How to Make Side Money As a Broke Law Student

Welcome back everyone! I'm sure you're all killing it your first week!! I wanted to build off of my last post on saving money in law school and talk about how to actually make money in law school. In case you didn't know, I'm currently [f]unemployed so I don't exactly have cash flow coming in at the moment, much like most of y'all reading this. If you're seriously strapped for cash you can get a job if the timing is right, but if the timing isn't right then here's 5 ways I've actually made money this past year.

Related: How to balance law school and a job

Clothing resale

 

   

I've been using Poshmark to make a little extra cash since college because it's so easy! And I recently started using ThredUp as well and will list my stuff on both apps to get a wider audience. What you do is just go through your closet and sell what you no longer wear. If you don't know what you no longer wear, an easy trick is just turn all your hangers backwards and then as you wash and hang up clothes you turn them the right way. After a while, you can see which stuff you never wear and that's what you sell. 

It makes sense because those clothes are just sitting there useless to you, and if you're not going to wear them, you might as well make some money off not wearing them. The buyer pays for shipping so you get to keep all the proceeds. And if you get really good at it, you can even turn it in to a side hustle buying cheap clothes and reselling them on there, like the creator of Nasty Gal did. With these, you're organizing and streamlining your closet and paying for your bills while you're at it. Sign up for Poshmark with code brazenbrunette to save $5 and for ThredUp to save $10!

Item resale

 

This is a perfect time to sell all the crap you no longer need! Most of y'all probably moved this summer and during said move, I'm sure as you were packing you came across lots of things that you never use anymore. As they say, one man's trash is another's treasure, so go ahead and try. I've actually made quite amount of money here lately selling stuff since Ryan and I had to combine our whole lives and some stuff I just had to cut or no longer needed. 

I've sold everything from extra pillows to a table that no longer fits in our apartment and it's so exciting when a bidding war unexpectedly happens and you sell something for double what you asked! And for you lazy people out there, you can require that the buyers must pick up the item so you don't have to even leave your place to sell your stuff. And again, multiple sites means a bigger audience and more potential buyers so I always list my stuff on both 5miles and OfferUp. There's other apps, but I've gotten the best results through these 2 with selling household items. Use these links to sign up for 5miles and OfferUp!

Grocery rebates

 

I use both Ibotta and Checkout51 grocery rebate apps every. single. week. I mean you have to buy groceries so why not just be strategic about it and make money doing so?? Seriously it's like  throwing money out the window if you go buy your weekly or monthly groceries and don't even look to see if at least one item is featured to get you cash back. Plus, all the time there's specials where you can get 25 cents just for buying any item at all, so it doesn't even matter what you buy! Get $10 instantly when you sign up for Ibotta and get $5 instantly when you sign up for Checkout51. Bam. Hi, you're welcome for that $15 I just gave you. Will it pay your bills? No. Will it get you a much-deserved marg with your friends? Yes. Treat yo self.

Related: How to save money on food through meal planning

Store gift cards

Okay I had never heard of Shopkick until in college when I was working in a chain retail store and we'd always have these people just walk in, scan barcodes off clothes, and then leave. Like ??? But then my boss told me what's going on. See, that's all you have to do and you get points, and then after so many points, you can choose gift cards for places you already shop at like Amazon and Target! Admittedly, this isn't you making money in the form of cash like the first 3 things I've talked about, but hey we could all use a gift card.

So the next time you're wandering around the mall with your bestie or wandering around a store with your mom when you're helping her get Christmas presents, just get out your phone and go on a little scavenger hunt and get you some free gift cards. Oh and it works for online shopping too so you might as well do this when you're online shopping during study breaks. Sign up for Shopkick with code fun993020 to get started earning gift cards!

LexisNexis

I'll admit, I didn't really get on the Lexis train until the end of my 2L year because it wasn't really a big thing at my first law school, but I really wish I had. In case you missed the downlow, what you do is set a reminder in your phone every day just to log on to Lexis and do one search. For fun, I would just pick and random word and search it to see what bizarre cases mentioned words like "buttcrack" or "hippopotamus" lol. Anyways, each day you do this, you get like 10 points. 

And then you can earn even more points by signing in at the Lexis table (you should be able to easily identify it because it'll be the table with a big line wrapped around it). At the table, you watch a short video or demonstration and can get a couple hundred points, and one time I even got a free coffee mug and some snacks so do that. At the end of your 3L year, you can "buy" from the Lexis store using your points. 

They have everything from Starbucks gift cards to Yurman bracelets and wine fridges! Sure this isn't exactly money, but hey free stuff for looking up bizarre cases? Gimme. 

