Student Budgeting

[hpmons]

I went to Exeter's Open Day on Wednesday, though actually I didn't stay that long - I just went to the course presentation and an accommodation tour.  They had other things that sounded fairly pointless, like accommodation presentation, life as an Exeter student and "Financial implications of university".  However, on a whim I did pick up a leaflet about finance for prospective students.

Under living expenses, it laid out a supposed budget for self-catered:

Accommodation	Average £95 per week for 40 weeks	£3,800
Books and Equipment	-	£300
Food - all food	Approx £45 per week for 31 weeks	£1,395
Clubs and societies	-	£190
Clothing	-	£200
TV licence	-	£150
Travel Home	-	£150
Toiletries and haircuts	-	£125
Telephone and internet	(approx. £85 internet in halls)	£300
Presents	-	£150
Social life	(approx. £35 per week)	£1085
House deposit for next year	-	£320
Total	-	£8,165

Wait, wait, waaait... Who the heck can possibly spend that much? The most glaring ERROR is £45 PER WEEK ON FOOD! Last time around I spent £20-£25 per week on food, and thats including things like Green and Blacks cereal bars, and pomegranates.  I'm sure this time around I can be sane enough to easily spend under £20 on cheaper food.  I accept that other people might spend money on takeouts and whatnot, so maybe £25 at the supermarket and, at most, £10 a week on extras.  That's still £35.

£300 on books? £215 on the phone? £35 on social life every week? I know young people can be stupid with money, but...really?

Please describe the amount of lobster thermidor you consumed, the number of expensive scat-enthusiastic escorts you hired and the exclusive club you bought and furnished during your first year at university.

[TIAL]

The problem is that they haven't said how much you'll spend on alcohol - it's factored in to 'food'. That's where a lot of the money goes. Put together with the amount of booze spent on 'social life', it doesn't seem extortionate.

Of course, if you don't drink at Uni, things become much cheaper.

[purlieu]

Yes, that food bill must include alcohol or something.  I used to be able to do a month's shopping for £50 and eat pretty well out of that.

[hpmons]

Yes, that food bill must include alcohol or something.  I used to be able to do a month's shopping for £50 and eat pretty well out of that.

But then what is the £35 socialising for?

[TIAL]

But then what is the £35 socialising for?

Depends how sensible you are. From my experience, a lot of students (including myself) spent a fair bit of their shopping budget on alcohol. You drink before you go out, but once you're out you don't care quite how much you spend. A single drunken night out can take a lot more damage than originally budgeted for, so be careful.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

I was all for this at first glance. Then I looked again and saw that it wasn't called "Student bludgeoning."

[purlieu]

But then what is the £35 socialising for?

Club entry, taxis, cinema, pubs.

If you take into account 'pre-drinks', the only time I spent less than £35 a week on socialising was the 7-8 month period when I sat in getting stoned. 

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Please describe the amount of lobster thermidor you consumed, the number of expensive scat-enthusiastic escorts you hired and the exclusive club you bought and furnished during your first year at university.

They were ace.

[Viero_Berlotti]

Students today are pussies. Back in the nineties we didn't bother with 'budgets' we got the student loans and blew them all on drugs, booze and junk food in the first two weeks. Then we just dropped out of the courses because we were shit and spent the rest of our twenties working in supermarkets. Didn't harm us much.

[Mr Colossal]

but what about about festival tickets!?, I thought attendence to glastonbury/reading and whatever else radio 1 declare as 'AMAZING.' was pretty much mandatory now.


Students these day really do seem to be a different breed of people.  its like they got thrown money to be the test generation that keeps the failing economy churning over and  be primed fatlings that are so occupied they stay out of the political equation until theyre so royally fucked they dont know any better. All I ever hear about is white noise about shit like dominos and NANDOS and places that charge 5 x over the odds cunt tax for the same insipid hydrogenated crap you can get at new best kebab or chipland minus the illusions.


On that list I only bothered with rent, food and social and half the time I didnt have the first 2!  two or three people usually pay their rent and get homesick and disappear after the first few weeks anyway, so the trick is to avoid paying your course fees  (you can usually get six months into your course before you start getting reminders,   and you'll usually only be met with any sort of ultimatum before they let you sit exams right at the end anyway, thats if they havent thrown you out and issued you with a court summons, which it isnt financially worth them paying the money to follow through with anyway, so ignore when you get it- you can always plead insanity if the shit should hit the fan...)  so avoid  that or put it off for a few months just incase your course turns out to be shit.   (as if you pay up on enrollment and quit you'll NEVER get it back.)  then you suss out the more interesting second and third years who usually have the command of spacious houses with several free rooms, and you hang around long enough to stake claim and a permanent residence on their sofa  (which will give you more of a 'presence' than the one or two housemates that barricade themselves in their rooms24/7- who if it wasnt for the mysterious opening and slamming of doors and odd rattles that perforate whatevers on the tv inbetween lines, you wouldnt know existed), and instead consentrate on proving  your worth by wheeling and dealing and chipping in for the 'entertainment'  every now and then as whatever you're studying will be irrelevent to anybody else not on your course.


