Student blogs

I assume that you have read the previous money diary blog from Anne and Shadali, if not then go ahead and read those two amazing blogs. The blogs highlight the expenditure of a single student in Stockholm. If you want to predict the expenditure for a student coming with a family, it should be easy then. If you have 4 persons in the house, just multiply the single person’s expenditure by four. Problem solved, or so you thought. However, that’s not always the case when someone want to calculate the expenditure of a family in Stockholm. Read on if you want to know why.

If you have been recording your income and expenditure before, then you should notice that there are some expenditures categorized as fixed expenditure and some others as variable expenditure. If you haven’t, just bare with me. Fixed expenditure is an expenditure that should have the same amount (or barely same) in a certain period of time, such as monthly apartment rent, monthly subscription of mobile data package, etc. While the variable expenditure is an expenditure that can fluctuate depend on how you manage it, such as spending on food, leisure, etc. It’s not the best scientific definition, but I think you can get my point.

As the background, I live in Stockholm with my wife and our two children and here is our gross monthly expenditure (in SEK):

1. Fixed expenditures

Apartment rent: 7 500

We live in an apartment provided by KI Housing in the Flemingsberg area. The number above is rough average as the rent price is a daily price, so it has some variations according the number of days in a month, but the average is around 7 500 SEK. No additional charge for the electricity and broadband subscription.

The largest proportion of my expenditures goes to the apartment rent. Picture credit to image4you. Source: www.pixabay.com

Transportation monthly ticket: 590 + 890

The price for a 30-day monthly ticket is 590 SEK for students and 890 for an adult. So usually I pay the student price and my wife use the adult price. It is free for children under 7 years. And when I happen to travel by bus and bring my child in pram, it is also free for me.

The transportation is free for children under 7. Pricture credit to hpgruesen. Source: www.pixabay.com

Mobile data subscription: 95 + 95

Can’t live without being connected. Picture credit to geralt. Source: www.pixabay.com

I use the student’s mobile subscription package while my wife use the least mobile subscription package as we already have Wi-Fi in the apartment and almost all other places in Stockholm. No expenditures on this categories yet for the children.

2. Variable expenditures

Groceries and food: 1 500

Once i thought that i would spend much on this, but found that i was wrong. Picture credit to Mittmac. Source: www.pixabay.com.

Surprisingly, I found that we did not spent that much on food as we usually prepare the food by ourselves, like almost every other student in KI. As for the children, they have their meals in the daycare and the children are not allowed to bring their own food to the daycare. So, that helped us a lot in reducing the need of expenses on food.

Leisures and others: 500

With two children around, we usually go to the children friendly leisure spot, mostly the library, public playground, and museum, which are also usually free. So, not much expenses in this category also.

Children always love the library.

Subtotal for fixed expenditures: 9 170

Subtotal for variable expenditures: 2 000

Total expenditures: 11 170

Well, that pretty much sums up our monthly expenditures, four persons in a house. Also, if you are applying for a permit to stay in Stockholm, don’t forget to check the minimum requirement for financial support for your whole family.  It’s higher than my actual expenditure, so if you manage to fulfill the requirement, don’t worry about the expenditures as you probably will spend less.

Stockholm is known for its high living cost, but with a well planned expenses, one can still survive the high cost while living comfortably. Do you also live in Stockholm with your family? Do you find any expenses not yet covered in this blog? Or maybe you are planning to move here with your family, what is the expenditure that bothers you the most? Feel free to comment below.

Contact:

LinkedIn: Winner Ng

email: winner.ng@stud.ki.se