Being a non-traditional student can be tricky especially when it comes to paying for school. While an undergrad, I had to be self-sufficient–meaning that I paid for my own way through college. So, I had to be very resourceful with my finances. Through trial-and-error, I found a method that worked for me and stayed with it until I graduated. However, while that method was helpful, it was not sustainable when I graduated and started my first job after graduating.
A few things about “money“: My ancestors did their best to strive on what they had and used every earnings they received to give back to our people and/or through stocking up for future weeks. Growing up indigenous, I never had proper educational resources on financial management and never understood the importance of what financial stability meant. I knew that this was going to be important for me, my future, and my people, so I took a few free courses online on personal finance. One thing that I would like to note is that in my culture, money and being rich is not viewed as being humble, so it was important for me to shift my mindset on this was not for me but for my education which would help heal people in the future. This helped me overcome that barrier of taking the next step.
Step 1: Reflection on Spending
The most important thing that I did as soon as I started my job was analyze my spending and categorize between what was essential and what was not. This meant that my spending craze on take-out every other night had to go down to only once a week.
The best thing that I initially used during this time was my bank’s spending analysis feature. This worked for at least the first three months, so that I could see a realistic trend on what I spent on groceries, rent, utilities, household supplies, toiletries, clothes, take-out, entertainment, and gifts. It was a huge eye-opener for me!
After using my bank’s spending analysis tool, it worked for a few months, but I felt like I needed to categorize more items but felt that creating and using an excel sheet for my spending trends was time consuming, so I opted to use the mobile app Truebill and I highly recommend this app! Anytime I use autopay, Venmo, Zelle, or my card, Truebill sends me a notification and categorizes the item for me. There are a few random purchases that may occur occasionally, so Truebill gives me the opportunity to categorize that myself. I love this app because it keeps me in check, in the event I over spend and tracks how much left I have for each category.
This helped me take the next step in making a list of my needs and wants. I have to admit, it was hard to say goodbye to a few auto-pay subscriptions, find a new phone company with an affordable plan, and a few weekly rituals like eating out or renting a movie.
Step 2: Planning a Budget
After making a list of my needs and wants, saw my spending trends, and my monthly income, I decided to set a budget. An example is provided here. I also used The Budget Mom‘s free resources which I used to help figure out my financial situation and move from there. I recommend visiting a website that speaks out to you.
Step 3: Saving Methods I Used
I used a few methods to save. I think the best way I approached the budget in the beginning was to pay off all my debt first before I established a savings account. Please note that there are many methods that you can use and at the time this was an option that I felt very comfortable with. At the time, it was attainable. So, for paying my debt, I used The Budget Mom‘s method which was to pay off my debt using the Avalance Method. I paid off my credit card debt, my phone, and laptop in half a year.
Once I paid off that debt (only having student loan debt), I felt like I had more room to allocate towards savings. One other thing that I did was live extremely frugal for that half a year. It is not an approach that I do recommend, but it felt important to note that I did not go out to eat or get any form of takeout. I also cooked meals at home (used dried beans, canned goods, etc.), used as much sunlight as possible instead of turning on lights, opted for a cheaper phone service, canceled all my subscriptions, sold older books and clothes, walked everywhere, stayed off social media, and rationed out my food and household essentials. IT. WAS. ROUGH. I do not recommend going to the extreme, especially if it may take a mental toll on you. I strongly recommend only doing as much as you feel comfortable to do so.
The method that I currently use is similar to the template that I provided in the first paragraph of this section (#3). But one thing that I would say I do now, is to take cash from my paycheck (25% of it) and ration them out with envelopes. For an entire year starting on January 2021, I started this method and with every paycheck, extra income, or gift that I received, I would take out 25% or $25 whichever was greater; and I would set that aside for my envelopes. In one year, I was able to save enough for medical school related expenses. Please note that I worked full time and went to school part/full time (depending on the term). It was super difficult and felt unfeasible at times, but I knew that I needed to work full time for (1) health insurance, (2) stable income, (3) establish retirement funds, and (4) tuition assistance (via reduced tuition) as a non-traditional pre-medical student.
Step 4: Maintaining My Budget During School and Moving Forward
During 4th quarter of last year, I realized that taking medical prerequisities is no joke and I wanted the freedom of being able to focus on pre-med things like volunteering, clinical experience, school, MCAT, and medical school applications. So, I decided to re-evaluate my priorities and finances again. I ended up doing a final frugal spending freeze and saved enough so that I would be able to focus on school full time. Since I do not have a source of income anymore, I continue to monitor my spending and currently have a plan to being working again for when my DIY post-baccalaureate is complete this summer.
journey to medicine. indigenous perspective. 