Student living costs

Dunroamin

sdkitteh wrote: »

I have just finished my first year at Leeds Met.

Food: £50 per week. £60/70 if I buy booze (keep in mind I don't shop like a student- it is still Heinz over smartprice and cooking fresh for me- most of my friends spend about £20/30 a week excl booze)
Nights out: £50 a week. It is veeery rare I spend this much- that includes entry, drinks, odd kebab. This is the most I spend and that will be between 2/3 nights out without pre drinking. Pre drinking/going out on student nights I will spend about £20 a week. I also keep a £10 hidden on me in case I need it in an emergency (phones nicked and I need to call someone for instance)
Laundry: About £6/7. It was £1 for a wash and £1.50 for 20 minutes drying time (bloody rip off- but necessary in the winter unfortunately as otherwise your clothes will never dry!) I do at least three washes- but if your brave and want to bung it all in with a colour catcher you will save yourself a few quid.
Transport: Shuttle to uni is free but otherwise will depend- sometimes i'll spend nothing and other weeks i'll spend £10/20 as I go into town a couple of times. Twice last year I had my car with me as my parents were away and it cost me about £50 each week to have it there- by gum was it useful!
Phone: My contract is £45 a month.
Other money: I set aside £20/30 a week for whatever I need to buy
Clothing: Lets not go there :P

That comes to £160/170 per week with housing costs and clothes on top - hardly typical!

Prothet_of_Doom

My son has a £25 target and a £30 limit on food, a £15 limit on Beer, and entertainment, and an £8 limit on what he calls "Unspecified" which basically means everything else.

Food is achieve by old fashion money saving, and use of the freezer.

bungalow_bill

Thanks all! Useful info and great detail which really helps. Good mse training I can see!
I'll hope to follow budget. .... ;-)

gemnomnom

sdkitteh wrote: »

I have just finished my first year at Leeds Met.

Food: £50 per week. £60/70 if I buy booze (keep in mind I don't shop like a student- it is still Heinz over smartprice and cooking fresh for me- most of my friends spend about £20/30 a week excl booze)
Nights out: £50 a week. It is veeery rare I spend this much- that includes entry, drinks, odd kebab. This is the most I spend and that will be between 2/3 nights out without pre drinking. Pre drinking/going out on student nights I will spend about £20 a week. I also keep a £10 hidden on me in case I need it in an emergency (phones nicked and I need to call someone for instance)
Laundry: About £6/7. It was £1 for a wash and £1.50 for 20 minutes drying time (bloody rip off- but necessary in the winter unfortunately as otherwise your clothes will never dry!) I do at least three washes- but if your brave and want to bung it all in with a colour catcher you will save yourself a few quid.
Transport: Shuttle to uni is free but otherwise will depend- sometimes i'll spend nothing and other weeks i'll spend £10/20 as I go into town a couple of times. Twice last year I had my car with me as my parents were away and it cost me about £50 each week to have it there- by gum was it useful!
Phone: My contract is £45 a month.
Other money: I set aside £20/30 a week for whatever I need to buy
Clothing: Lets not go there :P

I have just finished my first year at Leeds Uni. I notice you haven't included the price you spent on books...

I joke. To OP, you can save money in Freshers by checking if your Union has a charity shop. LUU gives away for free bedding and folders and perhaps other things. At the end of each year, all the things students discard go there. It's good to know

rozmister

sdkitteh wrote: »

I have just finished my first year at Leeds Met.

Food: £50 per week. £60/70 if I buy booze (keep in mind I don't shop like a student- it is still Heinz over smartprice and cooking fresh for me- most of my friends spend about £20/30 a week excl booze)
Nights out: £50 a week. It is veeery rare I spend this much- that includes entry, drinks, odd kebab. This is the most I spend and that will be between 2/3 nights out without pre drinking. Pre drinking/going out on student nights I will spend about £20 a week. I also keep a £10 hidden on me in case I need it in an emergency (phones nicked and I need to call someone for instance)
Laundry: About £6/7. It was £1 for a wash and £1.50 for 20 minutes drying time (bloody rip off- but necessary in the winter unfortunately as otherwise your clothes will never dry!) I do at least three washes- but if your brave and want to bung it all in with a colour catcher you will save yourself a few quid.
Transport: Shuttle to uni is free but otherwise will depend- sometimes i'll spend nothing and other weeks i'll spend £10/20 as I go into town a couple of times. Twice last year I had my car with me as my parents were away and it cost me about £50 each week to have it there- by gum was it useful!
Phone: My contract is £45 a month.
Other money: I set aside £20/30 a week for whatever I need to buy
Clothing: Lets not go there :P

I did four years at uni and have been a graduate for a year, have never 'eaten' like a student and would class £50 a week on food as being a horrifically expensive week. I also have very particular eating habits so won't buy non branded for some products and still spend about £25 - £30 on food!! I never buy ready meals, instant noodles or any of that crap, my one vice is the occasional pizza which I get fresh from a pizza counter in a supermarket made with the toppings I want and possibly a bar of chocolate or a pack of ice lollies. What are you eating? I'm not criticising I'm genuinely curious.

