps, then definitely do that. Check out what the requirements are in your area. Find out if you can apply. And there's absolutely no shame in getting something that you're eligible for. So it's a government benefit for a reason. It's not forever. And like I said, it's not something that you're going to live off of. You may still need to pay some money for your groceries out of pocket. But if you can get the help, why not? And I think that there is a little bit of shame or embarrassment around that, and I don't think that there should be. If you're a graduate student, you're going to school so that you can give back to the world using that knowledge. So you will more than make up for the money that you're receiving from the government throughout your career. And lastly, speaking of benefits, I want to talk about part-time jobs. So if you are able to work a part-time job while you are in school, awesome. What you should do and what I recommend is finding a job that also has additional benefits. So I work at my local gym, and that gets me and my partner a free membership, which saves us a ton of money every month and a lot of money annually. So if you can work a job where you can get a discount on something or a benefit of some sort, then definitely look into those opportunities. So working at the gym has been a major benefit to me. I've heard that other students work at a restaurant, so they get free food or they get to take home leftovers. That's a great one. And there's lots of different jobs where you can get discounts that will serve you in increasing your savings or reducing your expenses. So if you're thinking about getting a part-time job, think about whether you can apply to places that can benefit you in some way other than just your paycheck. And if you already have a part-time job and you're not getting these kinds of benefits, then maybe you want to consider finding a job that does have these benefits. So like I promised, I have dropped so many gems for you from cashback and credit cards, different apps you can use investing, things that you might be eligible for like food stamps and health insurance. I have given you all the things that you probably didn't know about or didn't know if they were worth your while. I promised that I wasn't going to give you ridiculous tips like carpooling or don't buy your textbooks because you don't need to read them. That's crazy. I wanted to give you things that were actionable, things that you can click the link right now and do, things that you can Google right now and learn how to do. I wanted to provide you with the things that I actually use or that people I know use in order to save money. And if you're wondering whether anything that I mentioned in this video is worth doing, I want to tell you that using a combination of all of these tips, I was able to pay down $10,000 of loans in my first year in addition to saving some money on my own. And I was able to work less than 20 hours a week because I'd never exceeded the amount that my school allowed me to work. And I also was able to get almost all A's in my classes. So it's doable. It's doable to do student work full time and work a small part time job that helps you save money. It's doable to get involved in investing and different apps that'll save you money or earn you money here and there. You can do this. So if I could do it, you can do it. And I really hope that you'll check out one or more of the things that I recommended in this video. Please let me know in the comments which one was most helpful to you. And you can also head over to Instagram, follow Grad Life Grind if you're not already, and then DM me and let me know what you thought of this video. I love hearing from you. I love answering questions. And I hope that if you're not already subscribed that you'll do that right now. And you can also check out gradlifegrind.com for other resources that I have posted. Thanks for watching.