How to avoid the mythical waste in the first month

Before I delve into the topic, I had previously made an article about prices in general in the city of Lodz which could be concluded from Poland (click here), so if anyone has any doubts about this topic, I have left the link here.

Once I have clarified the matter, I would like to say that the conclusion of this article is that the differences between Spain and Poland in respect to the existing prices can be noticed, although they are not too different. So if we want our parents to still speak with us and even better continue giving us money to subsidize whilst we wait for the scholarship to arrive, you need nothing more than the following advice.

Firstly - mentality: the most important thing for everything in life is mentality and it is what you need to have before you do anything, if we imagine that we are going to something one way or another, it would be sad not to do it because of a money situation.

If you believe that just because you are going to go to Poland they will just give you out money on the street and you will be able to buy yourself everything, it should be said that in reality I am Brad Pitt and Antonio has simply left me this to you give lessons about what to spend your money on (let's not mess around).

Nothing far from reality, on seeing that it can take months for the grant to arrive and as things stand you can only take advantage of the part from the European Union (880 euros for the whole year) which arrives at the end of October. It is not a bad pinch of money but you have to be careful that it lasts.

Obviously nobody can waste what they don't have and unless you are rich, you have to take control of your finances starting with your mentality and not throwing money away. Your parents will thank you and you will too, then you can do things with the others without these type of problems.

Secondly - Planning: Don't wait until the 25th of every month to pay your rent (in Poland you pay this type of thing within the same month up to around the 20th-25th, contrary to Spain where you should pay it in the first few days of the month); no, no and no.

Why not Antonio, if I like the risk? Well, I say this to you because for me, I also like it and there have been some months where I have realized that living without any further ado and having gone on some trip, it gets to the 24th of the month and on the day you aren't able to pay for that month as you only have 300 zl left in total until you receive the next payment from your parents (to pay for that month, last year 350 zl was needed). What happens then? Problems!

For that reason, pay all of the necessities off at the start of the month and then you will always know what you have left for the other days and you can do things much better. Avoid flats mates and family having to lend you money because it will creep up on you in the following months and it will be 'game over' in every sense (without 'insert coin here' because you are left without money to play).

Thirdly - take a good currency exchange: your money is in euros but as you know (I hope) the currency in Poland is zloty so you have to change them somehow to spend it there. The actual exchange is 1 euro = 4. 22 Zlotys but lets round it down to 4 to make it easier.

The banks look at theirs and they will tell you that the best is if you pay with card and they don't charge you interest with this type of exchange but this isn't the case with a large majority of them, so I recommend that you directly take cash withdrawals with an exchange of more than 4 (anything less is a scam) for the money that you are going to need.

The best option? Without a doubt, Evo Banco, who allow you to take out money from whichever cash machine in the world up to four times in a month before they charge you some kind of commission for it (up to the fifth time it is a euro to withdraw). It is always so simple to withdraw money in the PKO, which is the best exchange rate you can find when you are in Poland. If you live in a residence on the street, you can find one in front of the residence number 3. You can not do it in other places, since I have seen an exchange of 3. 50 (every 100 euros you take out you are left with 72 Zlotys, nearly 20 euros of commission) so we are not talking of anything silly.

Forget some accounts in the banks of Poland because the exchange is always around 4 and it is not profitable.

Fourth - the curse of the first month: bad month, every day falls on Tuesday 13th if you do not fix it on time. It is the month with the most spending, seeing people who spend up to 1, 000 euros (yes, yes, tell this to your parents and you will see how they react), so this is the time we have to take more precautions.

As for the mythical question of how much money you have when you arrive in Poland or if it comes directly in Zlotys, my answer is that of course, for what could happen (it is not a surprise that some cards don't work when it is more than you need). Do not take too much out either, because again you have to take everything into account and it is not very wise to carry 300 euros in your purse in a place you don't know. Therefore, my advice is that you carry 100 euros, which is an amount that is more than enough for your first moments there to pay for all types of transport until you arrive at your residence/flat, to eat and to do the first few things.

Also, in the majority of cases of the residencies and speaking from the case of 'Lumumby', they charge you from the first day the amount of days from the first month, in the case of arriving in September, charging 11 zl per night. So it would not come to more than this amount of money if you pay as soon as possible and if you follow the plan of action or better said 'let's pay this amount before I buy those beautiful boots'.

The key is in your Spanish bank, there you will ask for the exchange of Zlotys and they charge you commission; a commission higher than the cash machines over there with your Evo Banco card, so you don't have to go through what you ask for. Remember; 100 euros is enough.

