Not an estimate and not a survey. This is one person's actual spending, every line taken from a card statement or a till receipt, for 44 consecutive days from 9 August to 21 September 2026.
82.25 RONa day, averaged over 44 days
That figure covers food, coffee, eating out, local transport, small shopping and toiletries. It does not include rent, which is a separate monthly figure further down — the button above folds it into the daily rate if you want the all-in number. It does not include anything bought for work. Over the whole 44 days the total came to 3619.12 RON. The cheapest day was 38.25 RON, the most expensive 132.16 RON.
Where the money went
Groceries
2269.05 RON
Eating out
666.66 RON
Transport and fuel
258.77 RON
Coffee on a terrace
217.00 RON
Shopping
104.00 RON
Toiletries and personal care
56.99 RON
Kiosk payments, not itemised
36.65 RON
Donation
10.00 RON
Groceries and eating out are split by shop type rather than by item, so a sandwich bought in a supermarket counts as groceries. Alcohol is not a line here: none was bought in the period covered.
What single things cost
Prices taken from receipts issued in Craiova between 13 and 18 September 2026. They are what was paid at the till, VAT included.
Espresso lungo, 8 oz, to take away
Coffee counter, Electroputere Parc
5.00 RON
Coffee at a table, city edge
Terrace on the Centura
7.00 RON
Milk, 3.5 percent, 1 litre
Carrefour
11.19 RON
Bananas, per kilo
Carrefour
8.99 RON
Still water, 0.5 litre
Carrefour
3.58 RON
Alcohol-free beer, 0.33 can
Carrefour
4.50 RON
Drinking yoghurt, 320 ml
Penny
5.89 RON
Chocolate bar, 80 g
Penny
1.49 RON
Disposable razor
Penny
10.99 RON
Soft drink, 0.33 can
Auchan
4.49 RON
Fast food, single item
KFC, Burger King
7.00–10.00 RON
Prepaid mobile top-up, 5 euro — one month’s service
Digi shop
31.79 RON
Two things that surprise visitors. Cans and plastic bottles carry a 0.50 RON deposit (SGR) on top of the shelf price, refunded when you return the empty. And a mobile top-up sold as 5 euro — which buys a month of service, not a one-off credit — cost 31.79 RON, because the euro price is converted at the operator's rate and then VAT at 21 percent is added on top.
A month at this rate
Everyday spending, at the measured rate
2467.58 RON
Room, rented monthly — wifi, water, heating, laundry and cleaning included
1999.71 RON
Total
4467.29 RON
The room is a real one, rented by the month at 380 euro, and ‘all in’ here means all in: wifi, water, heating, laundry and cleaning are all in that figure, so there is no utility bill on top and nothing to set up in your own name. That matters when comparing against another city, where the same headline rent usually buys the room alone. Shared flats and unfurnished long lets go for less; short-term furnished places aimed at visitors go for considerably more.
Not counted in any figure above
Kept out of the totals on purpose, because it is not everyday living and not everyone will have it. It is listed here so the number is visible rather than hidden.
Motorbike rental — 45 km/h moped, 49cc
250.00 RON a weekabout 1083.33 RON a month if you rented one
Rented for courier work, so it falls under the ‘nothing bought for work’ exclusion that the method section sets out. Anyone renting one for ordinary use would add it on top of the monthly total.
Summed up
Eighty-odd lei a day is comfortable rather than frugal here. It buys supermarket food, a coffee out most days, a restaurant meal now and then, and the odd taxi. You can live on half of it if you cook everything and walk, and you can spend three times as much without trying, because the restaurant prices in the malls are not far off Western European ones.
The thing that actually moves the number is not restaurants. It is groceries, which took 63 percent of everything spent. Anyone comparing cities should compare supermarket baskets, not menus.
How this was measured
Every purchase was logged on the day it happened, local time, from three sources: card transactions, fiscal receipts, and cash spending noted at the time. Card payments still pending at the end of a day are counted at the amount authorised. Money moved between the author's own accounts is not spending and was excluded, as was anything bought for work.
Sources and dates
Period covered: 9 August to 21 September 2026, 44 consecutive days.
Prices last checked: 18 September 2026.
Newer shop prices, by the kilo and dated, are kept on the Food prices page under Eat & drink.
Not in the daily figure: a used commuter bicycle cost 400 to 500 lei in Craiova in September 2026, a one-off.
Conversion rates: one frozen set of European Central Bank reference rates for 17 September 2026.