posted
So far I have 2 friends, Mr. King, and Mr. Ho (I will let you anti derive those names ) and both of them want to move out and both want to move out with me and both are fine with each other.
I am fine wih both these people and I see no real potential problems that can arise beyond the occasional "you stepped on my toothpaste tube" type of situations.
So far me and King with his mom got together and came up with a rough (over)budget.
XX0 for rent where X denotes a variable number between 1 and 9.
150 a Month for food and Pharmacuticols each. 50-60 for Videotron Hi-Speed Internet, I'm lobbying for us to consider a cable TV package so i can still get my G4Tek TV.
200 remaining for combinations of cell phone plans, creditcard payments, bus passes, and shoes and clothes.
Ho says that back when he lived in the residence portion of my college said his monthly was only 475 with a 300$ rent roughly the rest being the internet, hydro and food.
How should I work towards budgeting and what should I be keeping in mind inregards to moving out, anyone have any advice?
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150 a month might be kind of low for food, and I don't know how much pharmaceuticals you use. I'd generally include those in a "misc" fund. But then, I'd probably count that for shoes too. Mostly, when I was in college, I'd pay the big stuff first and then just kind of try not to run out of money otherwise.
Posts: 11017 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Budget some money for savings first, before non-essentials like cable TV - so that when some unexpected event comes up it won't blow your budget.
Posts: 8120 | Registered: Jul 2000
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"XX0 for rent where X denotes a variable number between 1 and 9." So your rent is between 990 and 110?
If you have hi-speed internet you can easily get G4TV videos.
Are those other amounts totals for all three or shares? I recommend buying your own food separately in a roommate situation.
Posts: 6316 | Registered: Jun 2003
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quote:150 a Month for food and Pharmacuticols each.
Would need to eat lots of Raman noodles and spaghetti to stay within that budget. Five dollars a day for food and you couldn't even buy the value meal at McDonalds, and it has to last you all day.
Not to mention razors, shampoo, shaving cream, soap, deodorant, etc.
Posts: 5656 | Registered: Oct 1999
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150 a month for food is more than enough if he cooks and doesn't eat out.
As Xavier mentioned, keep other incidentals in mind. To add to that list: toilet paper, paper towels, garbage bags, ziplock bags, etc.
You'll also have a lot of one-time expenses, although these could be inherited from family and split/shared with roommates: kitchen appliances, cookware & utensils, shower curtains, trash cans, furniture, storage things, tupperware, etc.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Obviously I don't know what the economy and normal prices are like up where you are, but I couldn't possibly live on a budget like that alone, much less with other people.
First thing you have to plan for is essentials and savings. Utility bills - which does NOT include cell phones and cable/Internet as those are not essential. Food. Medical. Transportation. Plan your budget so that the amount allocated to each of these categories starts out higher than actual so you have wiggle room to cover cost variances, inflation, fare increases, etc. Savings - and I recommend an absolute MINIMUM of 15% of your net income go to savings in an account that is more difficult to reach. And keep at least a full month's GROSS salary in savings at all times in case you lose your job so you can still cover your bills.
Avoid using credit cards at all costs. If you can't pay cash for it now and still be able to make your mandatory commitments, you don't need to be buying it. They're potentially good for absolute emergencies but will destroy you if you use them for day to day spending.
$150 a month for food is low, even if that's for each of you. I spend over $600 a month for myself and two children including health/beauty and household needs, and we only eat out once a week, when we're out running our errands for the week and don't have time to cook dinner that night. We brown-bag our lunches rather than buying school lunch or going to a fast-food place in my office complex. You may possibly be able to make this work *if* you and your roommates are able to amicably pool that fund and everyone is willing to eat the same thing at home together for dinner and brown-bag most of your meals out. However, I don't see it working for a group of barely-adult men.
Once you have your core budget set in stone, then determine what you will collectively need to obtain to furnish the home, including dishes, towels, bedding, furniture, trans receptacles, cleaning products and tools, and so on. And you need to have a good agreement in place regarding who is paying for what and how these items will be split when someone decides to move out.
Finally, you can start looking at adding conveniences such as cell phones, internet and TV service.
I hope Ginol also follows at this thread.
Posts: 4515 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I think $150 for food for one person would be just fine. Well, take that with a grain of salt, I work at a restaurant and eat probably 40% of my food there for free. But if you don't eat out, don't go crazy on expensive spices, and clip coupons, I don't see why you couldn't cook yourself something decent, eat leftovers, and be fine with $150.
I'm not including toiletries and such in that budget, but I'd include those things in more of a misc fund.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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I think you can eat for $150 a month, but not eat healthily. Fresh fruits and vegetables are expensive, and that won't be enough.
If you don't plan on eating fresh fruits and vegetables, though, it might be okay. It's plenty for the cheap basics and it isn't enough to let you buy junk.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: I think you can eat for $150 a month, but not eat healthily. Fresh fruits and vegetables are expensive, and that won't be enough.
You can eat healthily without fresh fruits & vegetables.
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Remember to adjust for the costs of living in Canada, and also that these are not American dollars. I do note that in Cincinnati, my wife and I spend roughly 300 dollars (American) on groceries each month. Although our eating-out budget is separate from that.
