{"id":37973,"date":"2019-03-22T09:05:54","date_gmt":"2019-03-22T13:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=37973"},"modified":"2019-03-21T20:09:04","modified_gmt":"2019-03-22T00:09:04","slug":"how-to-live-cheaply-on-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2019\/03\/22\/how-to-live-cheaply-on-exchange\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Live Cheaply on Exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"<\/a>Although I\u2019ve only been on exchange for a few months, I feel like I (or more so my wallet) have learned a few things about spending money here. For one, I did decide to study in Paris\u2014one of the most expensive cities in Europe\u2014but at the same time, it\u2019s doable. This week I had to create a presentation about \u201cHow to Live Cheaply in Paris,\u201d for my French class, so I feel slightly (only slightly) qualified to discuss this subject. \u00a0While this project was centered around my specific experiences, I\u2019ve developed a list of tips to help anyone planning to study abroad.\r\n\r\n1.\u00a0Budget Budget Budget <\/strong>\r\n\r\nWhen I first came to France I hadn\u2019t drawn out a budget as extensive as the liberal government\u2019s recent changes (badum chhhh<\/em>), but I did have a sense of how much I was willing to spend on exchange. I determined that it's important to write down the amount you\u2019re coming with versus how much you\u2019d like to leave with, so that you can plan for various expenses.\r\n\r\n\"\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n2.Life and Travel expenses<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThis brings me to my second point\u2014learn to separate your costs. Most of my expenses in Paris are food and clothes and well, more food<\/em>. I didn\u2019t exactly realize how quickly social lunches would add up, but in my opinion gastronomy is<\/em> part of the experience, right?<\/em> Due to the fact that the goal is to enjoy life in Paris and also travel, I learned to balance these costs and leave money aside for adventuring!\r\n\r\n\"\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n3.Don\u2019t forget scholarships\/grants <\/strong>\r\n\r\nBefore applying for exchange, I\u2019d suggest looking into the scholarships that both your college and U of T offers for study abroad programs. As well, research different funding opportunities that your country or school of study offers. For example, the French government subsidizes students by offering them a monthly CAF<\/em> scholarship for housing expenses. While it\u2019s not an obscene amount it\u2019s still helpful when rent costs are high.\r\n\r\n4. Should I get a bank account?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nThis point is a touchy subject for me because I sought out a French account in efforts of receiving the CAF scholarship and so that I could use a European debit card while here. This process was lengthy (to be specific about 2-months of meetings) and ended up not working out due to paperwork needed from my landlord, so I'd say look into different banks before you arrive and know their policies!\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\n\"\"<\/a>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n5. Learn to say no (but also you only do this once).<\/strong>\r\n\r\nContradictory statements? Perhaps<\/em>. I have some difficulties with this last point, as my strategy on exchange has been, \u2018Dis oui tous le temps!\u201d Although this mindset in terms of spending isn\u2019t always realistic. I\u2019ve learned to \u201cdo everything\u201d in moderation, so that I\u2019m able to enjoy my time here, while not feeling stressed about money.\r\n\r\nSaying this, I\u2019m definitely not a spending expert and every case is different, but these are just a few hacks I\u2019ve acquired for living cheaply!\r\n\r\nHappy saving, \u00e0 la prochaine\u2014R\r\n\r\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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\nAlthough I\u2019ve only been on exchange for a few months, I feel like I (or more so my wallet) have learned a few things about spending money here. For one, I did decide to study in Paris\u2014one of the most…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “How to Live Cheaply on Exchange”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “How to Live Cheaply on Exchange”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":354,"featured_media":37974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7206,6669,62,65,2407,60,61,1,70,69,58],"tags":[16300,12822],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37973"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/354"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37973"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37983,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37973\/revisions\/37983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}