Uni living expenses

[TW]Fox · 26 Aug 2007 at 19:16

laissez-faire said:
Yeah, hence why I said for cheap food go to Tesco. You are still looking at £5 a head for a very simple meal there. People eat lunch and breakfast too!

Rubbish. Bag of Mcain chips, £1.40. Two chicken kievs, £3.

Thats 2 meals there and enough chips for 6-7 meals.

No wonder I can afford to buy cool stuff as a student if the typical student spends £10 a head on crap for self-cooked meals!!

Still, its highly likely that laissez's student experiences are nothing like anyone elses - put it this way, what other students have enough money to buy a BRAND NEW Ford Focus at £14,000? I couldnt afford to that and I live AT HOME with none of his living costs.

Ranek405 · 26 Aug 2007 at 19:34

I'm just about to enter my second year - first time round I spent about £4-5k for the period I was there (not including my fees

).

I was really not prepared for supporting myself so there was a lot of waste (eating out, buying in food and never eating it). I hope to cut that amount down (or atleast not spend more) this time.

"andy" · 26 Aug 2007 at 19:41

Tommy B said:
I'm completely reliant on the maintanence loan, which for me is £1,300/term or something. Is there a good way of making sure you don't run out of cash?

What I might do is shove it all in a savings account, divide it up by the number of weeks I'm there, and take out the fixed sum of divided-up cash each week and put it in my current. That way it's impossible to mess up my finances.

are you living at home or away ? that much will only just cover the accomodation per term

however if your at home or halls/house is already paid for then it will be about 70 quid a week to spend i think which isnt that bad

you could open a second current account and have it automatically pay the money weekly/monthly into your other account every so often i "think" . then just bin the card so you cant take it out prematurely

i fully intend to live on cheap aldi food (which isnt even bad) and cheap cider (is bad !) throughout the year

jesta · 26 Aug 2007 at 21:39

Going to Uni this September,I wouldn't even dream of spending £450 a month for food and I like my food!3months of food for you pays for my car insurance! :eek:

£120+ for a dinner party for 4?Jeez.....
My mate hosted a dinner party couple of weeks ago and invited 10 of us and we spent about £110.That included 10 bottles of wine(mixture of red and white). I wish I had the money like you!

ChemicalKicks · 26 Aug 2007 at 21:45

jesta said:
Going to Uni this September,I wouldn't even dream of spending £450 a month for food and I like my food!3months of food for you pays for my car insurance!

£120+ for a dinner party for 4?Jeez.....
My mate hosted a dinner party couple of weeks ago and invited 10 of us and we spent about £110.That included 10 bottles of wine(mixture of red and white). I wish I had the money like you!

The OP gets pocket money from his parents.

He does have to keep his flat clean and take the dog for a walk though so he is working for it.

/joking

jesta · 26 Aug 2007 at 21:56

ChemicalKicks said:
The OP gets pocket money from his parents.

He does have to keep his flat clean and take the dog for a walk though so he is working for it.

/joking

ChemicalKicks · 26 Aug 2007 at 21:59

jesta said:

His parents are a bit tight they only pay £375 a month, all that hard work and everything.

IceBus · 26 Aug 2007 at 22:13

I'm not too sure where to start with this thread...

To me university is about making choices with your money. For example, this year my room mate and I chose to live right in the city centre to save on taxis to and from our house (we're a 1 min walk from the centre) when going out and also get a slightly bigger place so we can have friends back as often as we want. For this we're paying over the odds at about £90 p/w. The reason I've done this is I know I can budget and live off about £15-20 a week on food. Also last year I was paying for halls that were £125 p/w and buying food on top of that. At the end of the year I'm going to be able to look back and hopefully have had one of the most social, fun and exciting years of my life in a place where I can work and socialise.

At the end of the year the OP will only be able to look at his Sainsbury reward points and slightly tighter waistband and wonder where all the money has gone. If money is immaterial to him then I guess it doesn't really matter, but tbh I've had some of the nicest meals of my life in restaurants for less than the £30 per head he quotes for a dinner party that if you bought the ingredients separately would cost about £10 per head.

krisboats · 26 Aug 2007 at 22:15

Lmao at the OP, i really do.