And there ya go, 5 quick and easy ways that you can make some cold hard cash (or something very similar) this semester, and no signing up for focus groups or taking surveys. Admittedly it's not exactly as lucrative as having a job, but $100 extra a month goes a longggg way when you're trying to minimize how much money you need to take out in student loans.

let's be friends!

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Saving Money in Law School With Meal Planning

Hello hello everyone! I hope if you're reading this you're having a smooth transition back into the swing of things for a new semester! Oh, and I forgot to mention it in my last post, but a little life update on me, I have relocated to Houston. For all you OG readers, this means you're followed this blog as it has been based out of San Antonio, Lubbock, Dallas, and now Houston so I hope you're enjoying this little tour of Texas that we're doing together!

Anyways, back to today's purpose. I didn't meal plan my 1L or 2L year but started it the summer before my 3L year. Years 1 and 2 I lived alone so it didn't matter what I ate because I was the only one who cared, but year 3 Ryan lived with me while he was job hunting and I realized that I'd need to figure out ahead of time what we would eat or we'd end up having mac & cheese with hotdogs every night (boys lol). Even if you live alone, meal planning is still something you should seriously consider, and here's why.

Saves you time

I surprisingly had more time my 1L year than I had worried I would have. I mean, in no way was it as much as I had in college, but it was still plenty of time to make myself something and I didn't have to freeze months' worth of meals just to survive the semester. That said, the free time that you have in law school is precious and ideally you can spend it lounging on your couch binge watching Netflix with a glass of wine.

Here's where meal planning comes in. First off, it's not full-on meal prepping so calm down if you're not ready for that kind of commitment. All this is, is you spending a Saturday or Sunday deciding what you're going to eat for the week. I use this meal planning pad to easily do it. Then when the time comes, I simply make whatever I've pre-chosen. This means that on a school day/night literally 0 minutes are wasted wondering hmmm.... what am I in the mood for? It sounds little, but it's actually very nice to get that time back in your day. Plus you probably have a full Pinterest board full of food that you've been wanting to try, so if not now then when?

Related: 5 productivity lists you need to be making

Saves you money

This is even bigger than the previous point. I mean, time is money, right?? This was a big factor of why I started doing this. Think about it, if you don't know what you're going to eat in a week then you usually will just go to the grocery store and throw things in your cart which you think you might eat at some time in the future. $$$ just flying out your pocket! If you know what you're going to eat in a week, then you'll only buy the ingredients for what you know you'll actually use that week. This is so important because fresh produce will go bad on you if you don't have a plan to use it and it's a waste to buy that box of noodles or whatever if you'll never actually use them.

Two other ways this saves you money. First, is my new found love for Walmart grocery pickup. I started using this during my externship when I was busy all the time and then I realized how much time I was wasting each week grocery shopping! Now I spend like 5 minutes online shopping and another 15 going to pick up my groceries and driving back home. That's only 20 minutes including driving in Houston traffic! Besides this, I spend so much less doing this because I can just type in "soy sauce" or whatever and it has all the different brands at different price points on one page, which is easier to shop than looking at all the shelves and trying to find the matching price tag. Secondly, I spend less money because I'm not aimlessly wandering and subject to temptation. I literally only buy what I will eat that week. Every Saturday evening my fridge and pantry are empty, but I have counted it up and I save about $50 a month just through the Walmart grocery app.

Related: Walmart grocery pickup review

The second way meal planning saves you money is that you can better use rebate apps with them. What you do is take what you know you'll need for the week, scroll through the apps to see if the ingredients are featured, and choose your ingredient based off the app. Basically, Brand A and Brand B can be within 10 cents of each other but Brand B gives you a 50-cent rebate for choosing it. Now your decision just got easier and you made a little money! It's basically like coupons except instead of savings, it's cold hard cash added to your Venmo or PayPal account! I use both Checkout 51 and Ibotta to do this! Not only do they give you a sign-up bonus, but through strategically using them, you can get like $50 a month using them. For me, this means I get about a week's worth of groceries for free (because I only buy a week at a time, I don't spend much at the grocery store). You can use this in reverse as well, and can look to see what items are featured and then go look up recipes that call for those ingredients and then you can really maximize you cash back if almost every thing you buy is giving you a rebate.

Related: Why you should use Checkout 51 and Ibotta if you live with your S.O.

