Living Expenses. Unrealistic??

[A6project]

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single, no kids, nada

Living expenses per month(except for rent and utilities) in a big city (hmmm let's say SF)

food $440
transportation $111 (no car)
personal misc. $193

reasonable or just too tight ?

 

[wired202808]

single, no kids, nothing. nada

Living expenses per month(except for rent and utilities) in a big city (hmmm let's say SF)

food $440
transportation $111
personal misc. $193

reasonable or just too tight ?

Bump up food to $550 just in case you plan to eat out vs. cooking.
Transportation seems reasonable for somewhere like NYC. Dunno much about SF.
Personal misc is probably fine enough. I personally plan to be super cheap in d-school and when I go out I wont have more than a drink. Nor do I plan to go to Chili's and blow $40 bucks to eat. I'll only be willing to do that at the end of the semester.

 

[coolbeans123]

single, no kids, nothing. nada

Living expenses per month(except for rent and utilities) in a big city (hmmm let's say SF)

food $440
transportation $111
personal misc. $193

reasonable or just too tight ?

Transportation as in car or public?

 

[A6project]

lets do public

 

[dru180]

single, no kids, nada

Living expenses per month(except for rent and utilities) in a big city (hmmm let's say SF)

food $440
transportation $111 (no car)
personal misc. $193

reasonable or just too tight ?

Too tight.

Food:
Even assuming you dont drink alcohol, its just not feasible to think that you will never eat out. You will have a busy schedule, you will be networking, celebrating after tests, dates (hopefully), etc etc.

transportation:
I have no idea, since ive never lived in a city like nyc or sfo, but $111/month aka 27ish per week? Maaaybe- but again, there are lots of variables that will probably require cab fare or public transportation (im sure you will end up needing some sort of public transit pass). Even bikes cost money to maintain.

Personal misc:
Come on....193 per month. Aka $25 per week? You have to shower, buy detergent, clothes, medicine, things to maintain an apt, etc. etc. etc. Some months Im sure you would be able to get away with that, but as a budget? Doubtful!


I've seen lots of your posts about finances. They have been really helpful to me. I just think there is a difference between living frugally while being realistic, and trying to nickel and dime yourself away to misery and failure (budget wise).

 

[MrSummerlin]

I want to go to UoP so i tried to figure out living expenses for that school.

I looked places that were biking distance to the school.

I went on SF craigslist and looked at studio w/ kitchens in pacific heights. In pacific heights if i remember correctly a studio was about $1500+ per month plus utilities. If you google map UoP it will have the names of the surrounding areas, but regardless it was expensive to rent even a studio.

Only thing your missing is a phone bill.

Yes your figures seem reasonable.

Food is reasonable because you can always find cheap local places to eat out in any city you live in, but you will have to cook too. My best investment to save money on food was to buy a grill.

Personal misc. - Dove body wash 5 lasts weeks, Toothpaste 6 buck lasts weeks, etc....yes 193 is reasonable...you might even have room for a 20 pack for the month.

Your figures are reasonable to me because I AM CHEAP.. you may not be able to stick to a budget as well as I can.

I live in Vegas and had a budget of 1200 per month including 350 rent, car insurance, phone etc. for fall semester and came out with some extra cash for DAT books.

If this is your first time living on your own, never put yourself in a position where you have no money and need to ask for it. Live daily below even your own budget because ish happens that will cost you a couple hundred from time to time.

 

[A6project]

@dru180

 

[A6project]

1

 

[UltimateHombre]

Nor do I plan to go to Chili's and blow $40 bucks to eat. I'll only be willing to do that at the end of the semester.

Dude 40 bones at Chili's? Do the 2 for $20 deal bro....

But OP, i think you are budgeting a little too less. Add another 100 to transportation, 50 to food, and 50 to misc and you might be able to stretch it.

 

[wired202808]

Dude 40 bones at Chili's? Do the 2 for $20 deal bro....

