Low-budget life

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 7 May 2012, 19:04

I am opening this topic because my situation is as follows:

- I am a full-time student in a university of applied sciences. In Finland students (at this grade) get student allowance 298,00€/month plus the government pays 80% of the rent (up to 201,60€).
- My apartment costs 350,00€/month so that means (350,00€ - 201,60€ =) 148,40€ of the rent I have to pay "myself" from the student allowance, and that means I have about (298,00€ - 148,40€ = ) 149,60€ for living per month.
- Other running costs I have are phone bill (~20€/month) and electricity (~23€/month). This means my monthly budget decreases into (149,60€ - 20€ - 23€ =) 106,60€.
- I am also working part-time in a software company. Last month I did not have anything to do though, so I did not get any extra money from there. But I do have some left-overs from earlier so my budget is:

137€ /month

It has been defined that to be able to live a life worthy of a human being one would need a budget of ~400€ per month (in Finland). Clearly I am missing 263€ from that amount, so I'm like 1/3 of a human being I guess. But the point of this topic is not to complain about my poor situation or anything like that. Rather, I have been making some calculations and made a system for myself to track my daily budget. My average daily budget is 4,566€ and if I don't use all that money they are added in the next day's budget ofc. Today my budget is 7,98€ and haven't used it at all. The more I did the calculations the more I became aware that I can do just fine. I already bought 8 beers for Friday and also some cigarettes and I still got plenty of money "to survive" (meaning I can afford food every day). So I came to a conclusion that 400€ per month is bullshit. No one needs (or deserves) that much money per month if they don't work. There are people in Finland who live only by welfare which means they have about 400€ per month to waste and they do nothing for the money (except filling forms for different institutions). Students are not eligible for this assistance. Again, I don't want to make this topic about complaining but to everyone to think about how you use money and what really are the things you need to live. I have 137e this month and I'm not even sad about it. I'm not craving for more money or starving or being miserable or anything like that. As I said, I'll do just fine.

So, what kind of a life do you live? How much money do you have free to spend after paying your rent, phone bill, electricity, Internet etc. per month? Do you think you could live with just 137€ per month? I had Spotify premium and a mobile Internet but now I got rid of both and I save 20€/month which is quite much considering my budget. What expenses could you possibly cut out if your budget got decreased to quite minimum?

I want to also state that I could easily borrow money from my friends or ask from my parents etc. but I don't want to do it. The more I think about this kind of a low-budget life the more I get aroused by it and I definitely want to try this out.

Igge · Post by **Igge** » 7 May 2012, 19:34

Your logic is somewhat flawed though, as it is assuming nothing ever goes wrong in your life. That you don't get sick, your computer doesn't break, your phone doesn't get lost etc.

Ont: I get by on very little money myself. I actually dislike buying new things, despite having a pretty decent amount of money to spend. Whenever I see something that would be neat to have, even if it is like $5, I'm always kinda reluctant to buy it. I keep telling myself I might as well wait until it's cheaper, or get by with not having one at all. Pretty much the only thing I buy is food, and sometimes alcohol/pot. Other than that I have everything I need.

roope · Post by **roope** » 7 May 2012, 20:02

It's kinda annoying when you don't have any money and don't have any idea when you're gonna get some. My old apartment's rent was 470€/month while I only get 420€/month from Kela (social insurance institution of Finland). Now I moved to a new place (same building but smaller apartment) and the rent is 117€ cheaper. Anyway haven't enjoyed the extra money I got (some 67€) because I paid some bills. My dad pays my phone bill and broadband, but he's having a rough time too financially so I can't ask for anything more. Been eating at friends' a couple of times a week for a few months now. Usually something like potatoes and fishsticks home, good and cheap but getting a bit bored of teh.
Alcohol is bad when you have no money, because you (at least I) feel like drinking because being poor sucks. So sometimes when I do get some extra money, I spend too much of it in beer D:

Well, at least I graduate in June and should get some money from relatives. Also got a job where I occasionally rake someones yard etc, but I would like something more permanent. Just applied for a job at a restaurant like 150m from where I live, keep y0 thumbs up o,o

edit: oh and yeh I've had some misfortune too during the last months. First burned my hands, 2nd degree burns and almost needed skin transplants. Luckily the hands healed well so didn't need that, but the hospital took it's share of my budget. Later I chipped my tooth while eating bread and had to go get that fixed.

edit2: this situation also makes me hate Raven even more, borrowed him some money last fall but he hasn't answered my messages or anything since. I've accepted the fact that I'll never gonna get that money back. Also made me not loan any money to anyone in any situation.

Kopaka · Post by **Kopaka** » 7 May 2012, 20:12

I am also studying and on "student allowance" which is quite a bit more in denmark though. Around some 600e after taxes atm., rent help only some 10% though, but still I end up with more.

I pay around 300e for rent after the rent help. Then around 80-90e for electricity/internet/tv. So maybe 220e left.

I usually budget around 33e for food a week, so that's just around those 137e a month, so if I wanna buy something I make sure to have 66e if there's two weeks left of the month for example. But that never works, as igge said it's assuming nothing ever goes wrong, but it's also assuming that you never want to do something like go to a bar, travel somewhere by train or whatever, or buy new stuff. There will always be some random stuff that comes up that you maybe not NEED to buy but that might recude your life to just sitting at home all the time if you didn't.

I have some savings from random stuff aswell as the possibility to borrow up to 350e a month from govornment a month for a cheap rate while studying. I make use of both often, in part because there is a lot of things I like to buy (new comp stuff, bike, magazine subscribtion etc.), but also because there are many months where 220e just doesn't cut it when some things come up.

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 8 May 2012, 08:30

Thing is that money and wealth is a relative thing indeed. You have the different situations Jappe was talking about. You have governments which cut you some slack with expenses for healthcare or not. Then you have the social pressure of your class which makes you feel the need that you have to buy this or that. You'll be still living by the end of the year if you only eat bread and drink water.

Your topic made me think about my expenses. They've steadily be growing more and more as my budget rose. But I know how it feels to have about €150e per month to live on. I still found money to drink beer. You cook for multiple days, you buy shoes once a 3 years, you don't go bars except when there's a student party, you don't eat out, you buy people cheap presents.

Bjenn · Post by **Bjenn** » 8 May 2012, 12:41

I make almost 1462 € each month with my job. My rent is on 360 €. And other bills on maybe 100 €.
That makes me have ~1000 € for use each month with food and stuff. I save most of those money on my spare bank account.
Most of my expenses is food. Other than that I'm not really living life. But if I want to go out and have some fun with friends etc I can do it without any thoughts of economy. I had ~790 € each month (benefit money and mostly loan) when I studied in university and managed to save 3300 € from that into my spare account in those 2 years.
Then I could manage my half year after as workless pretty good. Still, it was not so fun to live on saved moneys =)

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 8 May 2012, 17:48

I have to admit it maybe was a bit short-sighted to state that 400€/month is bullshit, because of course in the long run all the things you own have been bought from that budget. I for example had some food in the fridge from the 'better days', spices, flour etc. All these have been bought when my budget was much higher and I don't have to spend this budget on those now. If I were to live on this budget let's say a year, maybe then the true nature of this kind of life would reveal itself. Also I have no actual pressure to live with this money because I know that if I, for some reason, were to spend too much money I can always ask for more and it will be on my bank account within 2 days. And as jappe said there are millions of people living in different kind of situations. However, I would consider myself to be in a quite average situation and it just really seems there is plenty of money to waste with 400€ monthly budget.

