Recycle! (in your dorm room)

                Recycling is a resource conservation habit that people around the world are picking up in order to reduce waste, prevent pollution, and save energy. It is an alternative to waste removal that yields positive financial, environmental, and social results.

                But this blog is about saving money as a college student, and, aside from the very, very small monetary incentive they offer for recycling, there really isn’t a lot of immediate benefit for your wallet (this, however, does not mean you should avoid recycling; for more information, click here). So here is an alternative way to recycle resources within your dorm room that will keep you from shelling out unnecessary cash for products you could reuse: dorm room recycling.

                Jared Coleman, a fellow University of the Cumberlands student, offered a few practical uses for the empty drink containers you undoubtedly have scattered across your room. "The most obvious is just to reuse them," he said. "I do it all the time and I have saved so much." Plastic bottles (like those used for bottled soda, water, or Gatorade) are ideal for refilling and taking on runs, hikes, or to the gym. It is simple but effective, and it saves you the $1.25 you would spend buying bottled water from a vending machine. That adds up quickly (trust me on this one).

                This next option is a bit more creative (and, no doubt, more for the female demographic ), but also a bit more glamorous. Instead of tossing out the glass bottles you have in your room from soda or other perishable products, try making something like this:

                It's a homemade vase, and it would be a great gift for anyone who appreciates hard work, thoughtfulness, and/or money saved. It is simple, tasteful, and, above all, very cheap.

All hands on deck.

                All kinds of items within your dorm room are reusable; plastic bottles can become piggybanks or flower vases, and used paper or cardboard can be a door stop or a prop to fix that wobbly desk. Heck, I even built a boat (not life-sized) out of old Popsicle sticks once and sailed it in the flood after a hard rain. It isn’t hard to get creative with the way you recycle in your dorm room; all it takes is a little time and a lack of money. If you are a college student, I’d say you have both.