If you buy bulk rice pasta and potatoes and convice the mercenary bastards that are your housemates that it would be considerably to their benefit if you had a communal whip round to do so everything will fall into place.  people are fussy though and want their own everything so its probably not even worth trying. get some dividers to fence off  the boundary to YOUR area of the fridge. convince yourself that  your 'clothes iron themselves'  after a few minutes of wearing,  and generally let you standards slip into a pleasant state of decay.  reprogramme your mind with phrases like 'condiments are not things to be bought but are to be stolen from  wetherspoons' and smile safe in the knowledge that you can always shower at the local swimming baths...  you can pick up plenty of 'liberal dregs' in the form of half-full-but-disgarded bottles of head and shoulders and shower gels here too.   I never quite understood that.  Maybe public showers make people forgetful or perhaps its some kind of 'dont pick up the soap'  type thing...  hmm.

[Lyndon]

I was shocked to find I spend £35 a week on food alone now. But then I eat very well, salmon, steak, asparagus, spinach, grapes, melon etc, all fresh from local shops. In fact all I ever eat is a lot of fresh fruit and veg and meat and fish, which isn't cheap and definitely isn't representative of students. My accommodation is £3600 for the year, which is all-inclusive of bills etc, so I'm still spending well under that budget, since obviously I don't spend any money socialising, or on anything else really. Wouldn't fit in with that tortured asceticism, would it?

[The Boston Crab]

I used to twat all my loan away almost immediately, buying new clothes when I had to do laundry. When I'd run out of dough, I'd just go to the 'buttery' (first and last time I used that word) and put bottles of wine, port and champagne straight on my bill and worry about it at the end of term or never. We also had a food key that you'd just top up (straight onto your bill) and there was lunch and dinner sorted, top quality grub...and jugged hare, which was foul. At the college bar, you could just give them a cheque and they'd cash it for you, regardless of your bank balance. Very irresposnsible of them. After my finals, I spent a solid month drinking champagne and port on a punt, in the sunshine, with my buds. About a thousand pounds worth of booze that month. I only recently paid it all off.

My point is: I learned nothing about real life from university. It was even more cushy than prison. I was a very happy idiot.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

Verbwhores seem to have rather austere habits when it comes to spending on food. I reckon I must spend at least £50 a week on food and (non alcoholic) drinks, if you include eating out in that. And that's trying to save money! Mind you, I do live in fancy London where we have foods that northerners haven't heard of, like salt beef and olive oil (as opposed to lard or margerine). I also currently need more calories than most.

[Fry]

STUDENTS HAVE IT EASY NOW ADAYS


BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH


MAHHHH STUDENTS AREN'T REAL PEOPLE NOW, BLAH BLAH BLAH


WHEN I WAS A STUDENT WE USED TO EAT OUR LECTURERS, IF WE EVEN TURNED UP THAT WAS!!!!!


BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH I REMEMBER NOT BEING STONED ONE TIME, OH WAIT I DON'T BECAUSE WE WERE STONED ALLT HE TIME BECAUSEN WE HAD NO MONEYN BLAH BLAH BLAH

I AM FED UP WITH ALL OF THIS TALKING

I THINK I AM STILL DRUNK

[biggytitbo]

Students spend all their money on those stupid haircuts they have don't they? And those special trousers wear you can see the top part of their arse can't be cheap. The cunts.

[Little Hoover]

£45 a week on food isn't that much, I always thought people over-reacted to cack hen's £8 a day, it is needlessly excessive for a student, and he was being an idiot for not seeing how easy it would be to cut that down (I manage a lot less, and I don't budget carefully at all). But don't most people spend much more than that? Millions of people round the country buy their lunches every day at Marks and Spencers or the various high street coffee retail chains, they're going to be spending at least £5 a day just on lunch, yes this is a bit foolish and a needless extravagence, but I don't see why people seem so suprised by it.

