When I confessed on Facebook last week that I have 162 flex points left, the reaction was priceless.

            “Whoa dere,” commented my friend Laurie Breed, one of several innocent Facebook users who stumbled upon my confession. Many people commented with varying degrees of the same sentiment, a vague mixture of incredulousness and jealousy.

            Over the last few days, I’ve talked to a handful of people in the same predicament. One friend had 250 flex points burning a hole in his pocket. Another friend had upwards of 300 flex points last week. Apparently, the frugal Notre Dame student is not as much of a rarity as my Facebook friends originally thought.

           To many a Starbucks connoisseur, the fact that anyone could still have flex points this far into April seems impossible. I mean, if you buy yourself a venti Raspberry White Mocha and a lovely piece of pound cake every day, I’m not surprised that your flex points met their untimely end before midterms rolled around. But for those of us who gave up chocolate or the Huddle or Starbucks or Taco Bell for Lent and are swimming in flex points, I’ve come to your rescue.

Let’s say you have 150 flex points and you’re just dying to get rid of them. Follow my guidance and you’ll be left with zero flex points in no time.

 

Start Your Christmas/School Supply Shopping

            For some of you, if you’ve made it this far in the semester with your flex points, it’s probably because you feel like you have to spend them on logical purchases and not on a daily churro. For you practical folks out there, the best way to spend your overflow of flex points without feeling the onset of buyer’s remorse is to follow your instincts.

            Does your mom love her ground Starbuck’s coffee beans? Buy her three bags of Dark Roast from Starbucks. She’ll never know she should be thanking the University for the gift and not her offspring. 111 flex points to go.

            Do you have a thing for that cute barista? Be brave. Strike up a conversation. Can’t decide between a refreshing peppermint mocha and a calming chai tea latte? Ask your crush what they think. Let your flex points bring you a love connection. 106.

Do you always run out of staples and steal from your roommate? Are you always ripping your papers because you don’t have a hole puncher? Do you throw your papers haphazardly across your desk because you don’t have enough folders? Do you get sick of highlighting everything in yellow? Cheapskate, you no longer have a valid excuse. Stop mooching of others, stop torturing your roommate with your clutter, and go buy every school supply you’ve ever needed from the Huddle. Chances are that you’ll still be left with more flex points than you know what to do with. 85.

 

Make New Friends

            For those of you flex point hoarders who possess the finesse of a graceful social butterfly, use this opportunity to make new friends.

Next time you find yourself standing in the Starbucks line, look at the person behind you who is waiting for his or her own drink. When the time comes to purchase your drink, tell the barista you’d like to buy the drink of the person behind you too. Who knows, you might creep them out or you might brighten their day or you might make a new friend – probably all three.  76.

            That friendly acquaintance of yours in the philo discussion group who always dozes off, you’ve asked her about her narcolepsy many times. She always explains that she never has time to stop by the Huddle to get herself tea in the morning. Thus, regardless of how riveting the discussion, she just can’t manage to keep her eyes open. Come to class one day with the fruitiest, most delicious tea you can find and offer it to your fellow Domer in need of some caffeine. What’s a few less flex points at this point? 75. Or maybe get both of you tea once a week til the end of the year. 69.

            Your roommate has been having a rough day. Her professor has decided to move up a dreaded cumulative exam and she’s completely unprepared. You know, you’ve always wanted to buy one of those jumbo Rice Krispy treats and walk out of the Huddle shamelessly with it in your hands, proudly embracing the freshman fifteen. Now you finally have a compelling reason to do so. 50.

            Make assorted candy bags and leave them around the library with little notes on them, hopefully so that one late night studier will find some solace in an unexpected bag of gummy worms. 40.

 

To Give is Better Than to Receive

            Perhaps the best thing you can do with your flex points is to give to the less fortunate. With all the stress of a college student, it’s easy to buzz through each day without taking the time to stop and be thankful. All around us, in the South Bend area, our country, and our world, there are so many people suffering without the most basic humans amenities. Food, water, and shelter is merely a dream for many of our brothers and sisters across the globe.

 As a few people have pointed out to me, a lot of things can be purchased here on campus with flex points and donated to the South Bend community.

            If you’re looking for a place to donate, consider the Center for the Homeless in South Bend. On their website, they post suggestions for donations that are of immediate and ongoing need to them. Many of these items you can easily buy at the Huddle.

            Take this article with you on your next run to the Huddle and check off items to purchase for the less fortunate in our area:

School Supplies,

Double or triple-edge razors,

Lysol wipes,

Shampoos

Conditioners,

Q-tips,

Band-aids,

Deodorant.

            And then, finally, 0.

 

And Then There Were None

            To whom much is given, much is expected. Enjoy the last month of school in any way you choose, but I implore you to use your wealth of flex points for good instead of evil.

            Soon enough, you too will be devoid of flex points, residing in the painful purgatory that is putting money into your Domer Dollars account. But until then, take up the cause and use your excess of flex points in a quirky, kind, or charitable way.  You’ll be glad you did.