How I pay my bills

This afternoon I mailed bills associated with the apartment costs for the first time. The electric bill for the first five days I had service was $5.90, but I don't think I can use that to extrapolate costs for a whole month. I used the air conditioner a bit, but I didn't do laundry, use my computer much, or run the dishwasher during that time. I also mailed my rent check for September. I am pretty sure I got far too nice an apartment. $410 is a lot.

I hope that my housing allowance requisition gets processed before I have to pay October's rent. It should come through long before then, but I've seen the problems they've had with the system in the past. As part of my scholarship, I am allowed to either live in the dormitories and eat in the cafeterias or request that money to spend on a place of my own. It comes to $626.80 a month. (Regardless of where I live, I also get a stipend of $1000 dollars per semester as well. If I live off-campus, I may also request the cost of internet access, which I haven't gotten yet but should look into.) I originally hoped to cover rent, utilities, food, and household expenses using only the housing allowance. I do plan to give myself a personal allowance out of the interest from my savings account.

If I am very frugal about food and very sparing in my use of electricity and water, that might work, but I'm not sure I can be very frugal about food for ten months straight. Temptations abound.