Set to study in Budapest? Read these students’ top saving tips!

So you are bound to spend a semester or two in Budapest. This city is one of the most amazing cities I had so far visited in Europe. Your decision to spend your Erasmus journey in this wonderful city is a smart move. Living in another city means adjusting to the basic conditions of living that exist in the city. As most of Erasmus students operate on a student budget, it would be advisable to act with prudence and wisdom on financial matters. Studying abroad is not easy stuff. It entails you living independently away from your family members and friends. It also necessitates you to carefully plan your finances so as not to go broke all the time. I have been to Budapest during the fall semester last year and here are some tips I can give you in so far as my experiences are concerned.

Have a budget plan

Logistics is king. Before you go live in a new city, it is wise to dig a little research about the city. Foremost information which you should find out about the city in as far as finances are concerned is the cost of living. This information is available, most of the time, to the website of your university. If you had some friends or acquaintances who have been to your target city before, a quick call and inquiry will give you actual information about the prices of necessities in the city. In the case of Budapest, I would say this city has the lowest cost of living in Europe. I would argue, the cost of living here is almost comparable to Prague or Warsaw. If you are worrying a lot that your weekly or monthly budget would not be enough, dispel them away because this city is tourists friendly financially-wise.

Be that as it may, it is still important to have a reasonable weekly or monthly budget plan. When you make your plan, be sure to put them in writing, list the breakdown and follow them faithfully unless there are compelling reasons to depart from them occasionally. Categorize your expenses into fixed costs and variable costs. Fixed costs, for instance, includes housing or accommodation expense. For housing, you may opt to stay in a dormitory. In my personal experience, staying in a student dormitory is way much cheaper than renting out a private flat. There are also added advantages of staying in a dormitory. Give budget provisions for transport costs, food and miscellaneous school expenses such as reproduction of reading materials and printing of paper works. It would also be wise to allow around ten (10%) percent for contingencies, this portion of your budget is intended for unexpected expenses. If left untouched at the end of the month, you can roll them to the next month as savings. I did this when I was in Budapest and I was surprised how much I ended up with my savings.

Optimize the power of your university-issued card

The good thing about being a student is the privilege of being entitled to a countless number of discounts. Use your university-issued identification card to avail of the discounts offered in the metro, in the market or malls, and airlines. In Budapest, do not forget to always keep your ID in your wallet as they serve you great purposes. You can make use of your identification card to purchase a discounted monthly student pass in the metro. Once you purchased a monthly student pass, it will entitle you to ride the tram, bus and the metro in the entire month. Apart from this, you can use your card to avail of the discounts in museums and in riding a siklo or funicular in Budapest. If you like traveling a lot, you may also apply for an International Student Card which will entitle you with a considerable discount for trips organized by the Budapest Erasmus.

Here is a picture of the so-called "siklo" or funicular. You can take the funicular for a small fee. But with your student card, you may be entitled to a discount.

Keep tab of travel promos!

Budapest is a well-connected city. It is easier to get from one European city to another through the Budapest International Airport (Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport). If you love traveling a lot, you can surf the sites of Skyjet, Ryanair or Wizz Air for periodic promos. They offer the best rates for inter-Europe flights.

Keep in touch to your family back home for free

Keeping an open communication to your family back home is the best way to ease the boredom that sets in during your student life. To keep your communication line open with your kids back home, you may opt to use the internet for communication. Forget about using prepaid phone cards. The best things in life, as they say, are free. In this sense, you can make use of Facebook messenger or Skype for your inbound and outbound calls.

Avoid buying unnecessary things

Some students tend to buy lots of souvenir items that they intend to bring with them after their Erasmus tour. I would not advise buying stuff and things. It is better and more meaningful to pack memorable experiences with you rather than things like souvenir items soon after your Erasmus tour has ended. Sometimes without your knowing it, you have been spending a fortune for little pretty things which are not at all necessary. Robert Kiyosaki in his book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” calls them “doodads”; these are things which are not needed but people keep on buying them instead of saving money for more important things.

Take this ATM wisdom

I know that before you set on your Erasmus journey, you have with you your own bank card where your monthly allowance is deposited. For people who are uninitiated in the international transaction fees associated with cashing out from the ATM; they might be losing a lot of their money from frequent ATM withdrawals. Most credit card service providers or banks charge an international transaction fee for transactions done abroad. For some, the charge appears minimal, but when this added up at the end of the month, they will be surprised how much they lose from frequent withdrawals. This has been my experience in my first two months in Budapest when I had used my visa card from the Philippines, while still waiting for my credit card which will be soon issued by Unicredit Bank. I was shocked to know in my online account that my card has been charged every time I make ATM withdrawals.

Having said that, it would be smart to withdraw a large amount of money which will provide for your needs for the next month or two than making occasional cash out from your ATM. This becomes even more imperative when your bank charges a flat fee irrespective of the amount you cash out from the machine.

Take the public transport

Why spend a huge amount of money taking a taxi or cab when you can use public transport. The public transport of Budapest is one of the most efficient in the region and you can get a monthly pass card from the metro station in the ticket machine for around 12 euros. The monthly pass entitles you to navigate from one part of the city to another using the tram, bus or the metro.

I find the trams in Budapest such a wonderful mode of transportation. It is cozy and comfortable.

Get cheap items if you can

Do not afraid to try slightly used items for less than half the price or dirty-cheap bargains. You may buy second-hand clothing from some second-hand stores in Budapest. I used to buy second-hand shirts and pants at Cream and there a number of them in the city. Stay away from luxurious restaurants. If you want to try new food from other countries, you may want to try Chinese dishes or the Turkish menu; there are lots of them in Budapest. Have you tried eating kebab? What about giving Chinese or Thai noodles a try?

My favorite restaurant in Budapest is a Chinese restaurant which is situated on the western side of the Great Market Hall. This Chinese restaurant offers heavy meals at reasonable prices. It is situated near the Asian Store. Here is a picture of one of its menus:

Try to buy in bulk for food items

For cheap food items, grocery stores and the Great Market Hall should be made your routine destination. Buy in bulk if you should to avoid buying the same stuff over and over again. Sometimes you can also get them cheaper if you buy in bulk.

The Great Market Hall is almost always busy during the morning, more particularly during Saturday. If you want to go there with fewer people around, you can have your market scheduled by the afternoon.

So there you have it, folks. It is not easy keeping a budget all the time but if you made it a habit, it becomes almost automatic so much so that you become more aware of your buying and consumption habits and eventually become wiser in spending your hard-earned money. Keep it up!

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