How much £ do you live off a week?

OP

£80 a week should be fine, obviously it depends how much you need to drink to get wasted, where you go for nights out.... if you buy drunken takeaways haha. Do you know what halls you're in? Catered/self-catered? Fallowfield or not?

Still haven't got confirmation of accommodation, but I've applied to Victoria Halls, Weston, and Cantebury. None of which are in Fallowfield (I think?). They're also all en-suite which obviously comes at a dearer cost, but I would much prefer an ensuite I think. But then again, I might not even get any of them due to them being in high demand :s

They're all self-catered, but I'm wiling to shop in Asda or Aldi if there are any nearby.

Lol it probably takes me about 5 - 6 pints to get wasted! I'm also planning on buying the annual unirider bus pass before coming to Manchester to save me from paying for a bus all the time!

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 21

hawaiinsnow

Original post by oj234

Well I'm coming to Manchester in September and have started to worry about living costs, so I have a few questions for current students:

1. How much money do you live off a week after accommodation fees?

2. How much is spent on food and where do you buy your food?

3. How much is spent on going out, alcohol, clothes etc?

4. Bit irrelevant to the question, but has the library had all the books needed for your course?

250 £ (but living in london that is)... tube is expensive as hell, and so is everything else really. guess if i'd been in man it would've been more like 175... but bear in mind that when you're a girl you often spend more money than guys (clothes, make up, healthy food etc) so i wouldn't take into account what guys say if i were you.

Reply 22

Acei

5

Original post by oj234

I'm also planning on buying the annual unirider bus pass before coming to Manchester to save me from paying for a bus all the time!

I've been told there's sometimes special offers during freshers week for the Unirider so you may want to wait until you're at Manchester before buying it :smile:

On my budget I've accounted for £140/week and that's being really generous, my actual budget could easily be £55 less than that.

I don't understand the £250-£175 week that's been mentioned, does this include your accommodation? To be able to warrant £250/week you'd need much more than student finance+bursaries+8hours/week job (recommended duration of job for a Uni student).

Reply 23

oj234

OP

1

Original post by hawaiinsnow

250 £ (but living in london that is)... tube is expensive as hell, and so is everything else really. guess if i'd been in man it would've been more like 175... but bear in mind that when you're a girl you often spend more money than guys (clothes, make up, healthy food etc) so i wouldn't take into account what guys say if i were you.

Woah that's alot! I actually live in London myself (Central London, to be exact). I rent a flat, which thankfully my family pays for including bills (this ends when I go to uni). The cost here is generally much higher than the rest of the City.

I get by on £150 a week here. Bus pass for £18.00 a week, food for about £60 a week, but I do get at least one takeaway.

Plus I also sell things on ebay, so I generally spend about £30 a week on sending them off. The rest (About £40) I blow on going out.

Money for clothes is not included in my budget - I just buy clothes when I can get money from other sources. I don't buy clothes every week! Usually about 2 - 3 big shops a year.

£250 seems alot even for a moderately high maintenance female student :tongue:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 24

username234673

17

An average of around £300.

Reply 25

oj234

OP

1

Original post by Acei

On my budget I've accounted for £140/week and that's being really generous, my actual budget could easily be £55 less than that.

It seems like I should manage on £80ish a week then! Do you know how much the average Manchester student lives off? Also, any advice on how much I should bring to freshers? :tongue:

Reply 26

leey

well, mine has a huge variation from week to week. In fresher's week I spent hundreds of pounds (joining sports clubs, gym induction, bus pass, alchol, stuff for my room etc.), but have gone other weeks on as little as £10.

on an average week, I probably spend about £25-£30 in tesco, but then I do eat alot.

Spend about £20-£30 on a night out (depending on where I go), so if I go out twice a week that's £40-£60, or £60-£90 if I go out 3 times.

But there's so many one off costs (buying clothes, going home, bulk buying, uni fines, course books etc.), that it makes budgeting on a week by week basis very hard.

To give you an idea, I think I spent the best part of a grand in my first term at uni (not including rent).

Reply 27

srs507

Original post by leey

To give you an idea, I think I spent the best part of a grand in my first term at uni (not including rent).

Only a grand? Hmm I guess I'm coming with too much money then. Theoretically I have budgeted 300+ GBP per week for the fall term...

Reply 28

leey

Original post by srs507

Only a grand? Hmm I guess I'm coming with too much money then. Theoretically I have budgeted 300+ GBP per week for the fall term...

If your coming from america you might have to spend a bit more, as I was able to raid the food/utensils cupboard from home.

And don't forget my rent was on top of that £1000.

I'd say £300 may be a little over the top, but its probably best to have a higher budget than what you might need, than a lower budget. After all you don't want to be caught without money.

All I would say is don't try to keep to the £300 per week too much, you'll probably spend more at the start of term, but less towards the end. Just try to save money wherever you can and you'll be fine.