I don't know how you'd spend £300 on phone and internet though, internet is included in my halls accomodation. and you hardly need to phone anyone since loads of other students are in halls, and people just communicate through facebook messages these days don't they.
and what student is actually paying their TV License?

[purlieu]

if you include eating out in that.

What sort of student does that??

As for £45 a week on food - living with my parents at the moment, our bill at Asda comes to about £60 a week for three people's food, toiletries and stuff.  I have literally no idea how one would spend 3/4 on themself.

[boki]

STUDENTS HAVE IT EASY NOW ADAYS


BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH


MAHHHH STUDENTS AREN'T REAL PEOPLE NOW, BLAH BLAH BLAH


WHEN I WAS A STUDENT WE USED TO EAT OUR LECTURERS, IF WE EVEN TURNED UP THAT WAS!!!!!


BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH I REMEMBER NOT BEING STONED ONE TIME, OH WAIT I DON'T BECAUSE WE WERE STONED ALLT HE TIME BECAUSEN WE HAD NO MONEYN BLAH BLAH BLAH

I AM FED UP WITH ALL OF THIS TALKING

I THINK I AM STILL DRUNK

Happy Birthday, Gordon Fryman!

[The Boston Crab]

I'm currently spending about 70 quid a week on home-cooked food. I tend to buy veg/meat/fish every day and the odd daft ingredient from the Chinese supermarket. Throw in 3 for 4 quid ales a couple of times a week and the odd dessert/biscuit/etc. and it adds up. I've found that many items can be 50% more expensive in Surrey than they are on Merseyside, which surprised me at first. Now I'm used to it and just make the most of the relative cheapness when I go back home. [tangent] I seldom eat out since I got back from Rice because, well, the Ms is a sensational cook (I'm very average, she's very patient) and, maybe more significantly, there's so little competition for restaurants outside the major cities that most of them are a total waste of money. Very average food at top-drawer prices. Traditional English fayre still tends to be decent and good value, though.[/tangent]

So, err, where you go to study will make a big difference to your budget, basically. Are grants/loans/fees location-dependent? I've no idea these days.

[SetToStun]

My other half and I prefer to use the local butcher, greengrocer and baker rather than buy what would admittedly be a bit cheaper in the supermarkets, which pushes the bills up a bit. We usually spend about £18 a week in the butcher's, £12 a week in the greengrocer and then about another £20-£30 on bits and pieces we have to get from Boots/Superdrug or the supermarket - shower gel, deodorant, washing detergent, wine, beer, spirits, whatever. We could cut that right down quite easily but it's easily manageable as it is. Besides which, if we saved money on meat and veg by buying it all at Tesco, it would be our fault if and when the local small shops all vanished and we really don't want that to happen. Especially the butcher - the service and quality you get in there compared to Tesco/Sainsbury's/Morrison's is out of this world.

Anyway, back on topic, we generally do about £80 a week on shopping, more when all the household stuff needs replacing in one go, as it always seems to. If we switched to eating cheaper cuts of meat, mince, bulk-bought veg and all that (as she used to do) we could, apparently, get the food down to < £20 a week and being careful with other stuff would get the whole bill down to about £35 - and that's for two people. It's possible to live both well and frugally but fuck it - I want my Sunday roast with all (and I do mean all) the trimmings (plus a lush dessert); a nice juicy steak every now and then; a few single malt whiskies of an evening; always to have a nice bottle of wine in the rack; and to know for a fact that when I open the fridge there will be something I really want to eat in it.

[shiftwork2]

Exeter has a bit of a rah reputation so maybe they've included the cost of running a Golf GTI.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

Here's an example of a day. Haven't time for breakfast so get porridge and a coffee in McDonald's, about 2.40. Get a snack in the mid morning, let's say a chocolate bar for 60p. For lunch, a sandwich from a supermarket for 2.00, perhaps another coffee and a flapjack later on, another 2.00. That's already up to 7.00 without any enormous extravagances or the cost of an evening meal. Now I admit that's more than a lot of people might eat but it's about what I'd need in a day, so I think 8.00 a day isn't so far fetched.