It is also true that my 'theory' assumes that nothing ever goes wrong. But, first of all I think the health care should be free and not to be taken from nor included in one's monthly budget. During the last 10 years I remember visiting a doctor 3 times, and it cost me maybe like 40e, so monthly amount for that purpose doesn't really fit in in the 'necessities'. And my bike is a wreck. It's unusable and I can't afford a new one. Neither can I afford public transportation so I walk everywhere I want to go. Luckily everything where I need to be is within 5km so it is not that bad. Also, maybe a month ago my chair broke and now I just sit on a small Ikea table. I can't afford a new chair. I could've chosen to buy a new one instantly when the chair broke because I had money back then. Dunno why I didn't buy it and now I must wait at least 1 month or maybe even more. So these kind of things happen of course, but I'm just living with it. Apparently it is not necessary for me to have a bike or a chair. The worst thing that could happen is that my computer completely broke down. Then I'd be forced to get some money from somewhere to fix it.

And like Kopaka mentioned, I have too the possibility to get a study loan. I have also taken advantage of this, total of ~9k €. But I decided to put an end to it now. It has gotten me things like a new computer ~800€, new monitor ~300€, a dishwasher ~350€, music equipment ~400€... and these are the things I feel like are important to me. The rest of that money is just gone... to something completely irrelevant. Of course, I have probably enjoyed the money and I do enjoy things I already gave up, like Spotify premium and mobile internet, but I just don't want to take more loan to be able to afford these. It is sure that I can't be visiting any bars or nightclubs during this low-budget 'project' I might say, but I don't think that's important. It seems like these three things are the only things that are changing in my life. I can still drink beer and have fun with friends and all that shit, but not at expensive nightclubs. Maybe I am a little bit optimistic about this, but we'll see. If you are interested more in this thing, I set up a site where you can see my monthly/daily budget and the things I have spent money on, you can find it here: http://oktobia.org/lowbudgetlife/.

Kopaka · Post by **Kopaka** » 8 May 2012, 20:31

Nice way to keep track of your budget. I used to just remember in my head how much I'd used on food so far a given week, and that went pretty well. But having lived on mentioned budget for soon four years now I've become a bit more nonchalant, had hoped to have more left of my savings when I was done studying, but I just don't orka living on that tight a budget anymore.

400e sounds like plenty of money indeed, but I guess if you are suddenly out of job and get this it will seem like very little and then there's different political reasons or whatever.

Thundr- · Post by **Thundr-** » 8 May 2012, 22:18

Its funny how you can go from one situation to another in a matter of an instant when it comes to economy. Me and my fiancé lived the entire year of 2011 with a collective sum of 800€ each month minus rent, internet, electiricy, cat necessities and whatnot ending up in about less than 100€ to have "fun" for, which usually just burned up into car/gas money or better quality in the food we were eating a few times a month. Also this what you mentioned about assuming that nothing goes wrong. Oh god how afriad we were that something would break like the car, computer and stuff, which also happened from time to time regretfully inevitably, resulting in having to loan money from friends/parents.

Then both of us scored a fulltime job simultainously (both at the same place, no collage or even high school education needed just a good "personality") working only evening/night shifts hence getting a lot of uncomfortable-working-times-bonus each day. Also opportunities to work weekends for that 100% extra payment bonus each week.

And now we have a collective sum of ~2500-3000€ after rent and all that machizzle i mentioned is payed at the end of each month/payment period to have fun with.

I got a bill today that i have to pay back 2200€ at the end of the month of my student loan i took a few years back. Usually this would be fucking devastating. Imagine getting this when you have only that spare 100€ each month..

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 9 May 2012, 12:08

I'm beginning to fall into this category now.

I'm full time studying with NO allowance from the government (because Australian government is idiots.) and with monthly expenses:

$3 travel a day (public transport. I can use car and cost ~$5)
$9 for daily food or sometimes $10/$8.50 depending on what i choose.
$15 once weekly for indoor soccer match fee.
$29 once monthly for phone
$99999 for electricity/internets (parents pay.)

