Money Money Money

It's another day in Dec in UK. Hmmm ... what should I do to fill my time today before going to bed again tonight? ... apart from writing my thesis la ... Firstly, need to settle the necessities ... have to go to ASDA to buy groceries. Sekali pegi nearly 200 pounds habis ... that's nearly RM1000. So, our groceries bill for a month comes up to nearly RM2000. Note to JPA ... please revert the allowance for Norwich back to Kadar B ... this place ain't cheap ... the std of living is similar to Cambridge tau! (Before the allowance review Norwich was given Kadar B)

Judge for yourself ... my rent+water is 650 pounds per month, other monthly expenses ; car insurance 39 pounds, hp 60 pounds, groceries 400 pounds. So total is 1149 pounds. Utilities (gas, electricity) charged quarterly is about 90 pounds. I'm living cheaply because I'm staying in uni accomodation. If I were to live off campus it would be more expensive because of utilities. The Uni subsidises the utilies for uni accomodation. Anyways ... the monthly allowance provided to my family and I is slightly above 1000 pounds monthly. It barely covers my necessities ... because I have not included my academic expenses such as books, printing, papers etc. So, I have no choice but to use the remainder of my salary to ensure my family and I can live comfortably. At least hubby has started to work here... so, hopefully, it will ease things for us. Oh yes ... and annually there are also road tax 260 pounds, TV licence 150 pounds, parking charges 75 pounds and MOT 30 pounds ... all these I have to save money for. So, moral of the story ... for my service peers who wishes to study in UK ... you must really be prepared not only academically and mentally but also financially. You can't save money to bring home to Malaysia unless there's a way to supplement your income and you're staying in areas where the std of living is low such as Durham. I didn't really have much choice where the uni is concerned because the leading research centre in UK for my research filed is in UEA. If you want to bring back a substantial amount of money to Malaysia at the end of your study period ... study in Japan or Germany where the allowance given is bountiful.