what's a realistic budget for living in Europe for a few months?

[FuckRx]

This will be more pertinent to when I FIRE. Let's say I can cancel any financial obligations in the US and decide to live in a small town in Germany for 6-12 months. I would bike or take public transport. I would rent obviously and probably cook basic stuff on a stove top. I would need a cell phone and internet and have a laptop. I think rent is gonna be the biggest variable but I wouldn't need to live right in a city center.
With that said, how much you guys figure I would need for just myself (a guy in my mid 30's) to life a mustachian lifestyle for a few months?

[Helvegen]

Consider the exchange rate first and go from there.

[Paul der Krake]

I've lived in germany. To be comfortable as a single guy, I would account 200 euros for groceries, 100 for bills, 200 for misc (that category is always more than you think when away from home), plus whatever your rent for a furnished studio in your target city.

[PilotsWife]

Ooh, replying so I can follow this thread. I'm curious if posters can give average monthly rent numbers, especially for short-term rentals.

[jennifers]

You can probably get a furnished room for under 1000$ a month in most smaller cities.  Not sure if that sounds high or low to you, but it seems reasonable to me. I'd check AirBnb for some monthly rental prices. Other big costs will be food and public transport.  I spent a lot more at the grocery store living in Europe than I do here.  If you eat cheaply and walk everywhere or buy a bike, you can probably get by on very little. 
Unless you have a European passport I think you're going to need a Visa to live in Germany for 6 months.  You might want to look into that.  I was looking into moving to France for a year and I found that they require proof of considerable financial means before you're approved. 

[Moonwaves]

Short-term rentals in Germany can be difficult to find and will often fall on the corporate end of things, i.e. renting to companies who want to put up executives and are prepared to pay a premium to do that. Standard rentals in Germany also don't come furnished - you quite literally need to bring the kitchen sink with you (or sometimes you can arrange to buy the kitchen from whoever is leaving).  It's not impossible and AirBnB might be some help. Or else I'd try something like http://www.wg-gesucht.de/ - a WG is a Wohngemeinschaft or houseshare. That way you mightn't have to buy more than a bed. Bear in mind I've been feeling very complainypants recently so you'll need to counter this with some of your own optimism (but stay realistic) - these are some of the other expenses you should take into account if you want to live in Germany:

- Health insurance, compulsory for everyone who is resident in Germany, even temporarily and many international plans are not valid in Germany. Travel insurance will not cover this.
- Television licence equivalent, since 2013 compulsory for each household (whether you have a telly or not) so if you get a room in a houseshare, might already be covered.
- Third-party liability insurance (Haftpflichtversicherung) and household insruance (Hausratversicherung) - you'll probably get away with not needing these but my rental contract, for example, made having these insurances a condition of rental so I'm just mentioning them as you might come across it.
- Mobile phones are ridiculously expensive here (IMO) but there are lots of cheapie pre-paid plans available although coverage can sometimes be an issue. I currently use Edeka (one of the supermarket chains) and find it reasonable - hope to get a smartphone soon and got this because they have what seems like a decent data plan (8.95/30 day for 300 minutes to any network, free to Edeka network and 300MB data or 9.95/30 days for 500MB data) that I can easily add and because it utilises the 02 network.
- On a less negative note, beer often costs less or the same as water when you go to the pub so, there's that. :)

Cost of living can also vary quite a bit depending on where you live so if you know exactly where you want to go and can give some indication of where it is, we could probably give a better idea of what to expect. There are lots of general tips that will apply everywhere, like finding your local Turkish supermarket to get lots of staples for less instead of just going to the mainstream supermarkets. 

Also, can you speak German? That'll totally change your experience and, you know, I'm just nosy and want to know.

There's a website with extensive discussion forums for English-speaking ex-pats living in Germany that is a great source of information for anything you might need to know about living in Germany (just do search before asking, they come down pretty hard on people who don't check first, since most questions have been asked and answered before): http://www.toytowngermany.com/

[Schpeet]

Hey!  Living in a foreign country that speaks a different language sounds like a lot of fun!  I'm planning on heading over to France at the end of next year, and backpacking through Eastern Europe.  This website has helped a lot understanding what my costs would be:

http://www.budgetyourtrip.com/budgetreportadv.php?geonameid=&countrysearch=&country_code=DE&categoryid=0&budgettype=1&triptype=0&startdate=&enddate=&travelerno=0

It is based around backpacking/holidaying however it is based off a large number of people inputting their costs and clasifying their travel type 'cheap, average, expensive'.  Anyway, it could help with a general idea but obviously actual costs will vary greatly plus you will have additional costs ie flights, insurance etc etc.

[dachs]

I also think that you can live with 200€ for food, 8€ cellphone max 30€ for high speed Internet and 300-400€ for a nice room in a shared flat in a city. You might want to look for sub renting a students flat since that will give you a furnished flat for up to one year (and students flats can be very nice here). If not I would look for a not furnished one and get furniture from Ikea or used somewhere.

[FuckRx]

in my teens I lived in Germany for a few years. I can get buy speaking a little. I would want to live in a town named Goettingen, pretty small. The numbers everyone mentioned is very helpful. I figured the rent would be the biggest variable but that's expected.
@moonwaves, thanks for all the info, what's the reason you are there yourself? are you a local?

[Moonwaves]

I'd say the German will come back pretty quickly if you did actually speak it as a teenager. So that's definitely something that will make your life a bit easier.

I'm Irish but did German in college and spent summers and a semester here as well as nearly two years after college. I always loved it and always planned to come back but wanted to travel to other places first, especially France, as I'd done French in school, too and really wanted to learn that. When I got back to Ireland though, I just looked for a job, got one (it was the start of the call centre boom and anyone who could speak a second language had no problem finding a job) and then, unfortunately, my dad got sick and died and I ended up sort of just falling into the trap of getting into a rut, at some stage adding a credit card, then a loan etc., etc., until I was drowning in debt (with nothing to show for it). That was celtic tiger Ireland. It took me nearly 12 years and a couple of failed attempts before I just said "what are you doing with your life" and actually managed to swing a move here for good. It's taken me six years to clear the debt but I don't think I would have ever managed it in Ireland, especially given that the financial crisis hit a couple of months after I left. I currently live in NRW but am just starting to look for a new job (I hate the place I work) and hope to move back down to Baden-Wuerttemberg, somewhere like Freiburg, hopefully. But I love it here and although I'd still kind of like to spend enough time in France to actually learn to speak French properly, I'm pretty much here for good. I certainly can't imagine ever living in Ireland again.

I've never been to Goettingen so can't offer any opinion on costs. Generally costs are cheaper in the former East but I'm not sure about the states that were on the other side of the border. I'd hazard a guess that it's not one of the more expensive places to live and since it's a university town, there's be lots of broke students about and, presumably, accommodation priced to suit them. Just did a quick google and it comes 16th in a list of the 54 cheapest towns to live in (although the average costs on that list seem way too low to me - they're specifically for student-type rents though). Nice to see my town is in the top five most expensive places to live. Not!

[arebelspy]

I figured the rent would be the biggest variable but that's expected.

Totally.  I've found AirBNB to be awesome at figuring out what rents would be for short to medium term accommodations in various countries.  Play around with it and that should solve the bulk of your budgeting question.  :)