This amounts to ~$425 per month bare minimum. I get NONE allowance from the government so i must work as well as full time studying and i'm only able to do a maximum of ~24 hours a month there.

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 9 May 2012, 13:52

That seems pretty bad. How is it supposed to work there, if you want to study you just gonna have to do whatever shit job to earn money for living or your parents pay or you live with them? Few years ago I applied to some nab jobs I found and didn't get any of them so to me working wasn't an option for getting money. Ofc I could have applied to some telemarketing company, there are tons of places available but it's just pure shit, I will never degrade myself into it. I'd rather live on the budget I have now or quit studying. Also there is no way my parents could afford paying my rent and living. How about people who aren't studying nor have a place to work, what kind of assistance do they get down there?

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 9 May 2012, 17:00

Ville_J wrote:That seems pretty bad. How is it supposed to work there, if you want to study you just gonna have to do whatever shit job to earn money for living or your parents pay or you live with them? Few years ago I applied to some nab jobs I found and didn't get any of them so to me working wasn't an option for getting money. Ofc I could have applied to some telemarketing company, there are tons of places available but it's just pure shit, I will never degrade myself into it. I'd rather live on the budget I have now or quit studying. Also there is no way my parents could afford paying my rent and living. How about people who aren't studying nor have a place to work, what kind of assistance do they get down there?

This is why aussie government is idiots, because they refuse to help people pay while studying. Mind you that's not factoring in the fees for the tuition itself, which is a hefty fee of ~20,000 i'll be paying off starting in 4 years time. Australia benefits largely from immigration and multiculturalism and this refusing to help students out basically rules australia out as a place to study abroad for all the asian students, which is idiot.

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 12 May 2012, 11:51

Yesterday I bought 8 beers from a shop, and now that I checked the receipt to log the data on to the site I see that the bitch has charged me for 9 beers. THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS! I'm on a low budget and now they are charging me something that I didn't even have. I also bought some crisps at the same time so the price made sense. From now on I will definitely be more careful and checking the receipts immediately. I don't think they will believe me if I go back to the shop with the receipt and tell them I only had 8 beers.

Nonetheless it was a very fun fun Friday as usual.

Lousku · Post by **Lousku** » 12 May 2012, 11:54

Steal one to compensate. :]

Igge · Post by **Igge** » 12 May 2012, 12:03

Always check your receipt before leaving the store. That's just common sense.

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 12 May 2012, 12:14

Yeah maybe that is but I don't know anyone who actually does that. I mean it really takes time go through a receipt where you spent for example 20e and all these different groceries. A quick glance through can ofc be made easily to check that it is at least somewhat right. Here it doesn't just read 9x beer, there are five lines that read beer and then 6th line with the same beer and under it 4x so it isn't too easy to spot.

anpdad · Post by **anpdad** » 12 May 2012, 12:27

It has been defined that to be able to live a life worthy of a human being one would need a budget of ~400€ per month (in Finland).

Probably a dumb question, but does it mean you have to pay rent (and pay for other stuff like electricity) out of these 400e or they're excluded from this sum? Because clearly you're getting almost 100e more than this amount, it's just that half of it gets spent on your apartment (and you can't spend it on anything else, but it doesnt matter, since you would've had to spend so much anyway, even if university just added 201.60e to your student allowance).

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 12 May 2012, 12:42

It means you have 400e after rent (not sure if electricity, internet connection, phone bill etc. included) and that's what others than students get. As I said I have about 1/3 of this amount, not 100e more =)

anpdad · Post by **anpdad** » 12 May 2012, 13:27

yeah, now it makes sense, thanks for clarification:)
also low-budget life rocks:p

Zweq · Post by **Zweq** » 12 May 2012, 15:36

i think 200e is easily enough, at least after acquiring some basic storage like people mentioned, spices and spoons, yes many spoons very important. some basic potato+salmon meal is liek under 2e, selfmade pizza meal under 3e. 400e sounds like the usual smoker-drinker-cool-person, who spends most of his time complaining on yellow pages comment page about salaries and taxes

