An insight I've gained since transitioning to graduate school would be budgeting, along with making smarter financial decisions as a student. Because I’ve been living off campus for over 3 years now, I've gotten used to observing my credit card statements and limiting my expenses to only purchasing the necessary and important things.
For example, when I initially moved off campus, I was too lazy to learn how to cook and would frequently order food from Uber Eats or DoorDash. I would order food at least 2 or 3 times a week instead of making my own meals, which added significantly to my expenses due to inevitable taxes and delivery charges. Looking back, I realize that these were most certainly not the best choices I've made. I could have saved a ton of money just by going grocery shopping and cooking simple meals.
Overall, I’ve noticed that graduate school is a lot less time consuming compared to when I was getting my bachelor’s degree, as there are less courses to take. Now that I have a little more time on my hands, I’ve started to prepare and cook healthy meals for myself at home instead of constantly ordering delivery food. There are actually many cooking websites with great recipes that are easy to follow for beginners! I would say I order food once a week at the most now – occasionally going out to grab a meal with friends as a little treat for myself also – but I stick to making my own meals most of the time.