New Canada Student Loan Grant Fall 2009

1) Cut back buying toilet papers by getting napkins at McDonald's, Starbucks, Burger King, etc. Take a pencil and roll the toilet paper when going to the washroom and get yourself a bundle.

2) Get a short happy planet bottle with a wide mouth and get free ketchup at McDonald's

3) Eat at soup kitchens, and if one doesn't like old food, to eat at variouus Sikh Temples called Gurudwara that offer free langar. For those who don't know what langar is, that is free food that is given to anyone who comes. If one lives in close proximity, that is a great way to cut costs.

4) Various banks offer free Coffees and teas. Get some tea bags offered for free there, and get hot water from McDonald's or starbucks, and get out of paying for these things.

5) Do you have any unwanted things? Sell them on e-bay or have a garage sale. By minimizing everything to the bare bones, one needs to rent out only a smaller place. This is where the real cost cutting comes in, more so than what you will get in selling of your stuff.

6) When looking for furniture, go to free section on Craigslist, and get them for free. My friend got couches, refrigerator, a CRT TV, Desktop Computer (old, but working) Washer and Dryer. He didn't have a truck, so he bought a cheap Ford Aerostar for $400.00, moved his stuff, and resold it for $800 12 days later.

7) Salvation Army offers free clothes to those who need it. He went to Kingsway and Fraser location office and they gave him a voucher for free clothes. He later asked for them on craigslist as well and was given free clothes.

Now this seemed harsh, I told my friend, but he said that the collector told him in such a friendly way, that he took it to heart and paid almost half of his loans in a year. He paid $600 from his $900/biweekly cheque when he is only making $13.50/hour. His payments are pretty impressive given that he makes below average pay where he was unable to find a way to pay for his debt to cutting his costs. All he had to do is make a few minor adjustments on his lifestyle, and he showed that if one is determined and is truly responsible, that it is not impossible to make payments.

8) While going to school, go work as a security guard where you just sit and do nothing. There, you can get your studying done and get paid for doing your own homework. You get paid a bit better than working in fast foods, and also, you are able to put in more hours, because the time you have to take out studying working in other jobs where you can't take your laptop and type up your essay or read your textbook. Some people have made enough money killing two birds with one stone, that they graduated university having banked $10,000 laying aside $100/cheque. Now this isn't much, but to graduate university without living off one's parents and paying one's own way and still coming out debt free and having a bit to start off is not bad for a student. (I guess if my friend took the collector's advice before starting university and worked as a security guard, he could have banked $64,200 as he said). But then, you wouldn't be applying rule #1-7 if you play rule #8 unless you are in debt. Rule #1-7 is kind of unethical to be applying except for Rule #6 for big ticket items, if you are not in the red, especially if you do #8 for a living as it is a bit of a contradition.

What do you think. I know this was a bit harsh, but it looks like many of you on this forum are on a really tight spot during the recession, so I figured some of you could apply some of the methods to get out of the hole faster.