Hello,
In this post, I would like to share my journey on how I learned to live frugally and budget money, and healthy lifestyle.
I have to tell you that I don’t post this to gain any sympathy or beg for money. I do this because I know a lot of international students that struggle with money and finding jobs due to different reasons such as racism, study migration law, and language barrier.
First, I would like to give you guys a bit of backstory, and how I came to learn to budget and control my temptations, and few tricks to save money on most of the things that many ignore or look over.
I grow up in a relatively wealthy family for where I am from. I grow up without struggles and very lucky to have my parents that supported my dream to study abroad and improve myself as a person. Although I have to say that depending on where you are from my situation may be either very bad or very good so I will explain everything so I won’t sound like an ungrateful spoiled dustbag.
I study and live in Lithuania which is a European country in Baltics, if you want to know more about how is life in Lithuania and how people treat you or job opportunities I am planning on making a post about it as well.
Yeah, back to the main story. As I said when I arrived in Lithuania didn't know anything about money, how to manage it, or how to save.
In the first year of my studies I couldn't find a part-time job due to that I had only a student visa, which does not let you work. If you want to be able to work and find a job you need to wait a year to apple for a temporary residence that is issued to you after one year of stay. And yeah it meant that I need to use money that my parents generously send me to get by. I was not something that I was proud of since I wanted to be independent and be able to make my own money and return money to my parents that they gave me for my tuition and living.
Long story short I didn't know what to do and I didn't want to ask for help from my parents since they already did a lot for me just by sending me money and paying for everything. So The first thing that I decided to do is go to markets and check prices for different food and products and find the cheapest market.
And I did, my next goal was to prepare a meal plan that will sustain my health so that I won't sacrifice my health, which was a great decision since it will save me a lot of money just by keeping me healthy and avoid getting sick and spend money on medication.
I calculated my daily energy intake and nutritional needs and came up with ingredients help me stay in shape and healthy considering that Lithuania gets pretty cold during winter.
My monthly budget is 500 euros which is the average lovest salary in Lithuania.
I have to tell most of my budget went on paying rent and utilities. Do not trust lithuanias who tell you that “ oh on winter the highest heating price you gonna pay is 40 euros …. blah blah” it is not true.
In total, since utilities and heating price is unpredictable I set my rent and utility budget as 300 euros ( I am living with another guy ), and that leaves me with 200 euros for everything else such as food, hygiene products and any daily expenses such as transportation or socializing.
i have to tell Lithuania is a relatively small country so you can get everywhere just walking and it will take on average 30–45 minutes but not in winter, I suggest using a bus and student discounts to make it as cheap as possible.
Luckily, I am pretty knowledgeable about mental health and physical health due to my choice of carrier.
So I know how to cook and set a meal plan that is ideal for me and helps me sustain muscle mass and health (I am 180cm and 85 kg with 15–17 percent body fat, I feel like this is the ideal weight and fat levels for me since I work out 4–5 times in a week) just only spending 16–20 euros per week witch makes monthly 80 euros food budgeting and 30 euros for rest of hygiene goods and necessities. And that lives me with 90 euros to save or spend on things that I want to buy. I usually save 40 euros per month and spend the rest 30 or save it and buy something that I am considering buying. I believe this helps me make more aware chose when it comes to buying something, since I have a limited budget if I want to buy something I need to be very careful and consider “ do I really need it? or can I afford it?”.
This mindfulness practiser helps me be more patient and teaches me to wait for the thing I really want and makes them more valuable for me.
Like every person, I do sometimes fail and do impulse purchasers and when I do it I look back and make sure that I will not repeat it or use that item to get its worth.
Another thing that helps me to control my emotions is social media and advertising detox which I will explain in another post
I didn't share my meal plan in this post due to every person is unique and their needs change depending on their lifestyle, So I hope whoever reads this post can understand why I didn't do it. I don’t wanna tell you what to do or how to eat this is just for me and for my specific needs.
