<p>I have a meal plan and all that, but I was just wondering around how much money you should have a month for personal reasons? (Eating out with friends, movies, shopping, ect...)</p>
<p>It really depends on the person.</p>
<p>You need a lot of money for books.
One book costs from 100 to 300 dollars.
Extra:
I spends $70 per semester for dance club.
In first year I spent $100 for food outside per semester
Second year, my friend had a car, so I spent $300 per semester
This year I will have my own car, so I need $150 a month.
I will live on campus.</p>
<p>I spent ~$40-50 a month to supplement my apt meal plan. Expenses are up to you but work out a budget and stick to it! I allowed myself $80-100 a month for leisure (eating out, bowling, save up for skiing…). That doesn’t include club memberships and school expenses.</p>
<p>Personal use… I think I never went over ten dollars a month but that’s just me. lol</p>
<p>from what i’ve seen and experienced myself:
For most people, your greatest expense outside of your dining plan is probably gonna be food - this includes eating out w/ friends, groceries, and snacks. Equal to that (or in many cases less than that) is the money you spend on books, movie tickets, concerts, clothes, etc. </p>
<p>if you want me to give an estimate for your first year based on what I’ve seen of the typical UCSD student, I would say expect to spend about $1000 every 2.5 months or so. That comes out to roughly $100/week. Freshman year I remember $1000 covered roughly an entire quarter for me (~3 months). I really didn’t spend much though.</p>
<p>second year I found myself spending more time off campus (movies, concerts, trips) and buying more groceries to supplement my dining plan (dining plan $ amount gets reduced when you move to apartments). this led me to spending more like $1000 every 2-2.5 months or so.</p>
<p>so for your first year expect spending to AVERAGE out to roughly $80/week. After that it gets to be about $100/week (once again, on average) if you move into apartments on campus, which downsize your dining plan. for me, the reason it comes out to 100/week is because during the weeks i was ordering textbooks, buying plane tickets, etc. I was spending anywhere from $100-400/week so if that $100/week average sounds high, remember it accounts for those spending extremes (books, tickets, deposits, etc.)</p>