But OP, i think you are budgeting a little too less. Add another 100 to transportation, 50 to food, and 50 to misc and you might be able to stretch it.

lol well remember im from NYC haha. so with drinks, you're looking at almost $40 if you get the entree.

 

[Silencio]

single, no kids, nada

Living expenses per month(except for rent and utilities) in a big city (hmmm let's say SF)

food $440
transportation $111 (no car)
personal misc. $193

reasonable or just too tight ?

Buy a cheap van and just live out of it. You can study in the library, take showers at the gym and use the bathrooms in the school. Since it's SF, it won't get that cold at nights. You'll save about $20K per year = $60K. (Use the $60K toward a Porsche so you'll have 2 vehicles: a van residence and sports car). How cool would it be to just roll out of your van past your Porsche and into the building moments before morning class..

 

[AlbinoPolarBear]

Buy a cheap van and just live out of it. You can study in the library, take showers at the gym and use the bathrooms in the school. Since it's SF, it won't get that cold at nights. You'll save about $20K per year = $60K. (Use the $60K toward a Porsche so you'll have 2 vehicles: a van residence and sports car). How cool would it be to just roll out of your van past your Porsche and into the building moments before morning class..

Buy some fridges and ice cream. Hire a illegal immigrant for $1/hour selling ice cream out of your van while you're at school or the library. Or if possible, pay him in ice cream. Just refill the fridge with ice cream when you're out, and count the ice cream bars to make sure the illegal immigrant doesn't get greedy.

You'll not only be making money, but you'll also be having real world experience in small business. The skills learned will be essential for opening a dentistry office after you graduate. You'll have 3 years worth of small business experience, while most of your classmates would have none.

 

[dru180]

@dru180
that was my initial thought.
Believe it or not, those are the exact numbers from one school's estimated cost of living on its brochure. . 🙁 I guess I will have to borrow even more.

my debt will rise and rise till it reaches the sky!
I seriously need to buy lottery tickets more often.

I believe it. You gotta know that they are trying to keep that final number as low as possible. In my opinion they aren't considering the intangibles that happen in reality. I'm not saying that it CANT be done, but even if it can be, is it practical? I don't think so.

On a positive note, I don't think any other school's figures on living expenses are going to be any more realistic than that. They are all trying to keep those numbers low.

Were you accepted to UoP or was that just a random example?

 

[vellnueve]

I wouldn't survive on that budget.

 

[Silencio]

Buy some fridges and ice cream. Hire a illegal immigrant for $1/hour selling ice cream out of your van while you're at school or the library. Or if possible, pay him in ice cream. Just refill the fridge with ice cream when you're out, and count the ice cream bars to make sure the illegal immigrant doesn't get greedy.

You'll not only be making money, but you'll also be having real world experience in small business. The skills learned will be essential for opening a dentistry office after you graduate. You'll have 3 years worth of small business experience, while most of your classmates would have none.

Not a bad idea Sir. By selling ice cream one can induce cavities and possibly find some patients for clinic.

 

[AwesomeTeeth]

Buy some fridges and ice cream. Hire a illegal immigrant for $1/hour selling ice cream out of your van while you're at school or the library. Or if possible, pay him in ice cream. Just refill the fridge with ice cream when you're out, and count the ice cream bars to make sure the illegal immigrant doesn't get greedy.

You'll not only be making money, but you'll also be having real world experience in small business. The skills learned will be essential for opening a dentistry office after you graduate. You'll have 3 years worth of small business experience, while most of your classmates would have none.

Actually that's a terrible idea. The illegal immigrant will simply hot wire the van and steal it while you're in school. There goes your income, ice cream, and home. It'll be some good real world experience though

 

[Silencio]

Actually that's a terrible idea. The illegal immigrant will simply hot wire the van and steal it while you're in school. There goes your income, ice cream, and home. It'll be some good real world experience though

No he won't. The Club will restrict the steering wheel and allow only right turns so he'll basically be driving in a circle, just like what a normal ice cream truck does.

 

[PostHaste]

What's with the crazy food budget? We spend $600/mo on a family of four, including alcohol and throwing out a sinful amount of wasted food. Do you guys really spend $500+ on your own?