Saves you pounds

It's true! Even if you try to eat "healthy" fast food, it's still fast food! Low-calorie or low-carb options still have a ton of preservatives and other stuff, so you're not helping your body at all. Abs are made in the kitchen, remember? Get in the habit of making meals for yourself! A homemade burger is still at least healthier than a to-go burger because you know what it is made from and when it was made. I think you'll be surprised just how easy it is to keep from gaining weight or even just feeling blah once you get used to making your own food. And if you have it planned that you're only going to eat healthy food, and the only food available in your house is healthy, then you're stuck to eat healthy and what do you know now you're in a good habit of grabbing blueberries instead of Oreos when you have the late-night munchies!

Related: How losing weight has saved me money

Plus, I always feel a sense of accomplishment like hell yeah I made that! when I take something out of the oven. Even if it doesn't turn out that great, at least I'm practicing and trying to get better so I won't end up being 35 and can't boil water so I'm put on a "worse cooks" reality show, right? Bonus points because now you can put "cooking" as a hobby of yours when someone asks and now you seem interesting.

Look, I remember when academic support suggest to us my 1L year that we make-ahead and freeze PB&J's so that we can focus on studying instead of providing nutrients for our body. That stressed me out, big time. I'm not saying you have to go that extreme! All I'm saying is that a little thought on the weekend can make the rest of your week just a little bit easier, which I'm sure we can all agree is a welcome idea in law school. Just try it out for a week and if anything, maybe you have a good idea of what to do when you get busy around finals and grocery shopping stressed you out because you think of what else you could be doing with that time (or maybe that's just me?). It's worth a shot!

let's be friends!

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Money Mistakes You Can Avoid as a Law Student

Happy July everyone! Today I am SO excited to feature a new and amazing blogger from Legally Blonde and Broke! I always get so excited when I see a new law school blog, but then am disappointed when they never post a second post 😔 But not this blog!! Not only is she posting lots of new content, she's posting some great content, too. Like today, where she's taking over ze blog and is talking all about 6 things you can do to avoid spending too much money in law school!

You can find her on 

Legally Blonde & Broke

Pinterest

Twitter

A little bit about today's writer,

Current Law School: Northwestern School of Law (Chicago)

Undergraduate: University of Wisconsin Madison

Major: Political Science

Minor: Social Work

The first year of law school can cause be stressful enough with your studies alone, but when you factor in your expenses and bills, you may worry as to how you are going to make ends meet. The ABA restricts first year students from working more than 20 hours a week - if at all. Trying to pay bills while working minimal hours can be nearly impossible. While student loans are always an option, borrowing the least amount as possible is always desirable. You don’t want to graduate law school with a significant amount of debt. Many law students make common money mistakes that are highly avoidable, spending much more than is truly necessary. Here some proven tips that can help you save money and stress less about your finances in law school.

Don’t Buy Coffee Every Morning

During my first semester of law school, I bought coffee from Starbucks almost every morning. While I did not get the most expensive thing on the menu, I was still spending around $5 a day on coffee. When you think about it – this can add up to around $700 a semester.  

One way you can avoid this is to buy coffee from the grocery store. I am pretty picky with my coffee and prefer iced coffee or cold brew every morning. Almost every grocery store carries a variety of iced coffee (and other specialty drinks) for around $5 a container. I typically use one container a week and was able to save around $20 a week just by switching to grocery store coffee. I still buy Starbucks brand coffee (which in my opinion tastes the same as from the actual café) but don’t spend nearly as much as I used to.

Rent Your books Instead of Purchasing Them

One mistake that a lot of first year students make is to buy brand new law books. These books can range anywhere from $150-300 per book. While the idea of getting a brand new, crisp textbook might be enticing – it is not worth it. 

Rental books are a fraction of the cost and are usually in great condition (I have never had a problem with a book). On top of this, many times rental books are lightly highlighted with the important rules and details from cases. This gave me a great idea of what to look out for when I was reading a case and allowed me to take notes a lot more efficiently. 

Related: How to rent law school books and Where to get the best deals on law school books

Look for a roommate instead of living alone

If you go to school in a big city, then you know just how expensive rent can be. Studio and one-bedroom apartments are some of the most expensive apartments on the market. Despite their smaller size, living with a roommate(s) is far cheaper. 

While looking for apartments in Chicago, I was able to cut my rent in half by living with one other person. 1-bedroom apartments were around $1800, while 2-bedroom apartments (that were much nicer) were around $1000/person. 

With that being said, make sure you find a roommate that will be easy to live with and allow you to study without any significant distractions. Living with someone in law school is a lot different than living with someone in college.

Even better than getting an apartment, if your parents live close enough to your law school, live at home for a year or two. This can save you thousands of dollars on rent, food, and necessities. But make sure to budget for the commute because this can add up as well.

