12k for rent 3k for food 5k for health insurance 1k for clothes 3k for transport(no car) 6 or so as a rainy day savings/frugal liesure
If you're looking at a fairly small locality, meaning your daily commute distance is only a few miles, you may want to look at a motorized bicycle. They are easy to keep in a small apartment, offer a higher degree of freedom than public transit, and are about comparable in total travel time.
Below, I added some numbers from my past. The everything else is still just for minimum/essentials. It includes things like car insurance, utilities, repairs, gas money to get to work, clothing, etc.
--- In 2003 as a college freshman(college paid for by parents/loans), I got by in Jonesboro, Arkansas for around $7000 a year.
$3,000 - rent in a run down part of town. $1,000 - food $3,000 - everything else.
--- 2005, in Columbia, MO I got by spending about $14,000.
$8,000 - rent $2,000 - food $4,000 - everything else
--- 2006, in Columbia, MO I got by spending about $10,000.
$3,2000 - rented a nice 5 bedroom split 5 ways. $2,800 - food $4,000 - everything else
--- In 2015, at Lake Worth, FL for around $20,000.
$11,000 - rent $4,000 - food $5,000 - everything else
--- This year I'm looking to rent in Taipei, Taiwan. Here's what I have so far priced things out at. $16,000 - $25,000.
$12,000 - $18,000 - rent $2,000 - $3,000 - food $2,000 - $4,000 - everything else
In between the 2006 & 2015 rentals, I purchased and lived in a home.
Also, like most people over time I went from $500 clunkers to a $5,000 reliable car, rented in nicer neighborhoods, bought higher quality food, and so on.
For example, 12k rental can be extravagant. At this amount probably you can have a whole private apartment, with an actual bedroom (not a studio). But room rentals should be cheaper. Look what student rentals ask for, or friendly professionals that need roommates. These could be way below $500/month, even in new york. Alternatively, do you have parents or siblings to live with and share the rental costs?
Similarly, clothing is tricky, but people do with less than 1k. Some might not buy anything in a year. Buy quality over quantity, things that last. Be vigilant at avoiding spills, cleaning them quickly, know how to patch clothes, and dye them. Look for coupons, discounts, clearance, outlets, friends that have employee discounts.
3k for transport and without a car? How expensive are the busses + bicycle maintenance in the area? Most expensive monthly passes around the world are around $150/month. Be it new york or singapore. Also, many places let you transfer from metro to buses and vice versa on same ticket! The big thing here is that one has to trade time and schedule ventures out. Know which buses/subways are when, and knowing how long are transfers. Trips that are 15minute in car can become 1hour slogs if not timed right.
6k for rainy day -- the rainy day money is meant not to be spent unless you have to. There is no need to budget for it being spent every year.
5k health insurance -- demand universal health care, or bet you won't get sick, or get a job that covers this?
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In my earlier years I tried to do similar calculation and I got slightly below 10k for basics like roof over head and lack of malnutrition, and in my calculations found 20k to be comfortable enough to allow for independant living and icecream, and beer outing with friends once a month, a cinema twice a year. etc.
As a data point: average local salary in Belgrade in 2017 was about $400 per month. Now, as a foreigner you're obviously going to not have access to local networks, family housing, etc. But you can easily find an Airbnb for ~$400 in the center. That leaves you with $600 a month for everything else - very, very doable.
https://checkinprice.com/average-minimum-salary-belgrade-ser...
The key is to stay away from the big cities, as rent tends to be the biggest expense and it varies a lot between different locations.
I have years worth of data, and in my opinion, if you already own the "basic stuff" (sofa, bed, fridge, TV, even car) and can split the costs of certain items (rent, gas/water/electricity, Internet), then you can "survive" in Melbourne, Australia (an expensive city) on ~$25k (approximately $24k after taxes because of how tax brackets are structured).
This includes: rent (up to ~$220 week), car rego ($820/yr), 3rd-party car insurance, petrol ($30/week), Internet, mobile (1GB data), gym, groceries ($50/week). You could even eat out ~$50/week.
$30k will give you breathing space.
$3000 for transport!
I'm pretty sure a frugal grad student could push both down to $0.
I could have cut it down to 40k/year somewhat easily, if I also went for a long commute and gave up some luxuries like eating out. Below 40k I would have had to learned some more serious frugality tricks.
By the time I was 29 and living in a bigger city I was spending a fair amount of my $35,000 a year salary. My college roommate on the other hand lived in NYC and was spending more per month on his apartment than we did per year for our college apartment.
Can you live with your parents?
Why do you not consider paying taxes?
Hope I actually owed the tax that I paid. ;-)
I wonder if they should tax stipends but also increase them by the taxed amount, so people see they’re more realistic than they first look. But then you’d lose the zero rate bracket for the rest of your income.
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