 

[AwesomeTeeth]

What's with the crazy food budget? We spend $600/mo on a family of four, including alcohol and throwing out a sinful amount of wasted food. Do you guys really spend $500+ on your own?

I don't think $500 is really that crazy. The situation depends on whether you eat out or cook your own meals. $500/30 = about $16 a day. That's about right especially if you go to restaurants on weekends or like to snack or drink your daily Starbucks.

 

[PostHaste]

I don't think $500 is really that crazy. The situation depends on whether you eat out or cook your own meals. $500/30 = about $16 a day. That's about right especially if you go to restaurants on weekends or like to snack or drink your daily Starbucks.

Sorry, yes, you're totally right for someone who's not trying to stick to a super-tight budget. But if you're trying to be really frugal, there's no way you'd need to spend $500/month on one person, even in a high-cost area and eating healthy food.

Yeah, I think that first post probably came off a little more "Holy ****!" than was necessary.

 

[Vigilante]

I've managed to stick to about a $400/month budget all through d-school living in LA, so if you're willing to be a shameless scrooge, it's definitely doable. Here are my tricks that I've picked up over the years: I never eat out (except for Wendy's dollar menu), I quit drinking coffee to save $$$ at Starbucks, I have my own popcorn bag for the ghetto movie theater so I can always get "free" refills, I once found a loaf of bread in the middle of the street and used it for sandwiches, the only trips I take are out of the back of my car, and I go to LDS bible study to get free parking (and I'm very, non-mormon, though no one seems to care and is really nice). My one major weakness is beer, which constitutes about a quarter of my budget, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

The only downside is that I can't socialize much outside of school, but I'm married and now everyone thinks I'm a mormon anyway, so it's not that big of a deal. 🙂

Good Luck!

 

[AwesomeTeeth]

I've managed to stick to about a $400/month budget all through d-school living in LA, so if you're willing to be a shameless scrooge, it's definitely doable. Here are my tricks that I've picked up over the years: I never eat out (except for Wendy's dollar menu), I quit drinking coffee to save $$$ at Starbucks, I have my own popcorn bag for the ghetto movie theater so I can always get "free" refills, I once found a loaf of bread in the middle of the street and used it for sandwiches, the only trips I take are out of the back of my car, and I go to LDS bible study to get free parking (and I'm very, non-mormon, though no one seems to care and is really nice). My one major weakness is beer, which constitutes about a quarter of my budget, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

The only downside is that I can't socialize much outside of school, but I'm married and now everyone thinks I'm a mormon anyway, so it's not that big of a deal. 🙂

Good Luck!

 

[Silencio]

I've managed to stick to about a $400/month budget all through d-school living in LA, so if you're willing to be a shameless scrooge, it's definitely doable. Here are my tricks that I've picked up over the years: I never eat out (except for Wendy's dollar menu), I quit drinking coffee to save $$$ at Starbucks, I have my own popcorn bag for the ghetto movie theater so I can always get "free" refills, I once found a loaf of bread in the middle of the street and used it for sandwiches, the only trips I take are out of the back of my car, and I go to LDS bible study to get free parking (and I'm very, non-mormon, though no one seems to care and is really nice). My one major weakness is beer, which constitutes about a quarter of my budget, but I have to draw the line somewhere.

The only downside is that I can't socialize much outside of school, but I'm married and now everyone thinks I'm a mormon anyway, so it's not that big of a deal. 🙂

Good Luck!

So you're saying to scrounge around the sidewalks for edible food, scam the movie theater for free popcorn, eat salamander meat on the dollar menus of fast food joints, and pretend to be a mormon to score free parking? And your wife tolerates this lol.

As for alcohol, I'm surprised you don't do what an old friend does... He waits for people to leave a bar and then quickly invades their vacant table to grab the partial pitchers of beer and food leftovers before the waitress cleans it up. (So embarrassing I stopped going to bars with him haha).

 

[A6project]

thanks. I will def cut down eating out and booze money. And will find a cheaper place to stay.

