yeahsouh

I live in Chicago (moving soon for school!) and you can definitely, definitely feed yourself with groceries for less than 6/meal or 375 month. Not counting restaurants or delivery, etc, you could eat decently on even 250 or less, perhaps substantially so with a litle effort and depending on your tastes.  
In general, for a city its size, (and despite the high tax rates) Chicago's cost of living is super reasonable.

Nothing short of a miracle! I will be joining the clinical psych program at Miami University!

School: University of Miami
Concentration: Community Well-Being
Type: PhD
Date of acceptance: 3/6/2019
Notified by: Email from Admissions Supervisor with POI (I.P.) + Committee CC'd
This was my first choice - my POI's work was literally the reason I became interested in the field in first place. I'm beyond words. 

As an update for the folks who helped me (and for future applicants who may be in my situation): I got a full-time job as a research coordinator in an extremely productive lab at an amazing institution (which I frankly didn't think I had a shot at getting into). I'm honestly more excited about this "acceptance" than the three non-funded PsyD acceptances I had earlier this year, which really solidifies 1) the fact that I'm passionate about research, and 2) that I've made the right choice by declining offers and planning to reapply to PhD programs in a few years.
Yaaaay

I'm a career transitioner like you, with limited psych courses in my undergrad - only 3 hours in an intro course and 3 in child development.  I'm going to share my story in hopes that you can avoid some of the painful and delaying mistakes that I made and get an idea of what it may take to actually make it into a program.
Most program websites state that they will accept students who do not have an undergrad degree in psych or that there are a certain number of hours of psych/stat/social science courses as pre-req (usually a fairly low number), so the first time I applied for a clinical psych PhD program, in 2012 (for potential admission in 2013), I had a solid GRE score, decent grades in undergrad (also a 3.4), and no research experience, and I was rejected.  In that next year I took some Coursera courses in psych, took the GRE again for a slightly better score, attempted to volunteer in a research lab but worked full time and traveled a good bit for work so it didn't work out, wrote a number of successful grant applications for my job (worked in development for a small, private university), and performed some research through my job that was published in some higher ed journals but knowing what I know now, was not truly empirical research and was published as editorial so it was not peer reviewed.  Rejected again that cycle.  A retiring professor who had sat on the admissions committee agreed to meet with me and explain why my application looked so different.  That was enlightening and terrifying because I began to get the full scope of exactly how far behind I looked compared to the average applicant.  This included that I didn't have enough background in psych, and that my GPA in undergrad wasn't as good as I thought because of how competitive clinical psych programs are - getting into a mid-tier clinical psych program is more competitive than getting into Harvard medical school.  Any individual applicant's chances of getting in during a single cycle (presuming they apply to the average of 10 programs) is less than 5%, and chances of getting into any single school during a cycle is 1-3% depending upon how competitive the school is (these are according to this professor in 2014, so they may be a little different not but likely not by much).  Most successful applicants have some degree in psych, whether that be undergrad, grad, or post-bacc, at least 2 years of research experience, several posters and/or presentations at conferences, at least one publication in the works (in review or in press is most typical), decent GRE scores, and a great GPA - 3.7 or higher is what I have seen on program websites and been told by professors is the preferred minimum, but that a strong part elsewhere on the application or a change in trend during the undergrad career can make that number more squishy.
After that cycle I took an online graduate certificate program in positive psychology to get more psych credits and shifted my focus to applying to a counseling psych program (I was location bound for all three cycles so I only had one university and two programs to choose from, which severely impacted my chances).  I interviewed for the counseling psych PhD program and was accepted into the Master's program, which I started in 2016.  During my master's, I worked on two different research teams, worked on a manuscript that was in preparation when I applied (we were almost done, but not quite), presented a couple of posters at conferences, got a 4.0, volunteered with two organizations that I thought would look good on my application - one with refugees and another working to combat moral injury in vets, and completed twice the required practicum hours at my site doing all sorts of extra stuff including teaching classes and developing curriculum which I thought would look stellar on my application.  When I applied last cycle, I was super confident that I was going to get several interviews and at least one offer.  I applied to 15 schools (13 clinical, 2 counseling), only got one interview and no offers.  I was heartbroken to say the least because I thought my hard work would pay off.  But I asked for feedback and was told my research experience still wasn't up to snuff, so I found a research training program out of Europe that I was accepted into and have been working with them since I graduated in May.  The program itself looks rather fancy on my CV and I've had numerous professors comment about that attracting their attention, but I've also gotten numerous opportunities to present at conferences throughout Europe (I'm leaving for another one in Spain in just a few weeks), we have a publication that's in review right now, and I've received seminar training and mentorship from professors at top institutions in the US and Europe (some in-person and some online).  I also sought out mentorship from professors outside of the field to get a broader idea of what appeals to academics, which resulted in me changing the formatting of my CV radically to better show myself off, and making some tweaks to my SOP to more blatantly point out why I would be perfect for a specific institution and what I would offer them (as opposed to my previous draft focusing on what the program could offer me).  I've also enrolled in an IO online grad certificate program because there's an area of research I might be interested in exploring at some point that would cross between clinical, IO and career counseling so I wanted more training in the area of IO that would be required for that line of inquiry.  This cycle I applied to 14 programs (13 counseling, 1 clinical - this shift in emphasis to counseling is super important because my master's is in counseling and those programs are more likely to pick me up than clinical because the programs know my program and the professors who wrote me LORs - in clinical programs those professors are basically unknowns), and I have thus far received 6 interviews.
Sorry this is so long, but it's been a long journey for me, and will likely be a long one for you too (but hopefully you're smarter and can shave a few years off my timeline).  But it's definitely possible to transition into the field from the outside, it just requires a lot of persistence, perseverance, and going several extra miles to be able to compete with people much younger than you who have been preparing for this since they were 18.  I realized in 2012 that the one career which could satisfy all of the things that are important to me in life was being a psychologist working for the VA, and that has helped motivate me to to suffer anything necessary to attain that goal (luckily my husband has been totally on board with this wild ride).  If becoming a psychologist is that necessary to your life, you'll figure out your path to getting there.  Others have offered you additional suggestions for programs which might be easier to get into and would be much shorter if what really matters to you is just being in the mental health field because there are soooo many allied mental health professions available (other options that haven't been mentioned include becoming a psychiatrist - also a long road but long in different ways, becoming a substance abuse counselor - sometimes requires a specific academic program and sometimes requires just working in a substance abuse clinic and receiving mentorship, or becoming a nurse with some mental health training as nurses are doing large amounts of health psych counseling these days).
TL;DR: It's possible to change careers to get into the field, I am doing it, but it's a loooong road.  If you want it bad enough, you can do it.  If not, there are other options.

