Cost of living in TCD...

Gloom

Hi, I really want to go to Dublin next year but one thing I am worried about is money. I hear ghastly stories about things.

Would I be able to survive on around 100euro a week? Or would I need more. (food for 5 days and (maybe) bus/train ticket home to Waterford)? Are there any cheap shops nearby that students abuse (things like Aldi/Lidl)

I'm not into clubs really (I go now and then), more of a pub person and I don't need to drink much to have a laugh so that might save me a lot.

Hamiltonion

Well i buy lunch everyday, go out once a wk, smoke bout 10 a day and spend e15 on bus money, luas is 48 monthly, then broadband and ph credit monthly too. Need bout e70 a wk for that, but im in digs so i get meals, u should easily be able too get 5 days worth of dinner and breakfast for e30. If u live close to college you'll save on transport, just steal college wifi to save on broadband, dont smoke, if u do roll ur own.;) Theres an aldi on Thomas st, fair walk tho but the 51s go there and back. Keep an eye on tesco and dunnes for offers. Soc meetings are good to get a few free drinks in before going out, marks and spencers sandwhiches or the JCR make for a e3 lunch:D

illiop

I live on about 75 euro a week but I live in griffith college so I don't have to worry about bills. Most days I'd make lunch and If I'm home at the weekend I'd make some curry/stew and bring it back with me this also saves on cooking. I never buy drinks out, always pre drink a I try and walk everywhere except after a night out I'd usually take a taxi

MrDrifter

Thats one of my big fears going to dublin next year, will I survive. IM in waterford too, and to be honest, although Ill want to, I cant see me coming home every weekend, or more than once a month tbh, if I intend on taking up a serious sport. But im sure, therell be plenty of people from waterford driving u and down every week or two weeks,a nd im sure chip in a fiver for petrol (or a one way drive if you have a licence) and youd be set for a lift..... other than that, I dont know cos IM in the same boat as you mate. although, 100quid a week sounds quite much for me to be living on, Ill be struggling to make 70 Id say..... :S

Pet

u should easily be able too get 5 days worth of dinner and breakfast for e30.

I'm sorry? Unless you intend to live solely off tiny portions of Tesco value tinned food, this is unlikely.

OP, if you go home at the weekends, you can bring food up every Monday, so you'll easily be able to live off €100 a week.

Hamiltonion

E30 for a 5 day wk? Easy. Stock up on stuff like Pasta, rice, noodles, bread, cereal. all dirt cheap. Buy chicken and stuff in the butchers and freeze it, steal food off mammy on a sun evening before returning:D Buy a wok and then stir frys etc.
Lunch in the JCR is e3 and Marks and Sparks do sandwhiches for e3. Keep an eye on the offers, got a chicken roll in Londis last wk for e2.15 If u go home earlyish on a fri lunch is'nt even essential.
If only i could conquer my coffee habit i'd be sorted!

smcfunnyface

Bins! Not as disgusting as you may think, the ones behind marks and spencers on grafton street. Any food which has ht the sell by date, which is generally a day or two before the best before date, is taken in their packaging all placed in a plastic bag used only for throwing out prepackaged food and placed in a bin out the back, again used only for plastic bags full of packaged food, no dirt, open bin remove packaged food from plastic bag, take home and enjoy. I know it sounds disgusting, thats what i initially thought but the food has literally left the shelves 20 minutes ago if you head down around 6.30. Live off what capitalism throws away etc

Borneo Fnctn

smcfunnyface wrote: »

Bins! Not as disgusting as you may think, the ones behind marks and spencers on grafton street. Any food which has ht the sell by date, which is generally a day or two before the best before date, is taken in their packaging all placed in a plastic bag used only for throwing out prepackaged food and placed in a bin out the back, again used only for plastic bags full of packaged food, no dirt, open bin remove packaged food from plastic bag, take home and enjoy. I know it sounds disgusting, thats what i initially thought but the food has literally left the shelves 20 minutes ago if you head down around 6.30. Live off what capitalism throws away etc

You are a vulture.

The Walsho

smcfunnyface wrote: »

Bins! Not as disgusting as you may think, the ones behind marks and spencers on grafton street. Any food which has ht the sell by date, which is generally a day or two before the best before date, is taken in their packaging all placed in a plastic bag used only for throwing out prepackaged food and placed in a bin out the back, again used only for plastic bags full of packaged food, no dirt, open bin remove packaged food from plastic bag, take home and enjoy. I know it sounds disgusting, thats what i initially thought but the food has literally left the shelves 20 minutes ago if you head down around 6.30. Live off what capitalism throws away etc

Jesus christ. I suggest something a little more dignified, like strolling onto the cricket pitch naked and eating the grass.



With a leash around your neck.





While shitting yourself.





In front of the Provost.


What was the question again?

Pet

Dumpster diving is perfectly dignified. If you're broke and need to eat, you have two choices. Scrounge together the money for Tesco Value pasta, or get free nutritious, tasty M&S food which would otherwise go to waste. Seems a pretty simple choice to me.

EGaffney

On the subject of food, remember the middle option: The German supermarkets sell much better food than the UK/Irish "value" ranges. "Value" ranges are deliberately doctored to make them unappealing and encourage you to buy a more expensive brand, whereas in Aldi or Lidl, you can only buy one standard, cheap brand.

