How much money to bring if you are single with no job yet
Dec 1st 2008, 8:03 am
#1
Just Joined
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 3
How much money to bring if you are single with no job yet
Hi,
This forum had lots of interesting and useful information for me, but left me with one worry - would $4000 last long enough to find a place to live and a job?
So here's a rough account of the first weeks. Of course it's of limited usefulness. Perhaps others will expand the topic.
I bowled up in Auckland on September the 18th clutching my $4000 and spent almost nothing for a week, as I was staying with friends and buying only ice-creams. This was a holiday period.
Then I flew down to Wellington (on the same airticket - bought months ago with £s) where I have settled. I lived with a relative here for two weeks, which saved on rent, and spent about $315 on various things. The largest and most important item was a raincoat for $150, as well as some bedding and towles in preparation for moving into a new flat. I was being stingy, not paying for entertainment, and being fed by my generous uncle while I sought work and a place to live.
After that I moved into a shared flat for $135 per week, one week's rent payable in advance plus a $635 bond. The flat had furniture and cooking equipment already so there was no great expense there - only the bed for $80 from the previous flattie.
My new-found job started about two weeks later, and I received my first pay packet on the 13th of November.
In that time I had spent $2500. Obviously I was fortunate to be staying with friends/relatives for three weeks, and then very lucky to find a job so soon. $2000 of that spend was the month after moving into a flat and having to buy my own stuff (which included a few treats, e.g. mp3 player and laptop power cable)
One thing worth thinking about is that to get a credit card while unemployed you have to guarantee the credit limit with cash. So for a $1000 credit limit you have to lock away $1000 in the bank, which you then can't touch.
I hope this post helps someone one day. Someone single, unemployed and brave...
This forum had lots of interesting and useful information for me, but left me with one worry - would $4000 last long enough to find a place to live and a job?
So here's a rough account of the first weeks. Of course it's of limited usefulness. Perhaps others will expand the topic.
I bowled up in Auckland on September the 18th clutching my $4000 and spent almost nothing for a week, as I was staying with friends and buying only ice-creams. This was a holiday period.
Then I flew down to Wellington (on the same airticket - bought months ago with £s) where I have settled. I lived with a relative here for two weeks, which saved on rent, and spent about $315 on various things. The largest and most important item was a raincoat for $150, as well as some bedding and towles in preparation for moving into a new flat. I was being stingy, not paying for entertainment, and being fed by my generous uncle while I sought work and a place to live.
After that I moved into a shared flat for $135 per week, one week's rent payable in advance plus a $635 bond. The flat had furniture and cooking equipment already so there was no great expense there - only the bed for $80 from the previous flattie.
My new-found job started about two weeks later, and I received my first pay packet on the 13th of November.
In that time I had spent $2500. Obviously I was fortunate to be staying with friends/relatives for three weeks, and then very lucky to find a job so soon. $2000 of that spend was the month after moving into a flat and having to buy my own stuff (which included a few treats, e.g. mp3 player and laptop power cable)
One thing worth thinking about is that to get a credit card while unemployed you have to guarantee the credit limit with cash. So for a $1000 credit limit you have to lock away $1000 in the bank, which you then can't touch.
I hope this post helps someone one day. Someone single, unemployed and brave...
