Budgeting your first year near North Campus

Two PGs quote you two numbers. One is lower. That tells you almost nothing, because the two numbers are rarely measuring the same thing.

Here is how to build a comparison that holds up.

Separate the monthly from the one-off

One-off, at move-in

• Security deposit — refundable, but it is money you do not have for a year
• First month's rent, usually in advance
• Things for the room: bedding if not provided, a lamp, an extension board, storage
• Travel and moving costs

Every month

• Rent
• Electricity, if metered separately
• Food, or top-up food if meals are not included
• Laundry, if not included
• Transport
• Data, subscriptions, printing, photocopies
• The social baseline — chai, canteen, the occasional dinner out

The one-off column is where budgets break, because it lands in the same week as tuition.

Turn every quote into one comparable number

Take each place and write it out the same way:

rent
+ estimated electricity
+ food not covered by the PG
+ laundry
= real monthly cost

A place at a higher rent with four meals, laundry and housekeeping included will often land below a cheaper room where you buy lunch and dinner outside six days a week. Do the arithmetic before you decide which one is expensive.

For reference, our own numbers: twin sharing at ₹15,000–₹18,500 a month depending on the room, which covers four meals a day, housekeeping, laundry and ironing, and Wi-Fi. Electricity is metered and billed on what you use. Deposit is ₹10,000, refundable.

Ask about the late fee

Rent is due on a date, and most places charge for missing it. Ours is due by the 5th, with a ₹200 per day late fee from the 6th. Knowing the number in advance is the point — set a standing reminder for the 1st and it never applies to you.

Electricity is the line nobody predicts

If electricity is separate, it will be low from November to February and high from April to July. An AC running through a Delhi summer is not a rounding error. Ask how it is metered, ask to see a sample bill from a summer month, and budget for the peak rather than the average.

Things people forget

• Printing and photocopying. More than you would guess, in a course with heavy reading.
• Going home. Train or flight fares in both directions, several times a year.
• Deposit on anything rented — a cycle, a hostel locker, sports gear.
• Medical. Basic and unglamorous, but a doctor's visit and a prescription happen.
• Replacements. Chargers die, slippers break, a bag gives up in monsoon.

Build in a buffer, then leave it alone

A tenth of your monthly budget, set aside and not touched, absorbs almost every small emergency without a phone call home. It is the single most useful habit for a first year away.

The one question worth asking every place

"What will I actually pay in a month with an AC running?"

A place that answers precisely is telling you it bills transparently. A place that waves it away is telling you something too.

Naviraa Living is a twin-sharing boys' PG in Malkaganj, near Hansraj College. Ask us the AC question — we will give you a real number.