Cost of Living

You will never find a formula here, you just have have to live it and figure it out for yourself. In college I ate ramen and hamburger helper and tuna sandwiches. These days I eat a tad higher up on the food chain. You know meep well all your disposable income is gonna go for drugs and booze and hooking up with the lads or lassies.

Enjoi

Dude, you're 17 and going to college - it doesn't matter what we say, you're going to meep it all up and blow it. When I was your age I spent my money on booze, drugs and weed and the rare occasion that there was money left over, I spent it on gas and the occasional fast food meal.

yup, your meeped

living proof that you'll screw up, i spent 5 years at college.... it was a 3 year course. still ended up with no degree but a lot of good experiences. worth the meeping huge debt. think i gave a -1 to a link coming thru the aq that might have helped though.

Buy guns.

Some wisdom to be taken FWIW...

Your expenses will be higher than you budget. Give yourself a 15 - 20% overhead of what you plan.

Don't forget those creeping utils like heat/elec/telecom.

Have contingency plans... ie. You are betting your budget on monies from three other lads/ladies.... Well, what happens if one decides to split, dies, learns to hate you or the others, etc? Gotta plan.

Get everything in writing and Listen to the advice your elder authority figures are giving, particularly in the matter of contracts (rentals, car loans.)

You control every penny out and have some control over every penny coming in.

You know that Latte and pack o smokes, pack of baseball cards, little slice of pizza, used Xbox game, etc..... their costs all add the meep up and will bleed you dry. Don't be the like the majority of idiot Americans, and understand where you money is going.

Don't be too proud to use coupons or ask for help. But be sure to pay back whomever you borrow from, because you will lose any future chance of every getting help again.

OK, this is meep, but save something every month. I don't give a meep if its only $25 a month. This money may save your meep by buying you time in a financial crisis.... ie. you may get evicted, but that savings may help you out of that jam (see roommate stiffing you point above.)

And lastly, don't lend money to friends. They will forget and you may lose a friendship over it.

Don't dramatize or over-romanticize being out on your own. Its meeping hard and everyone else that doesn't live in their parents basement, is Doing The Same meeping Thing... which turns the romance into something quite ordinary... it also is called making a living or surviving.

Don't meep away your life, but have a good time. Write back in ten years either from skid row or Harvard Biz school.

And lastly, don't lend money to friends. They will forget and you may lose a friendship over it.

QFMT

BDW makes some valid points. Coupons are always good, and taking the huge toilet rolls from gas stations can save you at least $15.00 a month.

Food: 1) Hook up regular visit/meals (visit ppl obscure relatives and meep, go see mom and dad long enough to rid their fridge). 2) Get a job in the food industry, a lot of places let you scoop wastage, give you a free meal or allow you to earn thief pts. 3) Realize that you save nothing at costco, hit up factory outlets instead (at the bakery outlet here you can buy 4 loaves of bread for a buck). 4) Meat only exists in baloney/hot-dog form. 5) Waste NOTHING, carry a backpack to scoop any treasures you cant stuff in your cheeks. 6) Join AA, those meeps trade one addiction for another, food is always plentiful. 7) Steal.

General meep: 1) Rent a room rather than a whole apartment, learn early that roomies suck while saving some cash for beer. 2) Learn to love your dollar store for meep like shampoo and deodorant, some of those places actually sell food that is decent as well. 3) Learn to budget, seriously, If I could go back in time and teach that to myself... 4) IF YOU ONLY MAKE ONE GRAND A MONTH, DO NOT GET A CREDIT CARD, UNDER ANY CIRmeepSTANCES!!!! 5) Ride your bike, it's faster than the bus, and cheaper.

Listen to the advice your elder authority figures are giving

The special irony of this line is it's potentially the most important thing on this page, but by the time you learn to appreciate it, you won't need it nearly as much anymore.

Friend debt: if your buddy needs five bucks, give him five bucks, if you can, and forget that it happened. It's the "you owe me" aspect you want to avoid at all costs.

Or you can be like chex and steal that dude's girlfriend and then live the rest of your live in quiet, obscure happiness and but then you end up in jail and your girlfriend (his ex) is reaching out to your friends on facebook to tell them where you've been.

Ah, college. I never went.

When I was in your boat there were a couple times money was really tight and I was too proud to ask for help from parents. I bit bllet and went to food bank.

Know where one is in your area. They were really amazing to me the 2 times I needed them.

