The Cost of Living

...is about $860 per month for my current lifestyle:
$440 a month goes into rent;
Roughly $220 a month goes to groceries (judging by how much I spent this month);
$50 to bus fares, with or without a discount card - although I could strongly limit this by taking the half-hour walk to uni and back each day;
$50 to my mobile phone, as I pay $30 a month for the phone itself and have no home phone;
$100 for extra things - lunches at uni and dinners out and movies and occasional alcohol

If I won a million dollars I could support myself for 97 years!

Fortunately/Unfortunately, Centrelink is currently providing me with about $780 each month. I think it was supposed to be more by my own calculations, but only by about $50, so I'm not about to complain...

BUT...!

In the month since I've moved here I have spent:
$660 for rent and bond - and I haven't paid for the last two weeks.
$296.70 on things I have a receipt for (groceries) - but this includes printer ink
$48.40 on bus fares - not including the $16 weekly ticket I accidentally bought that I can only use within the very inner city, and the ticket I bought for $32 that will cover the next month's fares to uni.
About $100 on my mobile - thanks to the five 15-minute calls I've had to make to the bank because part of my rent still hasn't gotten through to my landlord.
$270 to the university - part for student guild/administration fees, and $100 for an electronics set (pieces that result in a bikelight, two kinds of cable, a power supply, and a toolkit)
Something in the area of $200 for uni lunches, a trip to the movies, two or three dinners out, alchohol for two parties, two CDs (Carole King and Ennio Morricone), and DVD hire.

All up totalling about $1650!

I'm hoping this is a 'settling in' payment and isn't my norm...