 

[A6project]

true

 

[supermax]

single, no kids, nada

Living expenses per month(except for rent and utilities) in a big city (hmmm let's say SF)

food $440
transportation $111 (no car)
personal misc. $193

reasonable or just too tight ?

My monthy budget is 1200-1300 but I am weirdo in many sense. I don't have a TV, don't drink and bike in the city.

 

[BobLoblawDDS]

Gotta be honest, I would not be able to make that budget work. If you think you can, props to you, but I just don't know how...

 

[KittySquared]

I cook a lot and have lived nutritiously for $60 a week. Including probably eating out once or twice.

 

[supermax]

I cook a lot and have lived nutritiously for $60 a week. Including probably eating out once or twice.

I cook my food because of many religious reasons. I can't have food from outside unless its organic. My budget is $1200-$1300 including my housing and living expenses.

 

[KittySquared]

I cook my food because of many religious reasons. I can't have food from outside unless its organic. My budget is $1200-$1300 including my housing and living expenses.

Sure, that's entirely understandable. I have friends who're exclusively kosher and it can really be expensive. But $1200 isn't too bad at all. My parents have generously provided me with a car and my total per month including gas, rent+util, food is usually under $1000. I live in a fairly cheap city as well.

 

[BobLoblawDDS]

I live in a fairly cheap city as well.

This has to account for an enormous amount of how affordably one can live. I live in downtown Toronto and as a result my expenses are quite high. My rent is $2200 with a roommate (I pay $1200) but this is sans utilities. About $30-40 a month for utilities plus $60 a month for internet, plus my phone bill (around $50). I go grocery shopping once a week and spend around $40-50 each week but still eat out so my food costs probably approach $300-400 a month. Plus misc spending (including discretionary stuff and toiletries, random things, public transport, etc.) and I easily exceed $2000 a month in total, I'm guessing. I can only imagine this will go up even more if I end up at NYU.

Toronto rent is high.
Food is expensive in downtown Toronto.
The telecommunications industry in Canada is an oligopoly and makes media also hideously expensive.

If I owned a car I think it'd be the death of me. Parking in my building is $150 a month. 😵

 

[KittySquared]

This has to account for an enormous amount of how affordably one can live. I live in downtown Toronto and as a result my expenses are quite high. My rent is $2200 with a roommate (I pay $1200) but this is sans utilities. About $30-40 a month for utilities plus $60 a month for internet, plus my phone bill (around $50). I go grocery shopping once a week and spend around $40-50 each week but still eat out so my food costs probably approach $300-400 a month. Plus discretionary spending and I probably spend about $2000 a month in total, I'm guessing. I can only imagine this will go up even more if I end up at NYU.

Toronto rent is high.
Food is expensive in downtown Toronto.
The telecommunications industry in Canada is an oligopoly and makes media also hideously expensive.

If I owned a car I think it'd be the death of me. Parking in my building is $150 a month. 😵

Wowoweewah Toronto is expensive. If I pay $150 for a parking spot, it better be spacious and cushioned all over like Kim Kardashian's azz. 😳

I just saw NYU tuition and approximate living costs. Don't feel so good anymore. 😱 Kitty vomit.

 

[supermax]

This has to account for an enormous amount of how affordably one can live. I live in downtown Toronto and as a result my expenses are quite high. My rent is $2200 with a roommate (I pay $1200) but this is sans utilities. About $30-40 a month for utilities plus $60 a month for internet, plus my phone bill (around $50). I go grocery shopping once a week and spend around $40-50 each week but still eat out so my food costs probably approach $300-400 a month. Plus misc spending (including discretionary stuff and toiletries, random things, public transport, etc.) and I easily exceed $2000 a month in total, I'm guessing. I can only imagine this will go up even more if I end up at NYU.

Toronto rent is high.
Food is expensive in downtown Toronto.
The telecommunications industry in Canada is an oligopoly and makes media also hideously expensive.

