Since I started the PhD, I have had a lot less income than before. I am still part-time at work, but things are looking like I'll have to go full time in order to make any sort of real progress.
My PhD salary on full-time would require me to cut back EVEN MORE than I have already. I'm already feeling quite pinched...so where else could I really cut back? My lifestyle is about as frugal as it can get given the amount of time and amenities I have (e.g. no time to make lots of meals, very small freezer space to store meals, not a lot of time to walk the hour to/from the grocery store or many other places).
| Category |
|
Budgeted Amount |
| Rent |
| $640.00 |
| Groceries |
| $425.00 |
| Internet |
| $29.33 |
| Electricity |
|
$50.00 |
| Eating Out |
|
$125.00 |
| Charity |
|
$25.00 |
| Cell phone |
| $60.00 |
| Medical |
|
$65.00 |
| Misc |
| $600.00 |
| Savings |
|
$500.00 |
| Total |
|
$2,519.33 |
This ^^ is my budget most months. As you can see, I save $500 a month. This is on top of contributing 8% of my salary to my Kiwisaver retirement plan. I currently earn $2,547.22 each month. If I go full time on the PhD, I will earn $1,797.20 per month. I would need to cut $750 out of my monthly budget up there, but I can't really figure out ways to save more than a few bucks in each category, if that. I really am scraping by as it is! Any suggestions? Please keep in mind I'm very low on time and energy--the PhD requires me to work about 45 hours a week, part-time, with my part-time job taking up another 30 or so. If I go full time I'll be working 80-90+ hours a week regularly on the PhD, so I'll have even less time/energy than I do now.
CATEGORY REVIEW
Rent: My effective rent rate is $160 per week, or $640 per month for normal, 4-Friday months. It is listed as $880 in my normal monthly budget roundups because I count my car park rental income as regular income instead of subtracting it from my official rent total--but it adds up to $160 per week so that is the number I'm using here. This is extremely low rent in Central City Auckland, and even quite low compared to the neighboring suburbs around Central City. Looking on Trademe, in order to pay $160 in the CBD, you'd have to share the bedroom. And my bedroom, which I get all to myself, is huge--has a double closet, fits a dresser, chair, two bookshelves, double bed (queen would fit too), desk, nightstand, and I still have room to work out comfortably. This is a total steal. Living here also allows me to commute to my office walking within 5 minutes, which is necessary as I am low on time and energy with the PhD. I'm very happy with this deal, and HIGHLY doubt I will be able to find anything cheaper.
Electricity: I split electricity 3 ways with my couple flatmates. This makes my portion pretty low, less than $50 per month (that is pretty good in NZ). I have just gone through the powerswitch.org.nz test, and decided to switch to Energy Online. They offered a $100 credit for switching, so that is nice. I feel pretty confident I have this as low as I can get it. The only other way to decrease this would be to buy an insulating blanket for my water heater for the winter and/or decrease the number of baths I take and reduce the amount of heating I do in the winter. I keep my room quite warm and take a lot of hot baths, which is the only way I regularly relax normally! For the amount of $$ I'd save otherwise, these small luxuries are worth it, in my opinion.
Internet: I love Orcon, and I am locked in a contract til August, but I think I am going to switch my power and internet over to
Trust Power in August to get their $49 per month unlimited internet deal (plus they offer competitive prices for electricity too). My friend just signed up, so we'll see how he likes it before I switch over. This will reduce my internet bill from $29.33 per month to $16.33 for a year. The next year will cost no more than $79 per month, which is still less than I am paying now. Deal!
Savings: $3 to $13/month
Charity: At $25 per month, this is already as low as my conscience can comfortably handle. I actually consider this a small luxury--giving back makes me feel really good, and I am so happy that it is a regular part of my budget. I could cut this to $10 if necessary but I'll be sad about it.
Groceries: $425. AGH! I average $500 on this right now. Struggling with this expense has been going on for years for me. The expense here is linked to me not having a lot of time or energy. I go to the expensive grocery store because I know I can get everything on my list in one go, and because I know that store like the back of my hand. I just want to get in and out as quickly as possible.
I do know people that spend a lot less, but they have time to (and enjoy) cooking. I do not want to spend the very small amount of free time I have these days in the kitchen, making stuff I don't even like eating (I am a terrible cook). As high as these costs are, I feel like I have gotten this down as far as I possibly can through years of trying different tactics. I hate this one, but I think I am stuck with this high expense, unless I suddenly start loving cooking or find a cheaper store with everything I need. I could try adding one trip to the cheaper store per month or to a farmer's market if time allows, but that is probably the best I will ever do. I could also look into getting my groceries delivered to save time. I'm going to say I'll cut out $15, optimistically.
Eating Out: $125 Again, this is linked to not having a lot of time. I sometimes eat takeout at work in the evenings when I realize I didn't get what I needed to do at work done, and am starving. I try to bring food into work for dinner most nights but there is always a few days where I don't have anything. Plus, this line item allows me to go out with my much more well-off friends once in a while. I could conceivably cut back here, but it would be at the cost of saving time and socialising, so...we'll see. Maybe could cut back by $25/month.
Cell phone: $60. I normally only spend $19 per month on my cell phone plan for 500 MB data, 100 minutes, and unlimited texts, plus I spend $1 a month on extra calls, etc. I rarely run out of data--the exception was over Christmas at a bach, when I had no wifi and had to top up a bunch of times to stay in contact with folks at home. Spark is pretty stupid about reporting your actual activity patterns (error message for time periods longer than a day...hmmm), so I have no way to know how I actually use my plan. The next less-expensive plan is $12 for 50 MB data and 5000 texts, but I'd surely go over that data plan and I call people once in a while, so...I think the savings is not worth the hassle of babysitting and restricting my usage. As for switching, Skinny does offer the same deal for $16/month, as compared to others, as reported on
whistleout.co.nz. The other positive is that with Skinny, the unused data and minutes would roll over each month. I think I will look into this
to save $3/month.
