Off Campus Budget

<p>What is your average budget per month living off campus? Rent/utilities, food, etc. It's looking like my rent per month for next year living in a 4 bedroom apartment will be $780, which seems like a lot.</p>

<p>that is a lot</p>

<p>$690 for rent + fees, $22 - $39 for electricity per month per person (we split between 5 people). Food…uh…not sure. I usually buy a ton of food - noodles, drinks, frozen stuff, etc - before I come back to school and I’m still living off that right now so I haven’t had to buy stuff monthly besides bread and milk. </p>

<p>$780 is expensive for California?</p>

<p>cost of living is probably higher in Cali so that isn’t as bad as I first thought</p>

<p>Does the $780/month include utilities, cable, internet, garbage disposal, and parking?
If so, it sounds about right.</p>

<p>I’ll be doing $700/mo, utilities/cable/internet/garbage all included. No parking necessary. Just food I guess…what do you guys generally pay for food?</p>

<p>All depends on how much you cook for yourself, what kinds of foods you cook for yourself, and if you go out, what sort of restaurants you go to.</p>

<p>living at home paying for a couple of subways each week for lunch.</p>

<p>do you guys stay withe same roommates throughout the years, or do you switch it up every year?</p>

<p>I live on campus but I don’t use a meal plan, so I do have a budget for food. I spend like $20-$30 every week or two for food and incidentals. I usually just pick one or two meals to make and then make enough to have leftovers of that to eat for dinner for the week. That with bagels, oatmeal, soup, and sandwich fixings is enough. I also stockpile spaghetti noodles and jarred sauce in case I don’t have anything else I want to make. As for what I make, I make a lot of pastas and stir frys. This week I couldn’t conveniently get any veggies, so it’s sloppy joe week.</p>

<p>Not exactly a conventional way to feed oneself, but I am too tired to cook more than a couple times a week anyway so it works out.</p>

<p>I can cook, so I probably won’t be spending too much on food. But everyone is still telling me 780 is too much. The apartments are brand new and come with electricity and internet.</p>

<p>I’ll be paying ~450 a month to live in a 4 bedroom house with 4 other people. $780 sounds like a lot to me…</p>

<p>$1,450/month just on rent alone. 1 bed/1 bath 750 sqft</p>

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<p>Is this what YOU are paying blkbox? I thought your family was low income and you needed financial aid…and hoped your parents would buy you a $40K car.</p>

<p>i pay $250/month for rent. electric is generally $10/month for me. internet is $15. the gas bill has been getting really expensive lately though. it has been between $50 and $100/month for me. i live with 3 other people so multiply by 4 for the total for all of us. </p>

<p>i generally spend about $50 to $60 every other week on food.</p>