[vox] [OT] Cost of living in davis

[Shwaine]

On Sun, 12 Sep 2004, Hans W. Uhlig wrote:

> Well the time has come that ive got to think about
> moving out on my own before I kill my parents, or bury
> myself in my own room with the stuff I collect. so Im
> curious as to what people seem to think is a resnable
> cost of living. so far my numbers seem to make me
> thing that $13-16 per hour is minimum to live. which
> makes me ill as I am still sub 10$. If anyone is
> willing to give me opinions on how much life is I
> would be most appreciative. Thanks in advance. Hans.
>

I know that feeling (needing to get rid of the parents) well from my days 
as an undergrad, heh. I tried to save money my first few years by living 
at home, but eventually moved out into a cheap apartment. Of course, that 
was a totally different area so cheap was really cheap and meant no 
roommates. Which brings me to my point. You cost of living really depends 
on how you live. Seems obvious I know, but so much more goes on under the 
surface. Ask yourself how you want to live. Do you want roommates? If so, 
how many? Do you want a private room or are you okay with sharing a room 
with other(s)? These questions will affect the rent and utilities monthly 
costs. Rent can go pretty cheap depending on how many people you want to 
share your space with. Utilities will vary greatly by complex (insulation, 
shade, energy uses of roommates, general design), so ask around for people 
in that specific complex.

As for other costs, don't forget the one-time upfront costs of things like 
security deposits and first/last month's rent. Then there's move-in costs 
for things like towels, furniture, etc (anything that you can't "borrow" 
from your parents basically). This really adds up if you're living alone 
and you need to get kitchen and cleaning supplies. There's also other 
situations when dealing with roommates, like if they want cable and want 
you to split it with them even if you aren't particularly interested in 
those costs. Or my most common issue with roommates: if they are energy 
inefficient and drive up the power bill but refuse to change. That cost me 
an extra $20-40 a month one year (after the split) when a pair of 
particularly inefficient energy users moved in.

Don't forget the costs of food either. If you aren't a cook, it can get 
expensive (and I'd suggest learning a few simple dishes like pasta). If 
you have foraging roommates who eat your food, it can add up. Then there's 
other little things like the phone bill, laundry mat quarters, insurance 
payments and ISP bill, not to mention any extra "spending money" for 
entertainment, computer parts, etc. You'd also be amazed at how many 
little things nickel and dime you like shampoo, soap, paper towels, 
cleaning products, etc. For example, I went to Target recently for a few 
essentials like that and ended up spending close to $50 with only $5 of 
that being a splurge on a bag of Halloween candy.

My best advice is to get a more detailed budget going. Start thinking what 
you use daily in terms of food, personal grooming products, etc and figure 
out how much that would cost to keep those in supply. It might be useful 
to do a trial run at home where you buy all these items for yourself just 
to see how much it would cost. I did that with food before I moved out of 
my parents (although my motivation was avoiding food intolerances) and it 
really gave me a better grasp on how much that would cost me living alone. 
Then try to work backwards from your salary to figure out how much money 
you'd have left after these misc. basic costs. Then subtract fixed monthly 
expenses like the phone or ISP bill. In the end you should have a target 
rent+utilities amount that will help you decide if your budget is in line 
with your desired living situation (as assessed by the questions I asked 
initially). You should also leave a margin of error for unexpected 
expenses like having to replace something that has broke or worn out. 
These pop up more often than you'd think.

Hmm, I've rambled on too extensively perhaps, but budgeting is the one 
thing I've found that has kept me financially afloat during college. 
Unlike many others, the only debt I'll have when I graduate is moderate 
student loans. All my credit cards are paid off in full every month 
because I just use them to get the bonus points/reward cash, not as a 
substitute for budgeting. I've also seen first hand by observing my family 
what can happen when you don't budget and it isn't pretty, so I've 
learned well by counter-example.

I personally keep a MySQL database that has tracked all my income and 
expenses since I moved to Davis. This lets me calculate average monthly 
costs for a variety of categories. Thus I can fairly accurately predict 
how much money I'll need throughout the school year and how much I'll need 
in student loans and income to cover it. I keep a spreadsheet with a 
projected budget through the end of the next school year using these 
averages and any foreseen large expenses (like SHIP not having enough 
annual prescription coverage to cover my allergy/asthma meds all year). I 
also update it every month to see how my estimates matched reality. If I 
overspent, I know to tighten the belt the next month. This has actually 
allowed me to live pretty well on a student budget because it's so 
carefully planned. I can even afford to be sloppy in my spending habits a 
little (like splurging on computer stuff) because I include at least a 5% 
margin of error on all my averages just to allow for such. Always 
overestimate how much you'll spend, then you can save the extra for any 
emergencies.