The rest of the $$ goes to maintaining my US Skype-out phone number and plan which allows my family to call and leave messages for me, and contact me whenever they need to. The hitch is that no one actually USES the phone number--I am the one that calls them every weekend. Still, if there were an emergency, I'd want them to have the option to call me directly from their cell phones. My parents are really bad at understanding technology and Skype in particular--this takes all the mystery out of it for them, and at a time (an emergency) when they would not want to have to deal with it. It is expensive at $60 USD per year, but, worth it for their, and my, peace of mind.
I could easily adjust this down to $30/month, I think. That still gives me a ton of wiggle room. SLASHED by $30/month, potentially $34/month.
Medical: $65. This probably should actually be higher. I'm having some issues lately with migraines that I need to figure out. Plus blood tests for my thyroid condition, regular annual checkups, eye doctor, random semi-emergencies, and dentist appointments are very expensive. I need to get my DTaP booster--a friend got pertussis as an adult and has suffered for years now. I'd love to go to a therapist, too. I want to make my health more of a priority. I'll keep it here for now, and revisit in a few months after my eye and dental appointments are completed.
Savings: Obviously, this is the place where I will have to cut back the most if I went full time on the PhD. I just don't have as much wiggle room elsewhere! I'd like to save at least 10% of my income, or about $180. SLASHED by $320/month.
I am not eligible for Kiwisaver as a student, so that is not an area where I can cut back.
It just seems impossible! Even with cutting my savings out completely, I would still need to cut a ton more money out of my budget. I have one last category to review:
Misc: $600. Sigh. This is my catch all, and where my entertainment, alcohol, fun, exercise, transportation, fees, gifts, and random household expenses get placed. There are a lot of things that I can do to cut these back, but it will be very, very painful as I triple review each expense and keep this to an absolute minimum already. I routinely go overbudget in this and my groceries budget, even with those measures. I have been tracking my expenses here for a while now. The main thing I could do would be to cut out transport expenses, but that means I have to spend more time walking and taking buses (which I abhor with an almighty passion because public transport here absolutely blows). For example, my only reliable weekly social outlet--a dance class--is in another part of the city once a week. I can either spend 40 minutes walking each way, $4.50 and 35 minutes on buses/walking each way, or less than 10 minutes and $10 splitting an Uber with a friend each way. You can see why I opt for Uber as much as possible. I also use the car sharing service at $15/hour--it gives me some freedom, and the ability to knock a ton of errands out quickly.
So, more time, more energy on things like grocery shopping or walking somewhere means less time getting work done, and less time with friends or relaxing. It just doesn't seem like a good tradeoff.
Here's what I've spent over the past four months, on average, in each category:
| MISC |
|
| alcohol |
$ 86.06 |
| entertainment |
$ 27.13 |
| exercise |
$ 25.00 |
| fees |
$ 24.08 |
| gifts |
$ 29.60 |
| goods and wants |
$ 235.09 |
| transportation |
$ 106.95 |
| travel |
$ 9.00 |
Alcohol: Could majorly cut back here. It is mostly one-offs of big bottles of booze that make this number high some months. Most of the time, this figure is less than $20 as I'll have one or two beers while out socializing once a month or so. I don't drink very much as I am a lightweight, but I do go all out once in a while, and I provide alcohol when I host game nights at my house once every few months. However, I have a really good, strong stockpile of vodka, rum, tequila, and whiskey for house parties now so hopefully that lasts me the rest of the year.
Entertainment: I go out to a movie once every 5 or 6 months. I count my dance classes here as entertainment as they are more fun than exercise.
Exercise: This is one that I wish I spent more on, like Medical. I'd love to take more Pilates, tennis, and other classes if I had the time and money.
Fees: Oof. This is for parking and random dings. Can't seem to avoid them, however careful I am.
Gifts: I don't spend that much usually. $30 a pop for a few special people and that's it.
Goods and wants: Usually household stuff like paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, toiletries, clothes, games, haircuts, random one-offs, etc., but occasionally I get something that I like for my garden or a nice decoration for my house. Could cut back here.
Transportation: Buses, taxis, car sharing, and Uber. I'm addicted and it saves me SO MUCH TIME AND ENERGY. I could cut back here, but I will be a very unhappy camper to do so.
Travel: this is usually quite minimal as I save up for big trips separately.
We'll just say that I can cut $320 out here.
My Luxuries:
Living close to work
Baths
Heating my room in winter
Giving to charity
One-stop grocery shopping
Takeaways a few times a week (convenience at work)/not having to cook
One nice meal out with friends every few months
Peace of mind for my family ($60 USD skype plan)
Timesaving easy transport
Alcohol
Exercise classes
Apparently my new budget has to be similar to the following:
| Category |
Budgeted Amount |
| Rent |
$640.00 |
| Groceries |
$410.00 |
| Internet |
$29.33 |
| Electricity |
$50.00 |
| Eating Out |
$100.00 |
| Charity |
$10.00 |
| Cell phone |
$30.00 |
| Medical |
$65.00 |
| Misc |
$280.00 |
| Savings |
$180.00 |
| Total |
$1,794.33 |
I honestly do not think that this is actually possible. So. Anything I'm missing? Any advice or am I doomed to go in the red here?! How on Earth do other people live off of so little?