Dude, you're going to Harvard (I think... that part was obscure). Find a rich roommate and try to jump in on a suckle of their teet. If you're 17 and in college then you do whatever the meep you can to get by. Likewise, I have massive respect for my friend's old roommate who was a stripper after class.

Anyways, you'll eventually make your way up the "Holy meep, I have money now..." ladder and it won't be so difficult.

Also, try to find an on campus job, like at a computer help desk or computer help line: 1) Free homework time 2) easy money 3) Fits around your classes 4) When you get bored there's always Linkswarm

Load up on food products any chance you get. Play the poor college student card any chance you get and accept free meals. Any time your peeps wanna get a pizza pull out $1 and say this is all I got... Nobody will meepblock you if you are contributing something and you get to stuff yourself with pizza, just don't be a meep and take the last slice. Find an apartment of wealthier kids who live close and make friends...rich kids like taking care of one token poor kid as long as you act cool. DON'T GET A CREDIT CARD DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT....you need a few years of financial realities under your belt before you can start balancing credit in there too.

Remember you will be poor ....act like a poor person

Repeat for added emphasis:

**And lastly, don't lend money to friends. They will forget and you may lose a friendship over it.

**F YOU ONLY MAKE ONE GRAND A MONTH, DO NOT GET A CREDIT CARD, UNDER ANY CIRmeepSTANCES!!!!

Dejar,

Just an FYI, the original poster may be from Harvard, MA, which is a nice, rural community West of Boston. If he/she is going to Boston for school, it could be at one of the 68 (methinks) instimitutions of higher ed in and around the Bawston area. Or perfectly parodied in Spinal Tap... "Oh, the Boston gig was cancelled? No big deal... its not a very big college town."

agreed on adding 15-20% overhead on your budget - not only for utilities, but odds & ends like cleaning supplies, toilet paper, detergent, etc. while you won't be buying that stuff often, it's often relatively expensive and can quickly derail your budget if you don't plan for it.

As far as what WE spend in food - it's hard to compare. Many of us, once out of college, have secured decent jobs and can afford more for food than the typical college student. The suggestion to scrounge what you can is a wise one. Even trips home to raid the folks fridge can save you tons.
That being said, I've noticed I spend on average $50+ a week on food. Add in beer and other indulgances and that can go up an additional $10-40/wk easy. Now this is just grocery shopping, and doesn't factor in going out to eat, and I consider what I spend probably on the cheap end, and also consider this is for 1 person only without much sharing with others or waste due to spoilage, etc.

Also consider aside from rent and utilities, food will be your next biggest expense.

$1000/month = no powah I've been there; rented a futon - lived on ketchup packets. Your new fav word will be "Free" Listen to the good people here at LS that have already given great advice especially the no credit card one. Just say NO to drugs that you have to pay for. Beans and rice little man beans and rice.

bigdinwaunakee -

So even more rich people to live with. lawl

ha HA! you speak as if he/she will even listen to all this good advice... I never did and learned it the hard way. Just like all the rest of you.

It feels good to try, though.

I had a neat little list of what to do/what not to do but then thought meep it! You are supposed to be tired, hungry and stressed out in college. You will appreciate the lean years after you graduate.

You will probably have to learn all this the hard way, just like everyone else so I'll save the speeches and give you a recipe from my golden years of poordom instead.

Eggsnot soup:

1 packet o' ramen noodles (whatever flavor floats your young boat) 1 egg, beaten 1 cup frozen veggies (whatever is cheapest/most palatable)

Boil noodles. Add flavor packet. Keep water boiling and stir in egg. After egg forms snotty looking strands of goo, stir in veggies and cook 'til they're not frozen.

It's not great, but it has a little of everything you need to stay alive and is less than $2.00 a bowl.

Gracias to all for the advice. Also, i am from the lovely little rural town of Harvard, not the school :( but i am going to Umass Amherst which is just as good, right.. right? I am beginning my search for affordable housing now and will update on poverty status for your entertainment. Egg-snot soup recipe is noted.

One thing NOT to do:

Never get the idea that Spam is a viable substitute for any and all meat products. Specifically: NEVER substitute Spam for chicken in a $2 La Choy Sweet and Sour Chicken dinner mix, especially if these are the last two edible items in your cupboard.

Belay that!

Spam is awesome in all meat forms.

1) PROTIP: Don't live in Harvard. You can't afford it long term.

2) PROTIP: DO NOT LIVE IN HARVARD!!! YOU CANNOT AFFORD IT LONG TERM!!!

Trust me, I live in Lancaster and Harvard makes Lancaster look like a slum. In fact that entire area is pretty pricey. If you can swing the distance, look into Clinton, Leominster, or Lunenburg. You'll find the price drop significantly but you will need a car.

