Week 4: I can’t help it, I’m an economist

All my life I’ve been an economist (since I graduated in 1999) I’ve been living my day-to-day in a constat apply-economics-science-to-life rule. I can’t help it I’m an economist; further, it’s even worse if you take into account I used to serve as a business manager and that part of my training was in finances and accounting.

Having said that, you can imagine I have been keeping a good account of my expenses along this first month in London. Effectively, this city is not cheap. However, I have to admit you can go for less expensive options than those I’ve taken; it’s all a matter of learning, analysing and, of course, making your decisions (for instance, I decided I didn’t wanted a shared room, although I was fine without an en-suite private one). So, here are the rounded costs per day for the first month:

Flight = 3.00 EUR (as far as you stay further in the country, this will approach zero).
Accommodation = 30.00 EUR (as I said, you could take this one even to a half if you choose like an hostel).
Food = 7.00 EUR (I haven’t been very picky or exquisite, so I decided to go for cafés and take aways, and supermarket buying).
Transport = 7.00 EUR (don’t forget your Oyster Card!).
Mobile phone = 1.00 EUR (SIM card was free, and I’m on a pay-as-you-go tariff).
Sundry expenses = 3.00 EUR.
TOTAL = 51.00 EUR/day.

The more frugal you are, the less will be the expense. My advice is do not cut on food, try to be efficient with transport and focus your attention to the accommodation cost, since it is the higher share in total cost per day (almost 60%).

You may have noticed I haven’t told you about entertainment costs; hey, I’m here to work. However, if you are thinking of entertaining yourself, there are plenty of free entrance museums and venues, free networking events (some with free drinks!), discounted entries to discos, and many websites offering coupons to restaurants and concerts. There is plenty of options to have a good value entertainment time. If you like it! 😉