Bismuth · Post by **Bismuth** » 14 May 2012, 08:19

I read the first few posts, and that thing, student allowance, wow. I don't know if you've heard of it (99% sure not) but here in Quebec, half of the students are in a strike stretching for about 14 weeks now, because the government is raising tuition fees by almost double within ~5 years. Right now it costs about 2100$ just to go to university, in five years it will be about 3700$. And what do they give to students who have wealthy parents who don't want to pay for their studies? Nothing. They gotta work full-time and get 40000$ of debt before the age of 25. Real fucking way to go. And the government says "you're so spoiled, look at the US, it's much more expensive, we have the lowest costs in Canada, we have to catch up!". Yeah, because the Mighty United States of America are SUCH AN EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW, look at how great the country is doing. Meanwhile, our natural resources are being thrown out of windows for the mining corporations to take for free. Shit like this makes me want to live in Sweden.

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 14 May 2012, 09:25

Bismuth wrote:I read the first few posts, and that thing, student allowance, wow. I don't know if you've heard of it (99% sure not) but here in Quebec, half of the students are in a strike stretching for about 14 weeks now, because the government is raising tuition fees by almost double within ~5 years. Right now it costs about 2100$ just to go to university, in five years it will be about 3700$. And what do they give to students who have wealthy parents who don't want to pay for their studies? Nothing. They gotta work full-time and get 40000$ of debt before the age of 25. Real fucking way to go. And the government says "you're so spoiled, look at the US, it's much more expensive, we have the lowest costs in Canada, we have to catch up!". Yeah, because the Mighty United States of America are SUCH AN EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW, look at how great the country is doing. Meanwhile, our natural resources are being thrown out of windows for the mining corporations to take for free. Shit like this makes me want to live in Sweden.

Uni in australia is about 4 times that cost.

Lousku · Post by **Lousku** » 14 May 2012, 09:39

Uni in Finland is about 0 times that cost.

8-ball · Post by **8-ball** » 14 May 2012, 11:34

in UK minimum tuition now is 9000 pounds per year. problem canada?

Bismuth · Post by **Bismuth** » 20 May 2012, 18:32

The thing, and most people supporting the hikes don't understand that, is that maybe it's not BETTER to have it cost 50000$, and maybe it actually is better to have it cost less like in what, half of Europe? Those old babyboomers everywhere in the medias going "spoiled brats, go to the States you motherfuckers" and it sickens me. That stupid way of thinking: "hey, you're not the worst, so why the fuck complain?" yeah because you want to compare with the WORST. Anyway.

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 21 May 2012, 07:07

Bismuth wrote:The thing, and most people supporting the hikes don't understand that, is that maybe it's not BETTER to have it cost 50000$, and maybe it actually is better to have it cost less like in what, half of Europe? Those old babyboomers everywhere in the medias going "spoiled brats, go to the States you motherfuckers" and it sickens me. That stupid way of thinking: "hey, you're not the worst, so why the fuck complain?" yeah because you want to compare with the WORST. Anyway.

Had to read this several times to follow your thinking here.

In Australia, at least, studying in tertiary qualifications costs a lot because we get a huge amount of asian immigrants come to study here because of opportunities. We have a huge amount of chinese/indian/sri lankan etc. people come over and study here and there's only a certain amount of places. The prices go up in order for the universities to build more infrastructure so they can take more students and then the problem repeats itself, so the prices stay high.

There is also a definite shortage in Australia of labour-workers like plumbers, electricians etc. so they are attempting to push the masses in that direction. Add into that we currently (for some 18mths more) have a Labour government, and you are left with very few people who are actively trying to encourage education. Looks atm that in 18mths the government will be voted out in favour of a liberal government, and it'll begin to swing the other way, but prices will go up at first to try and accommodate for the increased number of studiers.

