<p>how much do people spend in a month, in general?
to what purposes?</p>
<p>i'm trying to figure out what my expenses will be like at cornell</p>
<p>Depends-- do you have a meal plan?</p>
<p>I had a meal plan, so I didn’t really spend much on food… probably $20/month. I usually make 2 Target trips a month just for odds and ends stuff like makeup and bath product, cereal and what not, probably around $60 each.</p>
<p>Alcohol can be another huge expense (especially if you are a guy), so monthly that can really range from person to person. If you attend formals those are also pretty expensive, especially if you go to a few every semester (expect to spend $100 on dinner, $20 for transportation, plus whatever you are wearing…)</p>
<p>I think I would say maybe $100-200 each month spending money? It’s hard to say, it really varies because different people have a different idea of what’s “essential”</p>
<p>If you’ve got a meal plan you probably won’t be spending much on food, unless you decide to order in food/eat out in collegetown. If you don’t do either though, you can easily avoid spending any money on food.</p>
<p>Like Beeb said, you’ll probably end up spending around 50-60$ at Target for miscellaneous stuff (I only went once a month usually, if not less, and spent about that much on makeup/toiletries/some snack food/other little essentials). </p>
<p>I also ended up spending 10-20$ from time to time in the Cornell Store or in Jansen’s on West Campus for little things like printer paper or looseleaf or highlighters or Tylenol if I didn’t have time to go to Target and needed it asap. Or on Cornell apparel from time to time if they were having a sale on something cute.</p>
<p>Other than that, it really depends on your social activities. For example, if you decide to rush, there are obviously going to be extra expenses associated with that. If you’ll be drinking a lot, alcohol will cost you - I’m a girl so I usually luck out, but if I’m drinking with friends or if I’m pregaming with roommates and stuff before going out, I always chip in (it doesn’t amount to much though since we generally just buy a handle or two of hard liquor and it lasts a long while). </p>
<p>By the way, if you plan on joining any teams or clubs there might be extra costs - I’m on two dance teams and in one or two clubs so I have to pay for dues once a semester and from time to time other costs such as paying for costumes, or paying for travel expenses (since one of my teams competes a lot). Also, I spend some money on random events around campus (like going to see my friends dance shows/theater productions or going to other events like china night or garba). These are anywhere from $3-$12 dollars, usually on the cheaper side though. </p>
<p>Other than that I can’t think of anything - extra food/alcohol and my dance team is really where most of my monthly expenses went. If you’re careful you can easily avoid that. Overall on a good month I’d only end up spending maybe $100, and on a bad month I probably spent $200-400 (mostly on dance related travel stuff though).</p>