In this particular area, public transportation is pretty much out of the question as is bicycling. Also, job prospects for college kids are not real plentiful around here without driving. There are fast food places in Clinton and Leominster but Harvard is too hoity-toity for that sort of ilk.

1) PROTIP: Don't live in Harvard. You can't afford it long term.

2) PROTIP: DO NOT LIVE IN HARVARD!!! YOU CANNOT AFFORD IT LONG TERM!!!

Trust me, I live in Lancaster and Harvard makes Lancaster look like a slum. In fact that entire area is pretty pricey. If you can swing the distance, look into Clinton, Leominster, or Lunenburg. You'll find the price drop significantly but you will need a car.

In this particular area, public transportation is pretty much out of the question as is bicycling. Also, job prospects for college kids are not real plentiful around here without driving. There are fast food places in Clinton and Leominster but Harvard is too hoity-toity for that sort of ilk.

Good luck, and this coming from a mom who has a daughter in college.. I swear I work for her to support her. Its bites! Ok the best food is "free food" anyplace you can grab food, be it moms house, cousins, aunt Bertha or Uncle Fritz. Or doggie bags from the resturants. Even grocery stores that have sample days.. eat up dude, take one and stand there ask for another nod your head and then then leave.. You can survive. If you are asked to go someplace, with food, "GO" then take a backpack and maybe indulge in a few items that can be carried away. "Granola bars, ceral bars, fruit, or packets of anything can help, just dont be a meep about it.

You need to make $1000 per week not a month to live. and that bare minimum. And no matter what, save money in a savings account even if its $5 a week, and dont touch it. Then when you have saved $100 put it into a small CD, go see a banker. So just think before you buy, don't offer your cash to anyone to help them out. Make sure your roommates pay their share of things, and remember its cold out there so you are on your own.

There is no easy fix for you, But try to stay organized. Nothing anyone can say really to help you survive, it has to be all about common sense and logic, I pray you have both.

First let me just say that if you are a freshman then live in the student housing if it is available. Financial aid will usually pay for it and a meal plan for the first year. Trust me, if you are trying to get an apartment simply to get laid or some meep you can just as easily do that meep in a dorm room, or out in the bushes next to the football field or something. Frosh chicks are not proud after a little booze. After two wine coolers most of them will have their ankles meeped behind their ears without you even having to ask. Of course, if you have to get your own apartment here are my two cents.

Mac and cheese, mac and cheese, mac and cheese...I am not sure what it costs now but it used to be like 25 cents a box. It tastes pretty good if you use ranch dressing instead of the milk. Helps to change up the flava every once in a while. Blue cheese dressing works as well.

A 50 pound bag of rice will last you forever. Cook it with meat when you can afford it, just make sure that you do it asian style. That means that the rice is the main course and the meat is a condiment. Cook it at like a 1 to 8 ratio. That is 1 part meat or veggies to 8 parts rice. Soy sauce is free when you can attack some restaurants condiment bar. Never leave a restaurant without a pocket full of condiments, and woe be unto them that offer free crackers.

If you can splurge on a microwave burrito or two there is always burrito soup. Just toss the burrito into a pot of water and cook it until a gooey mess is all that is left. Stretches the burrito out for more than one guy if necessary and doesn't taste half bad after a couple of bong hits.

Do not shop at Costco. However, do have your mom buy you a membership. they have got daily free samples around lunchtime and failing all else you can get a pretty decent hot dog for 50 cents.

Food banks are good. Walk in, tell them you are poor, walk out with a box of food. Repeat.

Plasma donations are also good for some folding cash but the clinics can be hard to find. Look in the phone book. They used to pay $30 a shot for that meep. You could go as much as twice a week. Hurts like meep because they bleed you and then spin the blood to separate the plasma. Then they put the plasma free blood back into you. Takes about 2 hours but it pays.

We also used to look for research experiments at the university. Some of them pay. Also keep an eye out for things like movies being filmed. You can be an extra for like $50. A good day was when you could get in a plasma donation and an extra gig in the same day.

