Good morning,
I am going to be a freshman this year. I will be living off campus with a roommate. I was wondering how much we would spend together on living expenses. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you.
It really depends on the area. Close to campus tends to be expensive. I would say most people who split generally spend less than $800/month per person, but ymmv
Thank you. The apartments I’m looking at are around $700. This includes water and heat. Would I still be looking at the $800/month per person?
^Depends on the area, but that’d be a pretty stingy budget. That’d only be $100 for food, emergency money, go-to-the-movies money, textbooks, clothes, haircuts, etc. etc.
Will you be getting cable and internet? (this runs around $75-$150 per month depending on the package)
Will you be getting a meal plan for food or buying that on your own?
Is this apartment commutable to campus or will you drive or take public transportation?
I plan on getting just internet. That would be $40 a month. The transportation is by bus which is free for college students. I plan on buying on my food.
Yeah, I was mainly just talking about apartment rent. I realize now that “living expenses” is more than that.
I personally spend about $120/month or less on food, if I only eat out like once a month, or when I’m not stocking up on spices or whatever. I try to keep spending under $300, even while buying textbooks, clothes, etc. But my place comes with Internet/cable and all utilities. I also have free transportation. So I think a more realistic range that people splitting an apartment would be like $1200 or something like that.
Is this apartment furnished? If not, will you already have furniture? Will you need to buy new kitchen supplies?
I may have missed this, but what city? Dending on the city, rent could be 300 or 1300 each!
Well…I’m scheduling an appointment for an apartment that is $750 with everything included except electric. I have all kitchen supplies and I have furniture, so I won’t be needing to buy any.
Excellent. Make sure to research what to look for and ask about when viewing an apartment. A simple google search should guide you through it. Remember that the people showing you an apartment are sales people first and foremost so you need to make sure they’re not glossing over any of the negatives.
Thank you for the information. I have a question about internet. I can either tether through a smart phone which is unlimited data through AT&T or I could get charter. I feel like the tethering would be slow and wouldn’t be able to handle two people streaming music, watching videos, doing homework on that connection. What are your thoughts?
Food costs vary from area to area. Don’t count on being able to eat for $120/month. More likely, even if you’re being very stingy, you’re looking at double that for food. You should have some idea of how much food costs but for $120/month you getting basically getting eggs and ramen noodles (no one tell me that you’re eating bean burritos or rice and lentils or something else - you get my point).
If you want a reasonable food budget, look to spend $300/month.
Thank you for the information. Still wondering about the internet thing. I also was wondering if it would be smart to buy a crock pot. I heard I can cook things with little prep and also because it can be cheaper. What are your thoughts?
I love crockpots. It’s really easy to throw stuff in, go to class/run errands all day and come home to dinner being done. Plus, you have food for like a straight week. Or you can freeze stuff if you don’t want to get sick of chili or whatever you made.
Even if you get a crockpot, you still have to buy things to go IN the crockpot. It will save you some money but not all. I would expect to spend $200-300/month on food, depending on the cost of groceries in your area.
You said that you are looking at an apartment that’s $750. Is that for two people or one? If the apartment is $750 but that’s a two-bedroom you’re going to split, then you’re looking at $375 per person for rent. I’d add $50 for a cell phone plan. If you don’t do cable and just do Internet, that’s around $30-50 depending on where you live and what service you get (so $15-25 per person). Food - if you are planning on sharing everything and cooking together the two of you might be able to get away with $300-400/month (so $150-200 a piece). If you’re going to be buying some things together and most things separately, then maybe like $250-300/person? That’s what I spent when I had a roommate. Household supplies and stuff I’d add another ~$75 a month.
So we’re at ~$800 as a quite conservative estimate. I think that’s probably too low. Do you have a car? If so add the cost of gas and maintenance. That really depends on how far you drive every day. If not then you have to add cost of public transit. I’d say that $1000-1200 is probably a bare minimum estimate.
If the $750 is a per person figure add $375 - so your total is more like $1160/month for basics. That’s not including entertainment, emergency savings, a small clothing budget (you might not spend it every month but you occasionally will need to pick up some stuff), probably some other things I’m forgetting. In that case, $1200-1500 is probably a better bare minimum estimate.
$750 a month rent plus power and cable/internet, so about $850-rough for living expenses. Don’t forget food, entertainment and misc expenses too. Food I would estimate probably at $300-400 a month.
Electric depending on where it is can be very expensive but you can probably check with the local utility as to what that address usually runs. Also are there garbage costs?