How much does life cost in Czech Republic | Expense calculator

How much do you need per month? What can you save on?

If you're too lazy to read reasoning and you just want to know how much money you'll spend in Czech Republic - use my calculator below:

Well, if you want to understand the principle of calculating expenses when moving abroad, I advise my video:

Background

I already wrote a bit about this in the old article about expenses.
The article is already irrelevant (look at least at loud statements like "consider that 1 crown = 1.7 rubles"). I'll try to update the data and go through all burning topics again.

How is the calculation done?

For a long time I used a program for tracking expenses (won't advertise - they're all the same)
Usually functionality allows viewing everything in a graph, exporting to excel. In general - everything you could wish for, and most importantly - free.

How much money does a foreign student need per month?

Having analyzed the situation over a year I came to the conclusion that per month an adequate student will spend about 10-12 thousand crowns (350-400 euros, the tradition of converting to rubles, perhaps, is time to end).

What does this money go to?

• Accommodation in dormitory will cost a student 3000-4000 crowns
• About the same will cost food (this includes both products and cafes with canteens)
• Monthly transport pass in Prague costs 240 crowns per month, mobile connection - I spend about 30 crowns (this is about 15 minutes of calls per month)
• Entertainment (including beer, travel) takes about 1000 per month
• A quite large expense item is clothes - everyone gets different amounts, for me - about 500 crowns per month
• Let's add household goods too - comes out to about 150-200 crowns per month. Naturally, household goods and clothes aren't bought every month, so approximate amounts are taken
• Also add an amount of 1000-2000 crowns for other expenses - usually, this is bureaucracy, buying equipment

Thus it turns out that in economical months a student will fit into 9000 crowns, in not very - about 11 thousand

What does the amount depend on?

This amount depends only on the student's personal preferences and ability to spend money.

A student living in the simplest dormitory and leaving it only for cheap food will easily live on 6000 per month. But is it worth going to study in such conditions from a warm home? :)

Also the amount depends on whether the student lives alone. If living with someone, some expenses are divided - cooking, household goods, you can also profitably rent an apartment.

What the amount definitely doesn't depend on is the city of residence. Both in Poděbrady and in Prague - the amount didn't change much. Somewhere you'll pay more for a transport pass, somewhere you'll have to spend more on train tickets. Aim for an amount of 10000 crowns.

How to save?

The best way to save is to study well and try to work. Average student salary in Prague is 100 crowns per hour. Having worked 10 hours a week (and that's literally 2 hours a day) you'll get more than 3500 crowns per month. All foreign students receive housing scholarship (about 500 crowns per month), and smart students get a bit more for good academic performance. Thus, having put in very little effort, you can reduce the expense item almost by half.

What's the maximum money a student can spend?

It's logical to assume that there's no limit here. However, I'll give figures that come to mind from the category of "where can you go further"

• If instead of dormitory you rent an apartment for two, it'll come out to about 5-7 thousand per month for each. A whole apartment for one person will cost 7-15 thousand (and it'll be the smallest cubbyhole in Prague)
• You can eat every day in cafes - lunch costs around 100 crowns, dinner - about the same. Not buying products at all and not cooking at home, you can manage for about 7000 crowns
• Transport pass, internet, phone, household goods - everything will remain the same here, set aside 1000 crowns for all this
• Clothes - from 1000 per month to infinity
• Entertainment - if you drink 2 glasses of beer a day and travel twice a week - it'll come out, perhaps, to about 6 thousand. But how long will you manage to remain a student with all this?
• Other expenses are usually hard to increase, however, with frequent purchase of equipment the amount can grow to infinity
• In the end, you can live in luxury already from 20000 thousand. Only here's where to find them during studies - is the question :)

Where else to read about expenses?

Look at monthly expenses of a ČVUT student here or read a similar article by Ilya Rudomilov here.