I forgot to mention in earlier post about my budget that a) i don't yet pay for fuel for my car, which is approx $1.70USD per litre in Australia and b) don't pay rent which is some $250p/w if you get a crappy room. I don't understand how people can do it on such low income jobs.

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 4 Jun 2012, 15:59

So.. the month is over and I made it! It was quite easy as I expected, but of course it wasn't actually very fun. Also, nothing unexpected came up. I visited bars two times during this period, but my friends bought me maybe 4 beers there so it was free for me. I was not asking anyone to buy me anything, also refused couple of times but they really wanted to support me. They were willing to give me even more and that was actually getting a bit annoying when they wouldn't take no for an answer. Very kind people, much respect to all of them.

What I am missing now is a new pair of shoes (should also buy new running shoes) and a new coat. Maybe next month I can afford those because I've been doing some work stuff this month and it seems like I can work there full-time from now on, at least during the summer. But the paycheck comes at the end of this month and it's not helping yet, so my budget for this month is

128€

That is 10€ less than last month, not that bad. But I just received a letter from my bank that they are going to charge interest on my student loan this month, 55€. I'll give them a call and ask if they could postpone it to next month so I can pay it when I get my paycheck. Hopefully they can accept it. The place where I work has a restaurant and they offer lunch for 2,60€ for students. I'm not sure if I can afford eating there every day because I still need to eat again when I come home and it gets quite expensive to eat a proper meal two times a day! Well, good luck for me, I updated the site and you can switch through the months. But I'm hoping this is the last month I'm doing low-budget, after that I will probably write some more about what I possibly learned or something.

Edit: Oh and I forgot to mention: someone owes me money almost 400€. I've been in contact to this person and am expecting a payment. I'm not going to get it all at once, but maybe a smaller payment during this month.

Lousku · Post by **Lousku** » 4 Jun 2012, 16:26

Good going, man. It's interesting to follow your budget on the site.

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 5 Jun 2012, 14:45

Am have income increase atm! Personal income raise from $240 per month to $580 per month (Doing more work and also tutoring a high school student in maths one time in week) but the doubled hours in original job probably not going to last very long because too many hours to work and study at same time.

But yeah, now am earning profits instead of losing money in bank. At least for a time. I also looking for new job with higher payrate (my current 12h/w job only earning me $10 per hour when minimal wage in australia is legal $18 per hour. Maybe stack supermarket shelf or something very fun such as that. Don't mind working cause it's easy easy shit.

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 11 Jun 2012, 13:14

Oops, dunno how pasibel but I noticed that my this months budget is actually 20€ less than I thought, 107€. Not a very nice surprise but good that I noticed it at this point. Well, my friend is going to pay me back 26€ which I loaned to him like a year ago so it helps. But I don't think I will be getting any from the other source which mentioned in my earlier post, it's kind of frustrating to think that I should actually have over 500€ (re-counted the sum and it was a lot bigger than I thought) more but I don't have it because someone is being an irresponsible low-moral person who won't even discuss with me about paying me that. I'm sending her one more email today and the next step is that I contact my union's lawyers (it's work related payment, not with the place where I am currently working) and see if things start to sort out then. Exciting!

Zweq · Post by **Zweq** » 11 Jun 2012, 13:26

hmm used 20e in 2 weeks, but had some shit in freezer

im starting to think how to even use over 100 in a month?

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 11 Jun 2012, 13:36

Start drinking and smoking!

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 11 Jun 2012, 22:37

Start working at different places, start saying yes to all kinds of social invites. Money flows like hell. It's incredible, I tell you, how easy it goes.

Grace · Post by **Grace** » 12 Jun 2012, 10:15

Have over $350 right now in my wallet. Go figure :S Could last me to end of year almost if i'm especially frugal but i'm have a little bit more leeway right now. Positive!

