How much I spend on life in the USA: personal experience

Probably one of the most important moments for any person is a financial issue. Usually, for unknown reasons, people hide their expenses and incomes, but the author of the site za-bugrom.com, Sergey Timshin decided to share his experience and tell about the cost of living in the United States.

Since my income (and I work in the library at the university where I study) is quite modest (about $ 400 per month), I’ll only tell you about my monthly expenses and expenses in Philadelphia.

As a student, I have to squeeze on finance at the very end, so that is enough until graduation. I have divided all my expenses by items such as clothes, groceries, travel, etc. I will describe each item in more detail.

Photo za-bugrom.com

Products

I have a calculation that I spend $ 15 per day. In theory, this includes not only food, but also such things as laundry detergent, toothpaste and other household stuff. I'm not trying to strictly adhere to the budget for each day, but just take $ 15 * 31 = $ 465 for a month. In other words, one day I can spend 30 dollars, but then nothing to buy for a couple of days. I eat pretty well, buy juice, meat and fruit.

In stores there are constantly discounts and promotions. If you buy large packages, it turns out much cheaper. Here, for example, the action in one of the supermarkets: take the second package completely FREE!

Photo za-bugrom.com

Very unusual, but everyone thinks in pounds. For convenience, you can consider one pound as a pound. The following led a small selection of prices in stores for popular products.

1. Beef steak: $ 14 per 1 kilogram
2. Beef: $ 12 per kilogram
3. Chicken fillet: from $ 6 to $ 11 per kilogram
4. Beef cutlets: $ 10 for 10 pieces
5. Pork: $ 9 per kilogram
6. Shrimp peeled in batter: $ 7 per 500 g
7. Milk: $ 2 for half a gallon (I don't drink, I could be wrong)
8. Sour cream: $ 2 for 400 g
9. Rice in cooking bags: 600 g for $ 4. Regular rice is cheaper and sometimes sold in bags of 10 kg
10. Pasta-Pasta: $ 2 per 400 g or Long Pasta $ 1 per 400 g
11. Buckwheat is not here ((
12. Bread: $ 1.5 for a white chemical loaf. For freshly baked order of $ 3
13. Juice: $ 4 per Halon
14. Water: $ 1.5 per halon
15. Soda: $ 4 per liter 2 Dr.Pepper
16. Ice cream: $ 4 per pound. Very delicious
17. OREO Cookies: $ 4 per pack of 345 grams. Huge selection
18. Frozen chicken strips p / f: $ 8 for 550 g

Total: $ 465

Apparel

I put $ 40 per month on clothes. It is necessary to take into account that I just arrived and I need to buy more things than usual. Elementary, even ordinary home clothes, for which in Russia we often use old T-shirts, I need to re-purchase. Shoes in Philadelphia can be found for 50 dollars for quite decent ones. Of course, most shoes cost $ 70 - $ 100, but do not forget that I survive on a minimum budget. T-shirts and sweaters fit well within $ 15 - $ 40 apiece, depending on the brand. Sometimes you can find something from Calvin Klein for the money. I spend these 40 dollars not every month, and sometimes I save up and then buy something more expensive, like a jacket.

Total: $ 40

Travel, communication, hairdresser

I have allocated $ 70 a month for travel. I travel by public transport such as bus and metro. Traveling to the USA is quite expensive - $ 2 per trip. There are no special discounts on monthly passes and there are no discounts for students. Mobile communications gobble up $ 40 a month. It includes 3 GB of Internet and unlimited calls to the USA, Canada and Mexico. There may be other rates, but this one is the cheapest from AT&T. In principle, everything is fine.

Now the hairdresser: perhaps spending it looks ridiculous, but still. I spend $ 25 every 30 days on the barber. I give the twenty to work and 5 for tea. Of course, it is possible without “tea”, but it’s so accepted and better to give these 5 bucks, but what’s the point ...

Barber shop in the USA. Photo za-bugrom.com

By the way, as far as I know, female hairstyle is not much more expensive. I was at a dysfunctional hair salon first.

Now I go to quite a decent barber shop. Prices are the same, but the quality is much better.

Total: 70 + 40 + 25 = $ 135

Housing and utilities

I rent a three-storey apartment building with three neighbors. I have my own floor in the basement. No, this is not a heating line with bums and rats. This is a full floor with a room, a private toilet and a bath. I really like my home because I feel like I live alone. I pay for all this $ 570 per month. Here we add $ 20 per person for fast internet. Utilities per month average $ 70 per person for water, gas and electricity. On average, this means that in the summer this bill is 50 dollars, and in winter it rises to 90 due to gas heating.

Total: $ 660

Unexpected expenses

I have $ 40 set aside for this item. This includes such things as expensive books for study, a suddenly broken phone and other emergencies. Sometimes I run a paw if there is not enough money for household expenses from food money (see the first paragraph) or for a trip to a cafe. As with clothes, this money is saved and can be spent on one big purchase.

Total: $ 40

So, all together, I have $ 1330 per month. In principle, for the student's life this money is quite enough for yourself and you can even have fun if the question goes into the form of “survive at any cost”. Of course, for a full-fledged life of an adult, one should also include expenses for entertainment, a gym and something else, but we are talking about the standard of living of the student that I adhere to. Someone from Russia can accuse me of being an agitator and a riotous lifestyle by translating this $ 1330 * dollar rate (56 rub) = 74480 rub, but for the US, these 1330 are not even considered salary. No normal American lives on such money. In addition, if you translate these 1330 to the old course, it turns out 40.000 rubles per month, which is a fairly low salary for such a large city like Philadelphia.

Published with the permission of the site za-bugrom.com

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