Living on a Budget

Belgium is pretty damn expensive, so over the past few weeks, I have figured out some ways to make living a little cheaper.

1) Since I have breakfast and dinner provided to me during the week, I eat as much as possible. Im talking like, eat till you feel sick. Usually breakfast can hold me over till dinner, but on the days that I am hungry, refer to step (2)

2) Next to my school is a Colryut (a grocery store chain). Inside the Colyrut, you can obtain free samples of some things. They always have coffee, fruit slices, and nuts. Each day between classes, I make my way up there, drink some coffee while I "shop", sample some fruits, and grab some nuts (yes I know that sounds funny). Voila, there is my lunch.

3) If 1 and 2 fail, you can always buy a one dollar loaf of bread, which is usually good to feed you for three days. If I am really going all out, I may invest in a few slices of salami. But that is just for a treat.

4) Sleep late on the weekends. This way, you can cut down on the amount of meals you eat simply by sleeping through them.

5) Hold off on laundry. Since it costs over 13 U.S. dollars to do a big load of laundry, you gotta do it sparingly. Im talking like, wear your clothes at least three times before washing them. Since everywhere here is smokey, no one can really tell if you smell bad, and even if they do, you are in Europe and will probably not see these people again.

6) Only go to art exhibits etc. when they are sponsored by the school. Chances are you can pull some strings and score some free tickets. No need to waste money buying them yourself.

7) Share things. I do not have one single textbook that I can call my "own." We all share them. This saves me over 200 Euro. Sweet.

I have tried to budget myself to under fifty Euros a week. Can I do it? Probably not but so far so good.