Clothes drying in halls - buy yourself a cheap fan heater from Argos for £10 and a clothes airer from Wilkos for £10 and you can dry your clothes in halls in the winter without using the tumble dryer. Just crack open the window so there's no condensation! I used to pop mine in my en suite which was very spacious and then the condensation didn't matter as all the walls had lino like stuff on them so the damp air was pulled out by the fan/ran down the walls.

I wouldn't buy textbooks until you've started your course as it'll become clear early on what are core texts and what you'll only use for one module. I received a grant towards some of my books but by my final year I barely used it because I was using lots of journals and the books in the library. I did have a few really good books though that I bought and used all the time and that I have kept for reference now I work in the sector I studied for. If you're going to use the library get in early as possible to get books out and photocopy any pages you really need if the return date is before the end of an assignment. There were never enough books to match demand at my uni!

I always used National Express to go home and I got a young persons travel card for them. I still use it now that I've graduated but to get the coach to Heathrow for my holidays.

I would guess I spent just over £100 a week at uni - £30 on food and toiletries and such, £5 or less on bus travel a week (heavily subsidised but I walked most days because it was just over 2 miles and I enjoyed it), £50 on going out and £20 on other (laundry, odd bits of clothes, other bits I needed). I will admit though that at the start of every term when my loan came in I always used to treat myself to something nice like a new dress and some shoes and some branded alcohol (I drunk smartprice white rum in my first year and imitation malibu after that).

Pennysmakepounds

Whao....Going to University sure has changed since i was there...and it wasn't THAT long ago...ok..ok...maybe it was - 20 years ago....:)

Is it any wonder young people are being crippled with debt....just looking at some of the figures above were talking nearly 10K per year (*3/4 years)...

And that just living expenses…you still have to find the same amount again for Fees…

Having said that, Uni was one of the BEST times I ever had….the friends I made and the exp. I had will stay with me FOREVER.

I see from the comments above that quite a few parents are assisting with the funding….Nothing wrong with that……But some students become too reliant on the ‘Bank of MOM and DAD’….

In hindsight, I would say Uni. is well worth the money IF you’re willing to balance it out between work and PLAY…..:))

katharinee

I averaged £50/week spending on everything (except rent & tuition of course!)
I am self-catered & my original food budget was £35/week, but I soon realised it was possible to get by on more like £20-25 (though £35/week is a much more comfortable budget). I don't drink at uni, or go out much tbh, I'm fairly frugal.
Over the entire year (October 2012-October 2013) I expect to have spent ~£2500: this includes about £700 I spent travelling round Europe with my friend this summer!
Next year I will be paying ~£300 more I think for my bus pass as I'll be living off campus.
A rough breakdown on what I was spending it on is hard to do, but:
£5/month for phone
Used megabus to get to uni & back (if you book in advance it's only £1!)
Then clothes, shoes, other transport, & general miscellaneous stuff really.
I could cut it down a lot more if I always made my own lunch, & booked train & bus etc tickets in advance probably.

But yeah, any student spending £100/week.. well, over half of that is non-essential.

3v3

bungalow_bill wrote: »

Ok, so I know this is about as wide open a question as it gets, but how much should a student be able to live on. First year, in halls, so don't want to include rent...

Would love to hear the advice please?

Glad you appreciate it is a "wide open" question

Aside from the basic math (and practicalities: e.g. *only* living from loan; loan + part time work; loan + parental assistance; loan + part time work + parental assistance; loan + part time work + parental assistance + independent savings; loan + part time work + parental assistance + independent savings + any inheritance (which may, God forbid, become a factor!) the dynamics of student "funds" are many and varied.

However, irrespective of *means*, there is one factor which will dominate both expectations, ability, accountability: and that is ATTITUDE!

I don't think it is (quite) as important as people assume: income vs ability to cope/survive.
Ultimately, attitude is the one thing which will make a situation a sink or swim one.

If someone comes from a background where their basic needs are met, that is one thing: if someone comes from a background where their basic needs are met and their desires fulfilled ... that is another case entirely.

It doesn't really matter what a persons budget is because people tend to spend according to their circumstances *and* attitude.

Get the spending/budget attitude right and a person could survive on the basic maintenance loan. After all, it is calculated so that it is do-able (albeit at a pinch!)

Attitude first: budget second