There you can withdraw money when you want and have up to 4 free withdrawals so you can withdraw once a week without any problems with the money you see.

Attention! Do not commit the 6 most repeated sins by the newbies:

• 1 - 'Mum, I will buy myself the coat there, which I am sure is better and cheaper': everything is connected, they know everything (including what you did last summer) and for this reason the coats, in terms of quality, practically change nothing and the prices sometimes include the more expensive ones, except if you are going to buy the same coat second hand (then, it is your country, with coats for 10 euros).
• 2 - 'I invite you': Yes, yesssss, I know that the prices are cheaper in terms of food and drink but you need to move away from this phrase as soon as possible because it will leave you broke. It is typical for a person to see that the Zloty is not an expensive currency and they spend note after note, inviting you for a couple of beers with your new friends. The problem is that as an Erasmus, you are going to go out a minimum of 15 times a week (being realistic, I am not exaggerating but maybe some irony), already it is not the same as what you would spend in Spain and with this in mind, the 100 zlotys is only 25 euros, the shot or the beer is only 4 so it will be worth it for you.

  Now you wait and you count how much you have spent at the end of the first month and you tell your parents thank you...

• 3 - 'Why not? ': Error! In Erasmus vocabulary, 'mistake my friend' and it is with this new philosophy you are going to arrive at the checkout of the supermarket realizing that you have spent 100 euros without buying the things that you actually need. You buy 3 pans, 2 colanders, 10 forks with their respective spoons, knives of all types (including a fish knife that you will hardly use), why is there not also a pair of giant wooden forks? Why not, since we are the speakers of the sex-symbols of the resi? You also buy sausages of all sizes, a pair of tappers (why not? ), A small hair dryer, hair straighteners, gum, the skin cream you like so much, multiple loopholes for the Internet, a cable of 15 meters including for loading to be on Facebook and listen, why not also a couple of boxes of condoms, colored bottle openers, permanent ballpoint pen for those times where you make notes with desire and forever and by the way you do not forget socks, hat, gloves, scarf (of course, several to alternate in the week) and lastly, most important of all, if you are man: a play command for the computer.

  If the bill does not come to 200 euros you are happy and ah, I have forgotten.... I was pretending to be ironic in everything I just said. Don't buy it!

• 4 - 'I will have ample money to travel when I want': if you waste it on all we just talked about and you finally arrive at the end of the month and have to pay for the obligatory things, I assure you that you won't have the money to travel. Lots of friends have been eating pasta on its own, and for breakfast and dinner with ham and cheese for most weeks. And with this very varied diet, well everything is good if you don't eat at all. Then when you go back home and you prepare yourself for your mother, the critic above all for the girls: 'my daughter, it bothers me to see you, you are fat'. To the boys it will always be 'Son, you have gotten skinny, it seems you have anemia'.

  And this is why this will not surprise you if you put on quite a lot of weight girls, since with a poor diet and drinking more accounts to you putting on more. The remedy is based on exercise (all bad thoughts tssss).

  Saving month by month does not mean that you will have enough money to pay for those trips, remember that.

• 5 - 'Meh, I have the grant': you never know what you are going to receive or when, no one should depend on this grant as you can hardly be sure how much it will be. So don't waste it in the same way, as your parents are the ones that give you money until you receive something. Then, by magic the grant doesn't arrive and the problem is that with all these bad politicians that promote them and promote them... 'to prevent is the cure', don't forget this phrase.
• 6 - 'I fly with Ryanair, finding something cheaper is impossible': if you have read some article, let me tell you that there have been a few occasions where I went to Spain and they cancelled the flight. I spent two days in Warsaw in a hotel which would be good if they paid for it but no, I had to charge the amount to my own account. Then you miss something you were supposed to do when you arrive (an exam for example) and in terms of the flight it gets changed yes, but what happens if you had a stopover? Then you miss the other flight and you have to pay for the journey from where they leave you to get your destination. In my case, Andalusia. They left me in Barcelona and now I have to get 100 more euros out of my own pocket (yes, the pocket... to say something nice) to go to Jerez: a joke...

  Forget paying for your suitcase if you have to do a stopover, because with 'Packlink', it is cheaper and it arrives at your destination a few days late and to the perfection. Have a look because it is really worth going with just the hand luggage.

Conclusion? If you don't throw away your money and take care with your spending, you will not have problems with going away if you want or drinking more some days. I am not saying that you should do nothing every day and you should go to a restaurant without eating, I am saying that you should do it with care and that you buy with 'caution' if it is necessary in our Erasmus journey.

You have put up with the length of this, have fun people!

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