Without having to eat your socks for dinner.
Taking some time off the exam preps to do this long overdue list before inflation knocks the calculations all off. Not in a funny mood, really, (well, I was never very funny anyway) so forgive the lack of jokes. Or rejoice. Whatever.
Living in the UK can be a downright bitch. Everything here's expensive, especially the food that's not Tesco Value, and they know their econs: prices are noticably notched up on holidays and the weekends for some items. Living as a proletariat university student can be rough, but not impossible. Just not very enjoyable and you won't get laid as much as Oakenfold, which might be depressing if you've seen the guy.
As a scholarship kid, I get a set amount of money every six months. That's fine. Minus a couple hundred a month for rent, some bits for the bills, a little on the side for the impromptu holidays abroad, plus maybe a bit to save, and what you have left is not very much at all.
All in, I set aside 170pounds a month for buying stuff; 75pounds for groceries, the other ninety-five for everything else. Now it doesn't seem much, but it's quite enough, though I tend to overshoot a bit.
Now, I think it's best to describe my spending habit a little. You know the Asian chaps that are bloody iron chefs and can't swallow anything that's not restaurant-grade food? I'm the opposite. As I've mentioned before I'm a lousy cook, and tend to get permanently damaged whenever I try something fancier than opening a can of sardines. Thankfully, evolution endowed me with the ability to consume the most wretched foods (and you can't get anything more wretched than my cooking even if you threw bubonic-laden rats into a blender). While it's not the most useful of evolutionary traits, it saves me a ton of dosh each month by not being very picky. In fact I consistently save around 20pounds off the budget.
Now this is the list of stuff that you can get at Tesco. Basics, most of them. I don't try to get all fancy with food because they all taste around the same, but everyone should follow some rules of thumb: vegetables are good, instant food kills you, have some protein, treat expiry dates like suggestions. Once in a while, treat yourself something nice, like that 65p bag of doughnuts. That'll be a luxury item in this list.
Item / Cost per serving (pounds)
Fruits / .25
Jam / .15
Bread (Tesco Value) / .08
Butter / .05
Eggs / .15 (I eat two a go)
Milk / .15
Tea / .04
Sugar / .01
Salt / .01
Pepper / .02
Spices (luxury!) / .10
Baked Beans / .10
Vegetables / .35
Meat (fresh. kinda) / .45 - .8
Meat (tinned) / .10
Rice / .05
Pasta / .05
Sauces (not really necessary...) / .30
Oil /.03
Fish (tinned) / .50
Flour / .05
Biscuits / .10
Cornflakes / .20
Onions, Garlic / .02
I have to admit, it's very austere. Heck, people in gulags might be better off. But it's cheap, and it's reasonable if you don't mind some monotony. By having either beans on toast or some cornflakes in the morning, some pasta for lunch and a meat meal for dinner you can come off for 2.36pounds a day with some biscuits and tea on the side. Since I tend to err on the safe side, you might even get some spare change left over and buy that premium-quality pesto once in a while.
The flip side of me not spending very much at all on myself (even my clothes are like 300 years old) is my propensity to entertain others. Dinners out, the pub or two, random travels, all dig in to the wallet. Most are avoidable, and if you have the sociability of a smelly sex-fiend you'll also save some coins but where's the fun of uni?
Basically, try to not buy stuff you don't need, show up as they're closing shop to get some stuff on the cheap (show up at around 8 and you might just get the fishmongers to get 95% off their last few items), stretch some stuff out and you'll be fine. As long as you don't be a consumption-hungry, label-wearing, food-guzzling lard-arse, you'll do fine. Basically, just be like a guy.