And if you've got money left over at the end of the term then it's not exactly a bad thing is it? If I were you I'd keep that budget for the first term, then alter it after Christmas when you've got a better idea - because some people spend a lot more than others.

It will also depend how rich most of your friends are, mine were all very short on money which was good in that they weren't persuading me to go on expensive trips / buy expensive items.

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 29

pomme de terre

15

Original post by oj234

Still haven't got confirmation of accommodation, but I've applied to Victoria Halls, Weston, and Cantebury. None of which are in Fallowfield (I think?). They're also all en-suite which obviously comes at a dearer cost, but I would much prefer an ensuite I think. But then again, I might not even get any of them due to them being in high demand :s

They're all self-catered, but I'm wiling to shop in Asda or Aldi if there are any nearby.

Lol it probably takes me about 5 - 6 pints to get wasted! I'm also planning on buying the annual unirider bus pass before coming to Manchester to save me from paying for a bus all the time!

Oh right okay yeah... well if you get a halls in VP there's a lidl close by, and if you get Weston probs best to just walk into town and go Aldi - or alternatively go to chinese supermarkets in china town if you don't mind a bit of an asian twist to your food as they are cheap! Haha. Apart from that I dunno. If you get a city centre accommodation though are you really gonna bother with the unirider? Might be a bit of a waste.

Reply 30

srs507

Original post by leey

If your coming from america you might have to spend a bit more, as I was able to raid the food/utensils cupboard from home.

And don't forget my rent was on top of that £1000.

I'd say £300 may be a little over the top, but its probably best to have a higher budget than what you might need, than a lower budget. After all you don't want to be caught without money.

All I would say is don't try to keep to the £300 per week too much, you'll probably spend more at the start of term, but less towards the end. Just try to save money wherever you can and you'll be fine.

And if you've got money left over at the end of the term then it's not exactly a bad thing is it? If I were you I'd keep that budget for the first term, then alter it after Christmas when you've got a better idea - because some people spend a lot more than others.

It will also depend how rich most of your friends are, mine were all very short on money which was good in that they weren't persuading me to go on expensive trips / buy expensive items.

Good points, I definitely will have more expenditures since I am coming from America. Though, I have stored away quite a bit of money in a secondary stash that I won't touch, so I will have money when I return home :wink:

I'm probably going to budget around 200GBP a week, and then if I go over I know I'll have money to cover extra expenses.

Reply 31

dipless

14

Original post by srs507

Only a grand? Hmm I guess I'm coming with too much money then. Theoretically I have budgeted 300+ GBP per week for the fall term...

you can always share the wealth.... er I mean love with your fellow OH resident Grandad :wink:

Reply 32

Acei

5

Original post by oj234

It seems like I should manage on £80ish a week then! Do you know how much the average Manchester student lives off? Also, any advice on how much I should bring to freshers? :tongue:

The University has a list here: http://www.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/studentfinance/general/cost-of-living/

Accommodation they have underestimated by approximately £175 due to the price of accommodation increasing by £5/week this year

Books can easily be reduced thanks to the insane library the University of Manchester has

Clothes, of course reduce/increase as needed, personally I'd go with "Could I have vouchers for "insert name here" store for birthday/christmas" that way you can even remove this one and just use the vouchers.

Meals they may have underestimated due to wanting to pick-up a drink when you're out between classes etc, at £2/drink per day that adds up fast. (note I mean coffee not alcohol :P)

A big tip is to not underestimate an NUS card as well, this can massively reduce your prices, especially cinema tickets. If you go to the cinema in printworks and present an NUS card+print-out voucher from the NUS site the ticket price goes down by roughly £4 everytime you go. It's also good for clothes and mobile phone if you use Virgin Mobile. You can even get your NUS Card for free if you sign-up with TSB for a student account :smile:

Freshers week I've set-aside £250 on first term budget, if I spend that much I expect an insane hangover. Half would give you a decent hangover too :wink:

(edited 12 years ago)

Reply 33

amylynne

6

Freshers - Minimal for me as I'm not a big drinker - not to say i wont be going on a massive bender at least once!

as i stated before I will be working part time earning approx £140 a week

With that in mind i have bills to pay so month by month ill be paying:

£35 Phone Bill
£80 on credit card (yes I was young and dumb)
£80-£120 on food

That works out at £235 against my wages of £560.00 that leaves me £325
But with my student finance after accommodation i should have around £1000-£1500 left each student loan day so i intend on actually paying my credit card off this year meaning that by January i should have around £405 a month to myself which isn't bad to be fair-
- for socializing as all my bills are already accounted for! (but ive been thinking it may be cheaper to buy shares in Starbucks with the amount of Vente Cafe Mocha's with Cream i go through in a week!)
Amy

Reply 34

Theconomist

After fixed expenses(gym,car loan,accomodation) I'll have 296.61 pounds a week to live off. Not ideal but won't have to hold back a lot either.