honestly, how do you survive on only 200$ a week? like with food and everything else... how do you do it? how much extra do you bring with you?
You can end up making much more than hat if you land a serving position but that's only after a couple months of working in the restaurant in a non tipped position.
Well you'll just have to budget and stuff. $200 a week is enough I think. Rent is between $75-$90 and you'll only be buying groceries for yourself so it'll be enough. I'm bringing credit cards and probably $1000 cash with me.
You kinda need to experience it to realise how you survive, I would recommend bring a lot more than 1000 tho, like save as much as you can. And server positions can come between 1month-6months after you arrive, it depends if they need you or not.
When I went down I had $500 and my credit card with a 2500 Limit. I was in service in 4 months, you will do fine. I had a girlfriend that was down there and stayed in a non tipped position the whole time. Plus think of the Attractions and Merch people. What generally happens is the Foodies take care of everyone so they don't starve. Us foodies are good like that.... ;D
I survived pretty well on LESS than $200 a week sometimes. You just learn what you can and cannot spend and what you really need in terms of food. I realised after a couple of weeks that I really wasn't eating that much at home and so stopped buying lots of food for the appartment. Instead I made sure I knew when my friends were working in F&B and then ate at work which usually cost $6-9 for a meal.
Yeah, I survived on that and managed to save money! If you go out drinking and partying every night then you'll probably be skint the entire time (I didn't work in a tipped position so I had no choice but to save it. You just have to learn how to make the most of everything. Buy food that will last; freeze stuff...I only went shopping one every 3 months and spent about $100 each time. Bread and milk and basics are cheap anyway. Plus you get into the parks for free! Don't buy stuff straight from the WDW shops....chech out Cast Connection and Property Control first because you may get them cheaper! Hehe....I love bargin hunting.
it'll be eay, it's not as if your paying for everyday things like petrol, household bills.. (yeah rent, but it ain't that much) new clothes etc etc, its easy, especially when your working most of the time, you don't get time to spend money i'm guessing?
I know ive applied for the summer program but i can be hopeless with money, i will need to have so much money on back up, thats why saving has started now. I will probably try and get as much overtime as i can so i am working a lot and dont have time to spend, lmao. and any money that is left at the end will be used on spending, if i have a mass of money then ill take it home and exchange it. Would you not share food with those your sharing an apartment with and just chip in money together to do a shop?
You can easily live on that a week. I've been here 2 months now and I've never made $200 a week, the most I've made is $170 and that was only one time. Most weeks I'll only get about $100 a week and it's easy to live on that because food is so cheap here.
Don't forget some of your roommates might have been there for weeks or months already...they might not want to food share! It's not as easy as it sounds. I took about £600 out to begin with...to buy everything I needed, like pillows and wash stuff and washing powder and the essentials, but otherwise once you learn that you have to save, you will, because no one can bail you out! As mean as it sounds, I refuse to lend large amounts of money to people because otherwise you might never get it back!
making do with not a lot of money can actually be quite fun, because when you're able to treat yourself it's more special. you'll soon learn how to budget your money when you become more used to what you need to spend on food and rent. you'll easily live comfortably on $200 a week. I'm hoping the cost of living out there will make a huge different to how easy it will be to budget things, since things like food are so cheap out there. and remember your cast member discount ;D
Im sure it would be, ye i see what you mean Louisa, i know i wouldnt want to be lending large amounts of money to people ive just met. But i will need to think of back ups, like taking a card for medical emergencies and that. But i dont think i will spend that much, i hope. Take packed lunches and go for cheap meals if i do go out, deny's!
I'll need to give the Ponderosa another go cause i didnt like it when we went, we preferred the golden corall! But we only tried the breakfast at the ponderosa.