If I owned a car I think it'd be the death of me. Parking in my building is $150 a month. 😵

Why did you gave up Minnesota? Good luck to loan slavery and NYU.

 

[BobLoblawDDS]

Why did you gave up Minnesota? Good luck to loan slavery and NYU.

I'm an international student. Non-resident Minnesota tuition for a full year (including the summer semester) would be $89000. NYU is $70000 (for the full 11 months). That's a greater difference than the difference between Minnesota resident tuition (about $55k) and NYU tuition. The choice gives me an extra $19000 a year to spend on living costs (I doubt NYC will be THAT much more expensive than Minneapolis) before they become even, and to be honest I'd rather live in NYC than Minnesota. Plus the school itself impressed me more. I'm sure Minnesota is a great school and I had a lot of trouble giving up the spot to be completely honest, but the absurd out-of-state cost is just too much to swallow; it's worse than the most expensive private schools. It sort of makes me wonder why they have OOS seats at all when the cost is so discouraging.

Of course I factored in all the ancillary fees so by "tuition" I mean total cash to the school, including equipment & clinic fees, yada-yada-yada. Even if you look at the ADEA guide (which only factors in tuition itself, and probably doesn't incorporate Minny's summer semesters) their figures for NYU and OOS Minny are quite comparable.

 

[wired202808]

I'm an international student. Non-resident Minnesota tuition for a full year (including the summer semester) would be $89000. NYU is $70000 (for the full 11 months). That's a greater difference than the difference between Minnesota resident tuition (about $55k) and NYU tuition. The choice gives me an extra $19000 a year to spend on living costs (I doubt NYC will be THAT much more expensive than Minneapolis) before they become even, and to be honest I'd rather live in NYC than Minnesota. Plus the school itself impressed me more. I'm sure Minnesota is a great school and I had a lot of trouble giving up the spot to be completely honest, but the absurd out-of-state cost is just too much to swallow; it's worse than the most expensive private schools.

Smart move. I saw my friends copy of the Tuition breakdown and it turns out that UMN plays around with their numbers and makes it look like your paying less for tuition however they charge for a "Summer" semester and hence get you to shell out more. I'm from NYC and I've been to MN for business, while the people are super friendly, I don't see U of MN as being a better school or better learning environment than NYU. Although NYU is packed out and very hectic, it is nicer to live in NYC than MN.

Additionally, it makes no sense to overpay for a school like MN vs. NYU. I dont see it as being superior in any way (location, specialization, general environment.) Plus I've also heard that MN students have good and bad days where they're either super busy with patients or have no patients in the clinic. That sounds awful to me, I don't want to rush and get stuff wrong and then sit on my ass for a few days.

 

[supermax]

Smart move. I saw my friends copy of the Tuition breakdown and it turns out that UMN plays around with their numbers and makes it look like your paying less for tuition however they charge for a "Summer" semester and hence get you to shell out more. I'm from NYC and I've been to MN for business, while the people are super friendly, I don't see U of MN as being a better school or better learning environment than NYU. Although NYU is packed out and very hectic, it is nicer to live in NYC than MN.

Additionally, it makes no sense to overpay for a school like MN vs. NYU. I dont see it as being superior in any way (location, specialization, general environment.) Plus I've also heard that MN students have good and bad days where they're either super busy with patients or have no patients in the clinic. That sounds awful to me, I don't want to rush and get stuff wrong and then sit on my ass for a few days.

NYU is better place to live Oh Yeah!

 

[Ndebt]

Call me crazy but I believe ~100$ can be achieved in groceries without digging in trash cans and scamming the movie theater for popcorn. Just be smart about what you shop for in the grocery store. Cans of vegetables like corn and green beans are like a dollar a piece and big 5 pound bags of rice and big bags of beans are like 2 or 3 dollars, spaghetti noodle packs etc are like a dollar or 2 for enough to make a big pot full. Contrary to popular belief you can actually live cheaply and healthy at the same time. Water is free (sorta) and all this leaves you with a little extra to have some wine or beer on the weekends especially if you go to social events where it's already provided so I don't see what the big deal is.


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