This article is 💩 mammoth shit
This means its value is not in informativeness, but in memory of how it was
There may be an update at the end of the article. Or maybe not.
The best way to calculate expenses in Czech Republic is here
It's already November 19th, we've been in Czech Republic for almost 3 months, it's time to draw first conclusions about our economic situation :)
I wanted to talk specifically about expenses, because I worried about this most of all while still at home in Russia. I'll try to tell about all my spending, group them and draw conclusions: what was mandatory, what could have been done without, what's the situation in general.
I'll note right away that this note will be very useful for those who are going to courses as a couple, like us. Looking ahead - living together, there are fewer expenses, because expenses for some household items can be divided.
We arrived in Poděbrady in the evening on September 3rd. Although classes started on the 9th, we took this step consciously - we wanted to do as many important things as possible before classes started.
Here we oriented ourselves on how we would need to behave upon arrival. The note is informative, there's practically nothing to add to it.
I'll briefly touch on the first ATM withdrawal. Each of us withdrew about 12,000 crowns for the first time, just in case. In the near future I'll write a note about withdrawing money, but on the very first day I learned that withdrawing money from my Unicredit was slightly more profitable than from Darya's Sberbank. I advise withdrawing a non-round sum, so there are 300-400 crowns in small bills, because there may be no change in transport (which, however, is unlikely).
By the way, it's worth noting one important detail. It's most correct at the moment to calculate that 1 crown = 1.7 rubles.
First days expenses
Already at reception when checking in we had to give 4000 crowns each. This is a refundable deposit. Most likely it will be returned in full if there are no problems in the future.
By the way, it seems you could pay by card, but we gave cash. On site you could also buy chips and water, but don't - in Poděbrady there's a shop with the funny name "žabka", which is open until 11 PM.
Prices there, as it turned out later, are not the best, but there were few other alternatives on the first day. It was late, and it's located right at the castle - which means it's easy to find.
With food in the first days it was generally difficult - there was no refrigerator. We had to buy not the healthiest products and eat them quickly, but this inconvenience didn't last long :)
On the next day there were no special expenses - we only registered at school, connected to the internet (this cost 100 crowns). In the evening we went to a restaurant that was right by the castle. It was tasty and not that expensive. By the way, we bought a pot and forks at a local store.
Next we were waiting for Prague IKEA. I must say that we arrived in an almost empty dorm. The room had beds, tables, wardrobes, but for normal life, of course, this is not enough. Not deviating from the topic, at IKEA we bought all the necessary household utensils and even went into the local grocery store - prices were quite low, and quality was high. We especially liked the chocolates for 10 crowns.
Total price - slightly more than 1600 crowns. By the way, the bus one way for 1 person cost 62 crowns.
Then we had to walk around shops, buy household items, household goods, first products, kettle.
Having dealt with this, we were waiting for administrative expenses: payment for translation, nostrification, refrigerator rental. We also sometimes went to Prague for walks.
With the appearance of the refrigerator (we paid 720 crowns for 4 months in advance), we started buying first products. Cooking ourselves is definitely cheaper, and in the end, this can be done at any time without leaving home.
By rough calculations it turned out to be about 6500 crowns, you can add another 500 for confidence - perhaps I missed something. After two months I can say with confidence that now we spend much less, in the first month we just didn't deny ourselves anything.
🍕We also sometimes went to cafes - it turned out to be about 1300 crowns for two.
🧻Household goods (i.e. shampoo, shower gel, etc.) cost us about 600 crowns.
🚑Transport (including bus to police in Kutná Hora, trip from airport, trips to Prague) - 1191 crowns.
🏳🌈Study expenses - and this is diploma translation and nostrification - about 3500 crowns. Also various stationery - 150 crowns.
Results
3000 - household items
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8000 - deposit
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720 - refrigerator
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100 - internet
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3700 - diploma nostrification and stationery
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600 - household goods
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1300 - cafes
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6500 - products
🔯
approximately 24000 crowns in total for two. 12000 each
The amount seems very impressive. But you should understand that of these - 8000 crowns is a refundable deposit, which will be returned at the end of the year.
Also, about half of this amount is one-time expenses (household items, nostrification).
From this we can conclude that in general - everything is not so expensive, but there's something to look at. In general, it turned out to be about 12,000 crowns per person, which was predictable. In any case, you shouldn't be afraid of big expenses at first - in any case, they are inevitable. By the second month there will be significantly fewer expenses, but I'll write about this in subsequent notes.
It's a pity that closer to New Year we'll also have to pay for the dorm, but that's another story.
For convenience I'll present this information as a diagram:
upd. 2015
Drawing conclusions for a whole year in Poděbrady - about 11-12 thousand crowns per month per person were spent. You can live more economically, about 8-9. The ruble exchange rate fell to the very bottom, so now it's not 17-20 thousand, but about 30, which doesn't fit into any framework. I have to state that now we need to live even more economically.