As far as apartments go, look for radiator heat. Saves you money on utilities. Some places will even spring for your water or your gas. When I was in your position I lived in a one bedroom apartment. The apartment did have three rooms (living room, kitchen, and a bedroom) but i was so poor I had to go downstairs and walk a block to the Burger King top take a dump for want of toilet paper. I had 2 roommates. They did pay for water and gas, but unfortunately we couldn't afford electricity at the time. We burned a lot of candles. Our arrangements were as such. One guy got the living room -- downside was that everybody passes through your room on their way to the front door. One guy got the kitchen -- no electricity meant that he got to keep his clothes in the refrigerator. The downside was that the bathroom was next to the kitchen and he got the pleasure of everyone's meep stench when we could afford (read steal) toilet paper. I got the bedroom, but since we didn't have electricity (and it was the dead of winter) we kept all of the food on the fire escape outside my window. I knew when anyone was hungry because they were tripping over my dead meep sleeping on the floor (no bed).

For craps sake learn to be innovative.

Hmmm. Starting to sound like I was the poorest mothermeeper round here

Finally, did anybody tell you not to get any credit cards yet...?

Oh yeah. If you can get a restaurant job do it. Free food for them that don't steal too much...

Hit up the search box for "Steal This Book", it has a few outdated and a few useful suggestions. I have a hard copy of it and it's a crazy book.

Other than that buy a bag of rice and learn to use it as filler in most of your food at home that requires meat.

And like above, never feel bad about using a food bank, that's what they are for. It's the people that wont work that make it such a stigma for people.

And when you get a career after you are edumicated, give back a little, Karma dude.

Also, don't ever forget condoms. I have more than one person working for me with an "almost" degree. Baby "oops" will put a damper on you aspirations real fast!

Ok, upon further review of your situation, I have one single question. If you attending UMASS Amherst, why the meep are you trying to live in Harvard, MA instead of, oh say, AMHERST??? I assume you are enrolled in a distance learning program. If that is the case, that's cool, I'm doing the same thing.

However, if you are enrolled in distance learning, then you can live anywhere, which again begs the question, "Why the meep are you trying to live in Harvard, MA???"

You can avoid most, if not all of the semi-degrading things people have suggested here, by living in an area that you can afford. Amherst, for one. For those who don't know, Amherst is in Western Massachusetts, and the cost of living there is significantly lower than anything in the area our good friend here is looking.

I understand if you want to live near mom and pop, but living in Harvard is a bad idea unless the parents are going to be footing the bill. Live in either Leominster or Clinton and you'll be golden.

To quote the great and terrible LORDKAHUNA, "BE SMART, NOT DUMB"

More excellent advice, now pondering if i should do this or not. To answer some questions.. I am still currently enrolled in high school as a senior with 4 months to go. I'm pretty much set for college and just have to keep decent grades. My school is in Harvard and I'm looking for apartments around Harvard, definitely not in as it would cost me $1000/month for a single room of a house rather than an apartment. I have looked in Clinton for apartments and i think that is where i will get my best deal on one. Trouble is i don't know how to go about getting one and how the meep does low income housing work??? There has to be cheaper apartments than $1100/month. I don't worry too much about location or meeptinessity just as long as i have a place to sleep and party without restraint. Also Wrecker: ya it seems that Harvard isn't liked by many other towns for that reason, but the people here are definitely to blame as they are all pretty pompous and haughty assholes. I moved here from Pueblo, Colorado into my Aunt's house so i would have a better chance at getting into college. Now that I'm pretty much in and have all my loans and shat ready to go i kinda want a place to party with my friends through the rest of the school year and the summer and get a grasp on how it's gonna be to live on my own while still having a home to fall back on when meep hits the fan, as it most likely will. Thanks again to all of you for the advice. 50lbp bag o' Rice noted but burrito soup just doesn't have that certain ring to it, knaw im sayin?

I'm nineteen, a fresh in college, and have a credit card I use a lot. I'm just bright enough to pay it off I guess. I don't think its a bad thing if you have a little self control and don't play to randomly buy flat screens and meep.

If you smoke, learn to roll your own. Three bucks for 40 roll your own cigs beats six bucks for 20 smokes any day.

Smoke shag, you can't afford kb. Do beer runs. Steal meep like crazy.

This is all lolz. haha. Don't forget to buy guns. :D

Dude Mass has the highest cost of living in the country, you're meeped. Live on campus like i do. Zoomass has those awesome high rise dorms live there orrrr try for the meeping mess of frat houses near the school.

I go to Salem State on the North Shore and me and the GF were looking for apartments for next year but it looks like were going to have to wait until we get real jobs before we can since even meephole 1 bedroom apartments are like 860 a month here. In terms of food I spend as little as i can while getting what i need/want and it usually runs me about $100 a month (thank you Market Basket) on top of credit card bills and car insurance.

My advice: there are ways to live independently without starving to death like an idiot.