If i spent that much on food i'd be ashamed of myself. What happens when its gone? you have nothing to show for it! When i move out to live at uni this year i intend not to be changing my eating habits in the slightest, but then i usually cook for myself and the rest of my family from raw ingredients and it usually costs less than a tenner a day. Buy a big bag of pasta and learn how to make a sauce for it then whack some mincemeat (if with tomato sauce) or tune/chicken (if with cheesy or fruity sauce).

If i spent that much on food and openly told my friends about it i'd be known as a pompous idiot and probably be labelled as being gay too. If gordon ramsay can enjoy bangers and mash for under £2.50 then what the hell do you think your "getting" with these gimmicky foods, most likely aimed at people with such little intelligence they can't differentiate between a meal and a con.

Ascendancy · 26 Aug 2007 at 22:45

LOL at this thread. I'd be lying if I said I spent more than £10 a week on food at uni. 1KG bag of pasta from ASDA, couple of tins of tuna and a jar of mayonaise all for under £5

Posty · 27 Aug 2007 at 00:03

For a mobile just get a pay and go phone i found that paying a monthly contract was a waste as all my friends were saving money like me so phone calls/txts would just be short and normally to arrange to meet.

meghatronic · 27 Aug 2007 at 00:20

laissez-faire said:
Only about £375 a month. I get the rest from working long hours during the summer + doing the OTC during term time.

You get £375 a month from your folks?

laissez-faire said:
I was pretty shocked how much money I needed when I got up there and if it hadn't been for my parents telling me I wouldn't have believed how expensive supporting myself was.

Er..... you're not!

elitetrick · 27 Aug 2007 at 00:29

my contribution to this thread for freshers starting this september would be dont allow £7000 a week for food, thats ridiculous.
but do allow LOTS more than £100 a month for going out...
i go to newcastle uni which is rediculously cheap, £5 for 3 treble vodkas anyone? and i still spent £100 a Week on going out, more for the first term... so id say allow £500 a month minimum if your down south.
although by the end of the year youll quickly learn to buy a bottle of vodka £10 drink it in your flat before you go out and save yourself lots of money. so 2nd,3rd years will be cheaper.

jcb33 · 27 Aug 2007 at 00:39

Fee's in the UK are £3000, I spend:

£350 Rent/Bills/Net
£100 Food

A Month

Rebelius · 27 Aug 2007 at 00:47

correction: Fees in England are £3000. Fees up here are about £1200 I think. Dunno about Norn Iron & Wales though.

I get through about £350 for Rent/Bills etc too and £60-100 for food.

Any leftover earnings/loans get spent on going out.

Work FT in the summer to save up for going out/travelling too - and 20hrs/week in term time.

Tommy B · 27 Aug 2007 at 01:24

Labour pfft?

They want people from poorer, working class backgrounds to go to uni and then attach huge tuition fees to the courses. Now more people are coming out with micky mouse degrees, huge debts and are unable to find a job. Joke tbh.

Zefan · 27 Aug 2007 at 01:27

Tommy B said:
Joke tbh.

Question. Are the party a joke for allowing it to happen or are the people a joke for doing it?

Tommy B · 27 Aug 2007 at 02:14

Zefan said:
Question. Are the party a joke for allowing it to happen or are the people a joke for doing it?

I suspect a lot of people are happy going to uni purely for the social benefits and the "student days."

IceBus · 27 Aug 2007 at 03:26

Rebelius said:
correction: Fees in England are £3000. Fees up here are about £1200 I think. Dunno about Norn Iron & Wales though.

I get through about £350 for Rent/Bills etc too and £60-100 for food.

Any leftover earnings/loans get spent on going out.

Work FT in the summer to save up for going out/travelling too - and 20hrs/week in term time.

Fees are £3070

semi-pro waster · 27 Aug 2007 at 07:35

Tommy B said:
I suspect a lot of people are happy going to uni purely for the social benefits and the "student days."

Doesn't really answer the question though.

Although yes, I'm sure lots of people are happy to go to university for the social benefits. I'm pretty happy with what I gained from uni on a non-course level.