[hpmons]

Minus accommodation, that's £4365.  I never planned a budget last time (Im not a budget person), but at a guess this is what I spent:

Books and Equipment	I think I bought...two books? Maybe one or two Ive forgotten	£50
Food - all food	Approx £27 per week (including bus fare) for...33 weeks	£891
Clubs and societies	Uh..Probably only £5 actually, but Ill assume I forgot something	£10
Clothing	over estimating probably	£50
TV licence	-	N/A
Travel (general)	No clue, can't remember the prices.  But I went home fairly often, and london occasionally	£250
Toiletries and haircuts	Uhh...The "food" was generally including other supermarket stuff. And I was terribly unclean...Probably less than this	£40
Telephone and internet	internet was included	£20
Presents	Not a big present giver	£20
Social life	Uh...very antisocial	£50
House deposit for next year	-	N/A
Gym membership	WHICH I NEVER USED. Ive learnt my lesson	£150
DVDs/games	No clue, but I don't buy much, and rarely spanking new	£100
Total	-	£1,631

That sounds about right.

At a guess, this time around (while trying to actually be social):

EDIT: Minus accommodation.  The place I'll probably go for is £88.41 per week for 40 weeks, so £3536.  I wasn't including that, as it can be such a large variable.  The cheapest is £73, so £2,920.

Books and Equipment	-	£50
Food - all food	£25 per week for...33 weeks. I should be able to spend under that, but I'll assume I'll be more social	£825
Clubs and societies	No clue...	£50
Clothing	again, overestimating. Last year I spent £5 on clothes, the year before I spent £10.	£50
TV licence	-	N/A
Travel (home)*	Prices vary, its hard to judge	£150
Travel (general)	Uh...Looking at prices, Im going to avoid London. Lets say 6 times at £30. Bristol...15 times at £10 average (its £5-£14, even for tomorrow I can find under £10, but Ill over estimate)	£330
Toiletries and haircuts	I really don't know what this consists of.	£40
Telephone and internet	£85 internet	£105
Presents	Not a big present giver	£30
Social life	I'll try my best to be more social, so lets say £10 for 31 weeks	£310
House deposit for next year	Sounds like a lot, but, uh...if you say so.	£320
DVDs/games	No clue	£100
Total	-	£2,360

Boo...

_{* My single from Exeter to Eastbourne this time was £15, which is awesome for 5hr travel journey.  Looking at the website now it seems that was just a stroke of luck.
It doesn't seem too hard to find £2.65 each way from Exeter to Bristol, but I would probably spend more on a whim anyway.}

[purlieu]

Not living anywhere next year then?

[Johnny Yesno]

I guess they're being generous with most of the costs because to underestimate would be much worse. They give you the bad news then you're all pleased if you come in under budget.

£300 on books seems reasonable to allow for to me. That's about 10 academic books. Obviously, the amount of books and course readers needed varies wildly from course to course and degree to degree, and it also depends on how well the library is stocked. Plus there can be some unexpected materials required - I had to buy a portable hard drive for one of my courses.

[Lookalike Mark Chapman]

300 quid wouldn't cover one term on my course. When I started, I HAD to have a decent computer, a digital camera, a certain type of pens, and an awful lot of other technical drawing equipment. There were at least ten new books to get per term, plus model-making materials, regular trips to various sites around the country. Then factor in daily, large-format printing costs and...oof. 300 quid? I wish. One presentation could cost me 300 quid. A girl on my course got told off because she wasn't printing on expensive enough paper, and that was during an interim review.

[hpmons]

300 quid wouldn't cover one term on my course. When I started, I HAD to have a decent computer, a digital camera, a certain type of pens, and an awful lot of other technical drawing equipment. There were at least ten new books to get per term, plus model-making materials, regular trips to various sites around the country. Then factor in daily, large-format printing costs and...oof. 300 quid? I wish. One presentation could cost me 300 quid. A girl on my course got told off because she wasn't printing on expensive enough paper, and that was during an interim review.

You're right, with courses where you have to buy equipment £300 is probably quite a understatement, so I guess that category can have a large variation.  But for humanities you can get a lot of stuff from the library, or second-hand from the internet; I'd imagine it would become more expensive in the second or third year.

[sirhenry]

Accommodation	Average £95 per week for 40 weeks	£3,800
Books and Equipment	-	£300
Food - all food	Approx £45 per week for 31 weeks	£1,395

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but when I was a student we used to eat every week, not just 3 out of 4. I hadn't realised that things were quite that bad.

[hpmons]

Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but when I was a student we used to eat every week, not just 3 out of 4. I hadn't realised that things were quite that bad.

40 weeks is including Christmas and Easter, I assume 31 weeks is simply term time.  They assume that people go home during the holidays - hence why I added a couple of extra weeks in my food estimate.

[Kishi the Bad Lampshade]

300 quid wouldn't cover one term on my course. When I started, I HAD to have a decent computer, a digital camera, a certain type of pens, and an awful lot of other technical drawing equipment.

I read that as "a certain type of penis".