You can easily buy cheap carbohydrates, like noodles and pasta - just ditch the Irish obsession with potatoes, shops know this exists and they charge high prices compared to other carbs!

Buy tinned tomatoes in Aldi and you can make all kinds of cheap sauces with them.

If you want meat, find a cheap butcher - the meat there is often cheaper than supermarkets. The cheapest meat is to be had in supermarkets when they are discounting; it often means you can't choose what you have for dinner, but you know what they say about beggars...

snappieT

It all really depends on where you're living. There is another Lidl on Moore Street, about 10 minutes from the front of college, and an Aldi on Parnell Street, another 3 minutes away.

Perhaps check out the Student Finance forum for more.
TBH, 100 quid a week sounds grand to me, just don't get addicted to coffee.

Brian

100 quid a week is loads, if that doesn't count accomodation.

EGaffney

TBH, 100 quid a week sounds grand to me, just don't get addicted to coffee.

I'm not going to lie to you, hypothetical sixth-year reader; you also should drink alcohol as little as possible. You will have more money, be more productive, and you will avoid the consumption of many unhealthy things like sugars (in beer) and chemicals (in some liquor).

PurpleFistMixer

EGaffney wrote: »

I'm not going to lie to you, hypothetical sixth-year reader; you also should drink alcohol as little as possible. You will have more money, be more productive, and you will avoid the consumption of many unhealthy things like sugars (in beer) and chemicals (in some liquor).

And will avoid the inevitable chinese at the end of the night. : p

mathew

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

And will avoid the inevitable chinese at the end of the night. : p

ah but you cant beat a good Charlies to finish of a night... before legging it the nightlink (which dont exist no more )

Time Magazine

Living is easy.

Porridge is the best thing ever. Get yourself a good packet of Flahavans in Tesco, it costs about €1.50 and lasts an age. Two tea-cups of water (free), one of milk (~10c) and you've got a really filling breakfast, costing about 15c. I can't think of anything that's better for you for breakfast, either.

Last week I bought two 500g jars of reasonable coffee for about €5 in a two-for-one offer. That's about two months of coffee right there. At the start of the year I bought a thermos flask in Tesco for €3. By filling it up and bringing it with me, I save about €2 a day, €10 a week, or 9 bottles of Miller at the weekend.

Today I had pasta for dinner. Got it in Super-Valu, cost 38c for 500g, which is two servings. The pasta sauce (Roma brand, nice stuff!) was bought in Spar for €1. Two meals for €1.38 ain't bad going.

Typically for dinner I'll have toast and either two fried eggs or four sausages. A loaf of bread can be obtained in Lidl or Tesco for 60c. A large tub of Dairygold Light costs about €2.50 and lasts about a month. A half-dozen eggs cost about €1.20. Sixteen sausages (four servings) from Lidl costs about €1.45.

I'm never going to argue that my diet is the most nutritionally-balanced the world has ever seen, but it's not the worst. I just go home at the weekend for steaks to even it out

Brian

Any vegetables at all, ever, Ender*?

*Yes, Ender.

Time Magazine

Baza210 wrote: »

Any vegetables at all, ever, Ender*?

*Yes, Ender.

Vegetables are my main downfall. I occasionally have salads for lunch. For these purposes I recommend either Dunnes or Lidl mixed lettuce, with Kuhne's Italian salad dressing, a few croutons, and ideally a few cherry tomatoes. About €2 lunch. Throw in a rice-cake and it's yumyum.

I used to make stir-fries, but haven't made any this year. However, my mammy always feeds me potatoes and other exotic vegetables at the weekend.

Brian

I too don't eat any vegetables. I do eat a fair bit of fruit though.. fruit is just so much less hassle to eat than vegetables, no preparation necessary.

Woks are brilliant for student cooking - just the one cooking vessel to wash after you've finished. Heck, if you're alone you can eat out of the wok too :P

PurpleFistMixer

Just buy a crate of carrots, peel them, cut them up, carrot sticks. (Or don't cut them up, but you get weird looks then.) Delicious.

Brian

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

Just buy a crate of carrots, peel them, cut them up, carrot sticks. (Or don't cut them up, but you get weird looks then.) Delicious.

Memfh. Work.

PurpleFistMixer

Baza210 wrote: »

Memfh. Work.

By this logic you don't eat oranges, either, do you? : p I imagine you could eat unpeeled carrots without too much difficulty, they'd just taste fairly rank.

EGaffney

Just buy a tin of tomatoes, they are quite good. Carrots are also good for you so don't react like that!

paperclip

Suggestions for cheap lunches that aren't carb-loaded, that don't leak all over your bag and don't consist solely of salads?

Brian

PurpleFistMixer wrote: »

By this logic you don't eat oranges, either, do you? : p I imagine you could eat unpeeled carrots without too much difficulty, they'd just taste fairly rank.

Just eat Tesco's "Easy Peelers" :pac:

PurpleFistMixer

Baza210 wrote: »

Just eat Tesco's "Easy Peelers" :pac:

Those are quite delicious... but really, peeling a carrot takes about 30 seconds with a peeler, and doesn't result in your hands being covered in orange stuff.