Living costs

The___________

Was wondering if any experienced students could help me out with a rough guesstimation of living costs for a 1st year student.

I'm staying in the Corrib Village so accommodation is paid for already-I'll be going home every weekend to work so that'll give me around 120 euro a week to spend.

Also how difficult would it be to get a part time job during the weekdays? I'd guess it must be fairly hard.

f1dan

The___________ wrote: »

Was wondering if any experienced students could help me out with a rough guesstimation of living costs for a 1st year student.

I'm staying in the Corrib Village so accommodation is paid for already-I'll be going home every weekend to work so that'll give me around 120 euro a week to spend.

Also how difficult would it be to get a part time job during the weekdays? I'd guess it must be fairly hard.

Not counting accommodation, you could easily live on 80 to 100 a week, depending on how much you drink and how you get home e.g. make sure you factor in a €20 bus ticket when budgeting

challengemaster

You should be grand on 120/week unless you go fairly mental or eat a house or something.

RolandIRL

120pw should be more than enough.
roughly €30-50 should be going on food shopping (making sure you've got enough pasta in the cupboards :P) and then whatever you spend on drinking/going out.
i spent about €170pw including accommodation/food/bus/going out last year

challengemaster

Actually, one thing nobody's mentioned around here yet

If you're going out (which you will be, ofc) - You get stamps for free/reduced fee entry to clubs on shop street. It's rare you have to pay much to get into places.

Also, kinda obvious but split taxi fares between a few people - you'll rarely be stuck for people heading back to corrib on nights out.

RolandIRL

challengemaster wrote: »

Also, kinda obvious but split taxi fares between a few people - you'll rarely be stuck for people heading back to corrib on nights out.

lucky me has never had to get a taxi. don't drink so the walk home wasn't a challenge for me (unlike my housemate)

jefreywithonef

Get one of those flip save booklets whenever they're giving them out next. Handy for discounts on clothing and games stores.

If you're after drink avoid the offies. Lidl / Aldi / Tesco always have great offers. Don't go near the Topaz in Newcastle, it's terribly dear compared to Centra next door. The latter usually have at least one decent deal every week.

Also, get a student travel card and get into the habit of asking in every shop if they accept student discounts. Zhivago do anyway.

yermanoffthetv

Ill chip in my 2 cents aswell. €120 a week is grand since your bills are sorted. Thell give you a load of tips in your freshers guide but these are some of the most important ones.

1) Every weekend empty your parents cupboards of essentials: pasta,coffee, tinned goods any cleaning stuff ect. Youll save a shed load on your shopping bill. Thats what parents are for

2) NEVER shop in small convenience/24hr stores & NEVER shop when your hungery. You see some students coming out with big armfulls of hot food, sammidges and various other bits and pieces ect.Complete waste, do a big shop in a big supermarket or better yet Lidel/Aldi. Youd said your in Corrib, go home and make your own food. youll save a small fortune.

3) As mentioned already, if your going to a nightclub get the free stamp earlier in the night, theyll be all over shop st. That €6 could be your taxi home on a rainy night.

4) Eat properly. I cant stress that enough. I knew plenty of people who were too lazy to cook. Theyd always eat in the college resteraunts or would blow their money on takeaways and would be skint by midweek.(actually learn to cook aswell - some skills youll pick up wont have an exam )

5) This might sound condecending but I assure you this is important. Learn moderation when it comes to alcohol. Going for a few drinks now and again is fine but I knew plenty who turned this into a full time occupation. Theyd do the above points no problem but ended up boozing it for the whole year. Youll be skint, probably have to repeat and have absoutely nothing to show for it as well as missing out the best parts of first year.

6) finally keep an eye out round the college theres usually someone giving out free stuff/discounts. most of it is sh1te but occasionly theres some good stuff. Remember to use that student card! Youd be surprised how many places give student discounts.

joeKel73

Also cook your own food from scratch, if you don't cook at home - it's easier than you think! Far cheaper and generally healthier. Try get a rota going in the house for dinners. We had one going last year between 5 of us and we'd get a serious good dinner for about €3.

QueenOfLeon

Take all the free stuff you can get during freshers week and any other events that are on Last year the banks had good deals on, to open an account in BOI you got a free labcoat (saving €22!) and to open an account in AIB you got a free travelcard (saving €12).

Buy big at the beginning of the year (especially if your parents are dropping you up on the day you move in!), like buy a massive jar of coffee rather than having to buy small ones every few weeks. Same for anything thats not going to go off really, pasta, tea bags, rice, salt, pepper, cooking oil, frozen things, tins. Then your weekly shopping will just be refrigerated things, meat, bread.

Always buy return bus tickets even if you have a lift up on Sundays and only get the bus home on Fridays, just use the return for 2 Fridays, they never really question what side the ticket is stamped on Also, Citylink (Dublin, Limerick, Cork and Clifden routes) and Gobus (direct to Dublin) are much cheaper than Bus Eireann and the bus station for them is only a 2 minute walk further. Keep an eye on the €10 train deals too.

On nights out, don't buy alcohol in small places or even off licences (although some have really good deals, Harvest on Woodquay can be quite good), but Dunnes, Tesco, Aldi or Lidl can be better. Walking to and from town is safe with a group and not that far, but a shared taxi is only about €2 each way. Don't drink in clubs, its so expensive!

Job-wise, every club has people out giving free stamps into the club. They have to stand on shop street and just stamp peoples hands. If you see the clubs looking for promotional staff thats usually what it means. Could be worth a shot!

JIZZLORD

As several people have mentioned, learn to cook (if you can't already). I know people who have been living away from mammy for a few years and cant cook beyond grilling sausages or mixing a pasta stir in into pasta. If you can boil spuds, veg, rice and pasta and if you can fry and grill you're nearly there. I have cooked for myself and for friends where per portion the cost has been 3 or 4 euro for a massive feed.
Also suggest to the housemates early on about starting a kitty for essentials. Toilet roll, salt, pepper, sugar, cleaning products, milk etc. And buy these products in a supermarket and not a small shop. Regarding entertainment, as long as you're sensible it wont bankrupt you

Sophia91

So how much spending money would you need a week? Not including accomadation or anything just for food, going out etc.

Ficheall

Sophia91 wrote: »

So how much spending money would you need a week? Not including accomadation or anything just for food, going out etc.

Surely that depends entirely on the person

Sophia91

Ficheall wrote: »

Surely that depends entirely on the person

I suppose......but how much do most people spend?!! Like I'm not looking for an exact amount just an average or whatever cause I've never lived on my own so dont have a clue lol!!

Ficheall

I know people who scrape by on 5-10euro a week, and others who spend 150-200.

QueenOfLeon

Food...maybe 30ish a week, but it depends what sort of food you eat and where you buy it.

Alcohol...you'll probably know yourself! A night out at most would be 2 euro into club (most of the time its free), 2 euro each way for taxi, 5ish if you get food after, plus what you drink.

Bus...20ish for a return, look it up for wherever you live.

Eating/drinking/snacks in college...if you were buying a coffee a day in college that'd be a tenner a week. If you'd buy snacks during the day in the cafe it'd be another tenner or so.

Sports are €2 each if you're not a member, or €5 for the gym.

So work it out yourself from what you think you'll be doing. Then theres always miscellaneous bits, clothes, stationary, etc. I'd easily get by, in a normal week, on 70 or 80 but I always found there were random expenses coming up now and again.