What are tips for living cheaply in Sydney?

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SADSDASD

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As most of the other answers have pointed out, it's accomodation and food that are the two main costs to bear in mind when living in Sydney.

If you absolutely must live near the centre of the city, then houseshare with a bunch of people is the best option. Considering that even a modest one bedroom apartment is going to cost around $500 a week, you can halve that (or even less) by renting a room instead.

Gumtree, real estate agents or a website like flatshare would be places to start looking.

Personally I didn't want to live in the city so I moved out to the MacArthur region which is an hour from Central by train. An Opal card makes the trip quite cheap, there isn't the stress of driving down the M5 every day and most of all, property rent was considerably less than in the city.

Then there's the cost of food. If you chose to buy lunch and dinner out every day you can easily spend $50 which soon adds up to a massive total over the week. Cooking for yourself is wayyy cheaper especially if you look for the discounted items at the end of the day in places like Coles and Woolies; I quite often bought sandwiches and orange juice at markdown prices. Then there's Aldi which I used a lot for everyday run of the mill groceries. $70 to $100 per week on feeding myself is much more wallet friendly.

If you smoke and drink, then I didn't find much in the way of cutting costs there. Tobacco is cheaper than cigarettes but the government keeps raising the tax on them to get you to quit, so that's $90 a week on smoking. Getting a slab from the bottle-o is cheaper than the pub, but you can't take drink at the park or on the beach due to the stupid licensing laws.

On the plus side, most beaches and parks have barbies that are either free or just a couple of bucks to use, so you can buy your meat at the supermarket and have a cookup outdoors.

Other than that, just learn to be frugal and like my grandmother used to say; look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.

dora

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Sydney is a costly place to live. Rents, utilities, car parking, toll roads, even public transport isnt cheap in Sydney.

Depending on what kind of lifestyle you want, and if you are a single person with no dependents or not will make a difference.

Sydney has a sub tropical climate, and many beautiful parks, tracts of Bush land and beaches, which can be enjoyed free.

My top tips would be:

1) rent a small unit close to where you work. If you can walk or cycle to work you will save a lot on public transport or parking costs. Or, if you can do it, live in shared accommodation to keep costs down. (Sharing a unit means splitting bills. Utility bills have a ‘service' charge and a ‘usage' charge. Sharing may not mean your utility usage is less, but your service charges will be halved.)

2) dont have a car. It's possible to hire a flexi rent car for a few hours for like $10/hr inc fuel and insurance. You will pay an annual fee to join, but the savings are worth it. Some new apartment complexes have flexi rent cars available for use by tenants. A car will cost you $20k pa in lease costs/car repayments, service costs, fuel, insurance etc. So if you dont need one, there is a massive saving.

3) cook your own meals at home, and take packed lunch to work. It's easy to spend $20/daily buying lunch and coffee out. A single person should be able to eat for $100/weekly if they buy fresh foods and prepare their own meals. If you enjoy your cafe coffees you will spend $4/cup. Two cups per day out will cost over $50/weekly. Saving cafe coffee for a weekend treat will stretch your dollar further.

4) take advantage of sydney's natural beauty by going to our beautiful beaches and parks. You can hike from coogee beach to bondi beach in a few hours. It's a beautiful walk and it's free. Also explore our harborside suburbs like balmain which has beautiful parkland around the harbor. A ferry ticket is pretty cheap, and it's a lovely way to go ‘boating'.

5) there are outlets in Sydney that sell cheap tickets to live theatre and comedy performances if you are able to attend on short notice. You may pick up a ticket for less than 30% of the full price for an event if you purchase a few hours before it starts.

6) take advantage of free music events and festivals.

7) pack a picnic or at least take some snacks from home when going out on the weekends. This way even if you do decide to go for coffee or a beer you wont need to buy a full meal.

8) check out special deals at local venues. It can be possible to buy a steak dinner Inc a beer or soft drink for $10-15 on a Tuesday night (or a monday or whenever). The venue may even have live music or some other form of entertainment making it a great cheap night out.

9) explore the blue mountains. Stunning hikes and an easy day trip by train.

10) China town in Sydney is fantastic for a cheap meal and a decent area to explore. Cabramatta (little vietnam) is another great place to explore.

11) dont live like a complete miser. You're in Sydney. Enjoy it. But if you budget carefully you should be able to have a few bucks left over at the end of the month for a bit of a splurge.

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