Student Bloggers

As a frugal spender, a true child of Disney, (and maybe a little help from the very recent release of the live action Jungle Book), I am very conscious of my bare necessities. If you're a first time traveler or a seasoned traveler, it never hurts to be reminded to just stick with those bare necessities, at least for the beginning of your stay. Now let me elaborate on that.

Many factors affect the everyday traveler already, factors that end up forcing her or him to stick to the bare necessities as it is – we can usually thank airplane checked baggage limits and fees, international shipping fees, and usual Customs strictness and its fees. Although to my backpacking friends, you can just give a hearty thanks to gravity and its affects on the weight of the things you carry. Wherever you're travelling, it tends to be more cost effective, worry free, and just plain easier to pack the bare necessities.

Of course, during travel this is all well and good, easy-peasy, and worry free to have packed the bare necessities, but what about once you land? What about once you are actually living in your house, room, dorm, flat, apartment, tent, hostel, hotel, or whatever you're staying in?

Now that you're away from all those airport scales, and Custom's agents, it's pretty much time to purchase all those necessary things that you weren't able to pack, but told yourself you would just buy upon arrival!

So you go to your local supermarket, household supply store, clothing store, what-have-you. You grab your cart and you find a hair dryer – something that just added too much weight in your bag, find some hiking gear – something too expensive to have shipped through the mail, find your favorite fruit – something that was too risky taking through Customs. You find all of those things whatever they may be; things that are very necessary for your daily life, and overall stay in country.

But then you see your friend's cart, carrying coffee mugs, bed sheets, a blender, and popcorn. "I can't live without THESE things," they say, which is probably true for them, but in that moment you realize, "Well, gosh! What if I need extra coffee mugs, or new bed sheets, or a blender, and who doesn't love popcorn?" and then wheel off to go find those items.

While you're picking out what color blender to get, you see lamps and desk lights, and think, 'well, what if I need that for late night studying?' So that goes in the cart too, and so does a desk chair seat cushion, and then a floor rug, and then some wall decorations, and then a hanging mirror, and then a smart TV, and then a rice cooker, and then mini fridge, and then, and then, and then what?

You've lost control and ended up buying way more than you actually ever needed, assuming that you actually would ever have used all of that stuff to begin with. And that's when reminding yourself of the bare necessities comes in.

I'll tell you right now, when you move into whatever place you're staying at, it'll seem a little empty, or lacking, and you'll feel like you should have a lot more things, things that you just usually had in your house or dorm back home. That's ok. Live with it for a couple of days, figure yourself out. Figure out the stuff that you seriously cannot live without, and forget about all the rest.

As time progresses you'll see what things you actually do need on a daily basis and what things you can safely live without. If anything, just keeping in mind that a lot of the stuff you purchase is either going to have to go with you back home – meaning, back through checked bag scales, shipping fees, and Customs – or in the trash before you leave.

I say this coming from experience, both observed and enacted. I had watched my friend buy an $80 king sized blanket, 2 pillows, and $50 worth of towels, because she swore up and down that she needed them, whether or not they were necessity, she did not factor in having to take all of that back home or leave it when she leaves the country at the end of the semester.

Even I have had my fair share of not sticking to the bare necessities. As an avid lover of food, and cooking, the second I moved into my house (Uni Hall, for any of those looking at, or living in Victoria University of Wellington) I was most worried with all of the food that I needed to survive. So I went to the closest supermarket AND the farmer's market and ended up buying waaaaay more than I needed, at least more than I could consume before some of it went bad. The picture doesn't even cover how massive this market is, let me tell you! It's a little overwhelming how much food they have, and how much food you end up wanting to buy. In the end I've already had to throw out some fruit, vegetables, and bread because they spoiled on me. So I've learned my lesson.

Stick to the bare necessities of what I need. I now only buy food that I anticipate will last for or be eaten within one week, and therefore end up shopping for food about once a week. In Wellington, this is made even easier thanks to a humongous Farmer's Market that shows up by the famous museum Te Papa, once a week. I now plan out my weeks meals and then shop at the Farmers Market the one time it is out each week, so in this, I keep to the bare necessities of spending – Farmer's Market prices are surprisingly low! – and stray away from overeating and or wasting food.

With this, I'm not saying that you have to go full on Baloo and take on the bare necessities lifestyle, I'm just saying its something to keep in mind while studying abroad.

And because it's just how a girl like me can rest at ease, with these simpler bare necessities in (study abroad) life.