Drop the cable television, you'll find it amazing how much extra time you have without one of those things.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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Oh, and by the way: Plan to eat lots of fried rice, lentil soup, and canned veggies. Rice fried in olive oil is very good with some chopped onion and spices to give it taste. Meat is optional but nice. And rice is cheap. Potatoes can be fried too - boil, then slice, and fry the slices - and again onions give them a nice crunchy texture and some taste. (Add the onions after the rice/potatoes have been frying for a while; you don't want them to be cooked to the point where they lose the crunch.) Any of these dishes also benefit from the addition of canned corn or peas, or beans if you like them. You can also grate some cheese over it while it's frying for extra tastiness.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: I think you can eat for $150 a month, but not eat healthily. Fresh fruits and vegetables are expensive, and that won't be enough.
That really depends on the fruits and vegetables. You can get quite a large bag of apples, carrots, oranges, potatoes, onions, celery for 2-6 dollars each around here. They generally last quite a while in the fridge (we often don't replace these items within a month).
Posts: 1336 | Registered: Mar 2002
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I'm usually able to bring my individual meal cost to about 2 dollars a meal. That's about 180 a month, and that's not even eating badly. Overall, a piece of a cheaper fruit and a bowl of cereal with milk is about less than 2 bucks, a sandwich for lunch, and a smartly made dinner makes it easy. With pharmaceuticals, it's a bit more expensive.
Posts: 368 | Registered: Aug 2007
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I spend roughly 20 pounds/week on food, and I eat very well and healthily. Of course part of that is me not eating meat, and another part is the experience to know how to cook for leftovers, and another is that I very rarely eat out. It's possible, but difficult, and you have to be able to plan well.
Posts: 2849 | Registered: Feb 2002
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I think you can probably eat all right for $150 a month, but it's going to take some coordination between the three of you. There are a lot of basic staples that are much cheaper to buy in large quantities- rice, potatoes, flour, legumes, onions. You can also get large freezer packs of meat for less than buying individual servings, especially if there's a good butcher nearby.
Produce is going to be harder, no question. Buy seasonally, take advantage of local farmers' markets, and stock up on frozen and canned vegetables. I ate a fair amount of rice-and-frozen-vegetable-medley in college, which was pretty healthy, packed in some protein (if you get a variety that features beans), and cost less than a dollar for a generous serving.
If there's a local warehouse store (like Costco), it might be worth finding out if their costs are competitive.
The important point is coordination, and that might be more difficult than anticipated with three people starting out. If two people are being cost-conscious and one person blows their budget on pizza in the first week and then ends up mooching off the other two, you're going to have a problem. You're also going to find it harder to coordinate if you have wildly different tastes in food... And then there's things like if one of you ends up with an in-and-out S.O. who occasionally eats with you. That can cause some stress.
Count on the first month costing more than you had anticipated. There will be widgets you suddenly find you need at your new place. Spices and oils last for a long time, but they have to be bought the first time. Likewise kitchen utensils, pots and pans, toiletries, linens, etc. Some of these things some of you may bring from your previous residences, but some may be lost, and others wear out faster or be unacceptable in quality to one or more roommates.
Come up with agreements on chores, even if you have to do something that seems rigid and silly like having a big ol' schedule on the wall. Make sure there's some level on agreement as to whether it's okay to leave dishes in the sink for the night and the like. Find out what your laundry situation will be like.
As far as moving out- I presume this is probably a "handful of friends/family and (if you're lucky) a truck" kind of operation, not a moving service. Biggest suggestion? Label everything. Be sure that you can get to the things you're going to need the first day immediately, so your bed linens aren't piled under old books or your medications in the same box with computer cables.
posted
I realize that I'm from the US, but assuming the $150 to be US dollars ($152.72 Canadian according to x-rates.com) I eat well and healthily including fresh fruits and vegetables for approximately that amount every month. I am assuming that the $150 is per housemate, I can't imaging feeding 3 people on that amount. Clipping coupons and shopping at the correct store is important, but I have a friend who always swears that I'll pay almost twice my budget at the grocery store, and she's always shocked at how much food I can buy for less than my intended spending amount. You just have to know where/how to shop. No buying 1 lb packages of hamburger meat. Buy the family size 6 lb packs for less and divide and freeze the extra. Buy generic canned vegetables. Clip tons of coupons, but don't clip coupons for things that you don't like/want/need. Too many people clip coupons for things that they don't need and then buy them because they have a coupon. Those products then take up valuable space on a shelf somewhere, until they get thrown away. A single person, buying their own food should be able to eat nutritious meals for about $150 or so a month providing that they shop well. At least in my area of the country. It's one of the reasons I went with weightwatchers instead of nutrasystem. I couldn't see doubling my food budget to (presumably) eat less food.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Plan all you like, but you're still gonna overspend on all the excesses that you were limited by at home - which also goes for your potential flatmates.
That said, you'll figure out how to deal with it when the time comes. And from those times when you're so poor that you can't afford pot-noodles (but still have broadband) you'll figure out what your personal priorities are.
Planning's great, but there's nothing like personal experience.
Posts: 2245 | Registered: Nov 1998
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I can't comment on prices, but it WILL cost more than you budget for.
When you do you calculations, build in a good safety margin becasue there will *always* be unexpected expenses.
I have lived in similar situations and the way we got through was to cook together. Go to you local market and but things like rice, pulses and breakfast cereal in bulk. You can get cheap veg on a weekly basis and don't forget to stock up on cheap freezer food (cheap meat pies and frozen veg make a good standby meal, as long as you're not too fussy ).
Good luck in your adventure. It'll be a blast!
Posts: 892 | Registered: Oct 2006
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![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
) and both of them want to move out and both want to move out with me and both are fine with each other.
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