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 12 Jun 2012, 14:52

Hehe yeah I've also been counting how big my paycheck will be and I'm already like where to put it all. It's like 1000% increase to my current budget so..

Maybe I will first buy new shoes at least, but I certainly won't be spending the rest of the money to expensive bar nights etc. I have already learned that it is not worth it and knowing how much money you can waste if you just don't care... I will definitely still try to plan the expenses as I have done during these low-budget months. But yeah I'm sure I will buy more (useless stuff) and not care that much, but I won't be going back to my earlier habits of not thinking twice about buying an item if it doesn't cost more than 20€.

ville_j · Post by **ville_j** » 25 Jun 2012, 15:54

So it's only few days left of this thing. Last week it occurred to me that my paycheck comes on Friday 29th so I adjusted the daily budget to that (earlier it was counted till 4th July) and it has been quite decent budget once again. Lately I've been buying more and more things, I'm loosening up a bit about what I'm getting and bought some "extra, nice to have" things (other than beer too, which I've always felt I can afford

). At the moment I am hardly thinking about this situation, I got probably enough food for the rest of the week and other nice things. The following months I should be on quite a nice budget so this project will be discontinued, but I think we can still discuss about money (related problems) and how you use it, in this topic.

niN · Post by **niN** » 29 Jun 2012, 13:49

I have stretched my budget TO THE MAX... I have 0 cash now and debts way over my head.

At least I have a job and a place to stay and eat in Iceland starting from tomorrow!

roope · Post by **roope** » 29 Jun 2012, 20:48

I'm glad my poor days are over. Lived the whole June well with my graduation money, and now I have an ok job too with enough salary to continue the good life. Very nice to not have to think when you can eat and what)

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 30 Oct 2012, 22:35

My low-budget started at the end of August. I earn about 800e a month, and 400 goes to rent, 70 to healthcare, 20 to phone, and 6 to charity. Compared to Ville earlier, my budget is still quite high, I see. But I find it hard to not spend everything. I try to save every receipt I have, and to check every month's expenses - so as to see if my bank account is shrinking or growing, but currently my savings are still shrinking.

twipley · Post by **twipley** » 30 Oct 2012, 22:40

anpdad wrote:also low-budget life rocks:p

you're saying it.

poverty is only psychic!

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 30 Oct 2012, 23:20

Living poor is hard, if you want so many things in your life. Like eat healthy for example. That's expensive. I can't imagine living on only 100e a month. That's really hard.

twipley · Post by **twipley** » 31 Oct 2012, 01:37

Sure, I forgot eating "healthy." Which is important to me.

My goal in life is to get rid of cars, although being able to eat anything healthy I want.

In that respect, I would have to be rich in order to do what I want.

Although I'm not into that trend where people buy useless things -- that's moron. (I guess such people are not that common, though.)

8-ball · Post by **8-ball** » 31 Oct 2012, 10:18

As a student starting next year in Scotland I'll be living on approx 200 GBP per month (after paying rent). Should be ez!

Morgan · Post by **Morgan** » 31 Oct 2012, 10:30

Interesting topic... I had few months with lower budget than Ville_J but usually its almost equal
I'm also full-time student. I live like 5 mins of walk from university.
I monthly pay:
270 zł for room in dormitory (electricity, internet, water, heating, ..., everything included in this low price!)
like 250 zł for food
150 zł for fun (beers, parties, poker, etc)
maybe 100 zł dunno what for...(travels to home, two times in month)
in Gdańsk (city where is my university) i dont use buses or taxi, i walk

1 euro = 4,12 zł according to todays value
so its sum up to something like 185e

In next month I will receive like 450 zł maintenance grant (monthly, from october to may - full student year) so my own costs are much lower (like 78e).

teajay · Post by **teajay** » 31 Oct 2012, 10:47

185e seems like really low-budget, but when I check your prices, I see my budget is not really better. My rent is half of my budget and your rent is almost a third. So I would have to earn at least 1000 to match with that. Strange how that works