For those of you who have read my goals post, you know that my main financial goal right now is to graduate college with a surplus instead of the US typical debt. Of course, this won’t be easy, but I think that I have a very good plan laid out for me to attempt it. Doing so is going to require that I not only make a good amount of money, but also that I spend very little money, get good scholarships, and finish school as fast as possible.

Making Money

The first thing that I’ll have to do is make money. I have several ways that I plan to do this. First and foremost, I plan on working as a web programmer. I already have a job lined up in Boise at a company called Silverback Learning Solutions. I am going to be moving to Boise very quickly after I graduate from high school, at which point I will start working full time until the college semester begins. I will be doing that during all time off from BSU, so that I can stack up as much cash as possible. During the semester, I will be working half-time, trying to build up money quickly there too. I do not know how much they are going to pay me yet, but I’m sure it will be enough to sustain me. I will also have several other ways that I will attempt to make a little bit of money. First, I will hope to make a little bit off of this blog. I also have another website online, in conjunction with a couple of my friends, at www.the-green-life.org that I hope will also bring in a little bit of cash. I also have a freelance web design business going now, which I started for my senior project, that should make me a little bit of money. I already have one client lined up, and am hoping to get more when I move into Boise. This side income will be fairly easy for me to produce on my free time, and it will earn me some good money.

Save Money

The biggest part of achieving my goal is going to be saving money. I can make all the money I want, but if I spend it all on wasteful things, I’ll never achieve my goal. I plan on saving money in a variety of ways. I’m going to living in an apartment (more on that decision later) that is close enough to both my job and school that I will be able to ride my bike, saving huge on transportation costs. I will also be cooking a lot of my own food, and doing things like making my own ice cream and laundry detergent. I will be doing a lot of things DIY style, in the hopes that I can save a substantial amount of money this way. I will be sharing all the different little ways I save money on this blog, and will be putting up a list of expected expenses soon.

Graduate in Three Years

This is probably the most important part of my plan. I have built up almost 30 credits already while in high school, thanks to AP tests and dual credit programs. I’m going to be taking enough classes that I will be able to graduate in three years, fully making advantage of all those credits I have stored up, even if that means taking classes over winter/summer breaks. This will save me an entire year of college expenses, not to mention get my degree, and thereby higher salaries, one year sooner.