The 10 Habits You Develop In College That Will Save You Money In The Real World

So, recent grads: how’s the transition to the real world? If you graduated last month – or as recently as last weekend, if you’re Dartmouth’s Class of 2014 – you might have already started to feel withdrawal pains from collegiate life. You miss your friends, you miss the freedom, and whether you have a job or are still looking for one, you probably miss having life’s expenses taken care of with just one check, grant or loan made out to the bursar’s office.

The financial jolt of transitioning out of the college bubble can be a big one. If you lived on campus for all four years of school, you might not be used to paying for rent and internet and electricity on top of food, clothing and other living expenses. If you have student loans, you have to account for anything from $100 to upwards of $500 going straight to the student loan servicers each month. And if you lived solely on a meal plan for four years, you have to budget for meals in dollar amounts, not number of dining hall visits left.

The good news is that because you’re a recent college grad, you have a set of skills and habits that you picked up in school that can actually help you manage a budget and even save money – you just might not realize you have them.