Students loans be damned, I know what I'm doing!

  And with the start of the school year comes a huge influx of energetic students, crazy events to get them active and involved and...well, shopping.  One of the many things students will somehow find the cash for.

  And with that, I put forth the first few ideas of how to save money while attending to school, especially when living at residence.

  I'm sure many students were appreciative of the free BBQ's.  This year, first-years were required to register for orientation so to get their free hamburger.  It goes with little saying that this is highly suggested for several reasons:

1. It's freakin' free!
2. Between lugging a moving truck's worth of crap into a room half the size of said moving truck, meeting new students and room mates and RA's, and rushing to get fees and books paid for, you have no time to go shopping unless your parents were nice enough to buy you food.
3. You may find not only do you not have the ingredients to make a decent meal, but neither the kitchen utensils or time.
4. The busses weren't running on Labor Day, so unless you had a vehicle to the grocery store wasn't an option anyway!
5. It's free!  You're a busy student, take advantage of a hot meal!  What's that? You're tired of burgers? Suck it up buttercup and grab a bun! 

  Last year, they had a BBQ and were finishing off a bowl of chips.  You know, where there's nothing but crumbs and small broken chips at the bottom of the large bowl.  The server was about to throw it out but I offered to take them off his hand.  I mean, come on, free chips!

  Unfortunately, he said he couldn't give them to me to take home.  It was actually some sort of health hazard that I didn't quite fully understand.  I felt a little disappointed, even if he was doing his job.  I hate wasting food!

  I've made it a point to tell my friends of two wonderful opportunities to obtain what they need aside from buying:  the Reciprocity Shelf and Freecycling.

  What is the Reciprocity Shelf? (Hell, I didn't even know how to say it for the first half of last year.  Incidentally, it's pronounced ress-sip-ross-ity)

  The Reciprocity Shelf is a shelf where perfectly good items (clothing, toys, kitchen utensils, books, etc) are placed.  These are everyday items that people can't bear to throw in the garbage, but don't care to sell, and are still functional (often) and good to use.  It's like a free garage sale!  I found shot glasses with letters on them that spell out KLINKO.  I don't know what the heck KLINKO means, but I'm going to turn it into a drinking game!

 Revel in its reciprocity-ness!

Look what kind of goodies there are: a sink/dish mate, clothes, a mug, cutlery!

  The other, Freecycling, is a online community created for the same purpose; to give another life to everyday products that people don't want to see trashed.  Once you find if your community has a FreeCycle network, you can sign up and begin posting!  Unlike the Reciprocity Shelf, you can email the group for things you want!  This works especially well in large cities, like Vancouver or Montreal.  There is a good chance that somewhere, out in the city, someone is giving away what your looking for!  Or better yet, someone might be looking for something you're willing to get rid of!

  I was recently given a toy RC helicopter.  I have no use for one, so I posted it, and lo and behold, I had literally more than 10 people asking me for it within a day!  And lucky for me, a professor here at the university was one of the people who wanted it, so I dropped it off at his office in person!  Convenience!

  I find it works on the "take a penny, leave a penny" principle.  Although I can honestly say I've taken twice the amount of things I've given, I still feel good knowing that I've kept people from throwing things out in the trash and surpassed having to spend money on a brand new product.

  Freecycling and the Reciprocity Shelf: two ways to extend the life of everyday items and products and a great chance to get some free shit!  Last time I checked, free is pretty easy on the wallet.

  For other chances to snag free swag, check out the free sections in Craigslist or Kijiji (at your own risk)  

  I highly suggest students at UNBC check these out.  If you don't have a reciprocity shelf at your own university, try getting one started!  You'd be surprised at what people are giving away!