Related: How to get free rent in law school 

Apply for scholarships offered by your law school 

While it seems like an obvious piece of advice, almost 80% of the students at my law school did not apply for scholarships that were offered throughout the year.  Typically, firms and organizations will send your school scholarship opportunities that are offered exclusively to your school or your area. Most scholarships are easy to apply for and are well worth your time.

Many students are deterred from scholarships that require a personal statement or letters of recommendation. One thing I did was obtain generic letters of recommendation from my professors that I was able to use for multiple scholarships. I also wrote a personal statement that was versatile enough to be slightly tweaked to be used over and over again. Often these scholarships will have little competition and you will have a much higher chance of getting them (& many times they offer more money).

Related: How to negotiate your law school scholarships and Where to find law school scholarships 

Work Every Winter and Summer Break

Most law students are able to find great opportunities for summer break but choose not to work while they have off for a month in the winter. Even if it is not with a law firm, working at any job while you are off of school for a month can help you save a significant amount of money. You may feel as though you would rather have a break from work and school than make money. If this is the case, then maybe choose to work part time. You can still save a good amount of money and it will keep you from feeling over-worked while you have off from school. 

What I did my first and second year was work every Friday throughout the school year (because I did not have class on Friday), as well as full time throughout winter and summer break. At times, I will admit that I felt tired and sick of working, but without it I would have struggled to pay my bills or even have the funds to have fun with my friends. 

Save, Save, Save

Law school can be a truly difficult time financially. While many of your friends have already started their careers, it can be difficult to budget and make money when you need to focus so much on school. These simple tips can help you save a significant amount of money without having to give up your favorite things. Remember to budget and plan for expenses you plan to incur. Trust me, your future self will thank you. 

Related: How to make money in law school 

Margherita Pizza

I've mentioned before how I've almost completely abandoned fast food and instead cook at home, so today I'm sharing what I made last night. 

Please note: this is a cheap and easy way to make pizza. You can spend more time, effort, and money making it fresher and more authentic. This recipe is for lazy college kids. Enjoy!

Time: 12 minutes (prep/cooking)
Servings: 3-4 (depending on how hungry you are)
Suggested music enjoyment: Drake's Views is now on Spotify!

Ingredients

Pre-made pizza crust ($3) 

Mozzarella slices ($2)

Basil ($2)

Tomato ($1)

Sauce ($2) 

Olive oil ($4)

Total Cost: $14 for enough ingredients to make two large pizzas, and still have leftovers to make spaghetti or whatever you can come up with. (FYI this recipe is only for 1 pizza)

Step One

Pre-heat your oven to 450°

While this is heating up, place the crust on a cookie sheet (or a pizza stone if you're *fancy*)  and drizzle with a little of the olive oil. I also add a little olive oil on the bottom just because I'm afraid it will stick, but I have no evidence that it will even stick if you don't do this so you can skip this at your own risk.

Then, add a thin layer of your sauce and spread it around evenly. Because you put actual tomatoes on here, if you get a little sauce happy, this will end up very tomato-y!

Once you're to 450, cook just the crust and sauce for about 5 minutes.

Step Two

While this is cooking, start cutting up your cheese, tomato, and basil. I'm lazy so I just take 3 slices of cheese and cut them into 1/4s. You can choose to slice your tomato, but I prefer to dice them because because I feel like that's too big of bites for me. You can either cut up the basil, or just tear it if you're feeling a little lazy. For this pizza, I used about 3 leaves because that was all that I had left.

Step Three

After the five minutes is up, pull out the crust and add the cheese. Cook this for about 3 minutes.

Next, add your tomato and basil. Cook this for only about a minute, just to warm them up. 

After that, all that's left is to let it cool for just a smidgen and then slice it up. Moscato goes great with this, but then again, moscato goes great with everything :)

Reheating Instructions

This makes a large pizza, but I'm only one girl. When I'm cutting the pizza, I go ahead and cut it up into all of the slices at once so I don't have to dirty up my little slicer later on. Then I separate the pizza into portions and store them separately because it makes me feel like one of those my-life-is-totally-put-together, look-how-fit-I-am meal prepping girls.

I save my slices with the crust sides up because that's the way I reheat it. To get the crusts to be crispy when you reheat it, avoid the microwave because it'll just make them soggy. Instead, pull out the trusty George Foreman grill that everyone seems to get as a graduation present. I reheat mine like this (panini style) for about 5 minutes. You have to kinda separate out the ingredients off of each other once it's done, but then it seriously tastes like you just pulled it out of the oven fresh.