Officially accepted the offer from University of Utah's School Psychology program. SO PSYCHED!!! Mountains here I come ?

My landlord reached out to find out whether I wanted to renew my lease which expires at the end of next month. I informed him he is on my wait list. 

Congrats!

I just sent them wine

School: University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Concentration: Counseling Psychology
Type: PhD
Date of acceptance:  3/14/2019
Notified by: Email from POI that I've been accepted off of the waitlist!

School: Yeshiva University
Concentration: Clinical
Type: PsyD
Date of acceptance:  2/7/2019
Notified by: Phone call from POI the night of my interview!
Interview Invites (5/7) -- Yeshiva University, University of Denver, LIU Post, William James College, Nova Southeastern University 
Declined Interview (2/7) -- George Washington University, Roosevelt University
Withdrew (canceled interviews after accepting Yeshiva’s offer) (2/7) – University of Denver, LIU Post
Accepted (3/3) – Yeshiva University, William James College, Nova Southeastern University
ATTENDING: Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology, Yeshiva University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

School: University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Concentration: Clinical Psychology
Type: PhD
Date of acceptance: 3/12/2019
Notified by: Phone call from POI.
Just got bumped up from the waitlist and I'm just so happy!

DM'd!

Officially accepted the offer from UMiami (CWB). Would love to connect with anyone else planning to begin there in the Fall.

Officially accepted the offer from UMiami (CWB). Would love to connect with anyone else planning to begin there in the Fall.

Officially accepted the offer from UMiami (CWB). Would love to connect with anyone else planning to begin there in the Fall.

After reading through all 23 pages, I think I've managed to compile the most salient (at least for me) and still relevant pieces of advice as far as grad school supplies 
Laptop - While most people have a laptop, it was recommended by several people that folks in a new laptop (unless yours is less than two years old) and make sure you get an extended warranty (one that will hopefully last the entirety of your program).  Note: look into funding opportunities for laptops within your department. Some will finance a new laptop for incoming grad students!  Desk - L-shaped came highly recommended, given the extra space. While i love my little desk, I may invest in a larger one by year 2.  Chair (Desk) - Investing in a good chair was stressed many times. You will likely be spending many hours hunched over a desk. get one that will be comfortable for your back, but won't put you to sleep.  Chair (Reading) - a separate reading chair was recommended for those hours upon hours where you'll be reading. a comfortable chair or couch was recommended. Printer - there was some debate regarding the pros/cons of a printer. In an increasingly digital age, I don't think a printer is completely necessary. ESPECIALLY because so many universities have printers available and printing costs included within stipends. But this will depend on the person Scanner OR File Cabinet - One person had recommended getting a file cabinet and regularly organizing it so as not to fall behind (if you are someone who likes having physical copies of everything, then go for this option). HOWEVER, someone then chimed in to say screw a file cabinet. just get a scanner. and i thought that was an excellent idea! just scan everything you need and chuck the physical copies (unless its like your birth certificate or something)  Coffee - Coffee maker, coffee carafe (to keep it warm for those days of marathon working), french press. you get the idea. ALTERNATIVE: electric kettle for tea drinkers  Large Water Bottle - lets be sustainable folks!  Snacks - for those long days  Wall Calendar  Dry Erase Board  Noise Cancelling Headphones  External Hard Drive Dongles - actually didn't see folks write about this, so I'm adding it! Dongles/adapters are constantly changing based on your device. Get the one that is specific to your computer to HDMI and VGA, and you should be set for most campus systems!  Paper shredder - unless your campus has a shredding removal service like my current one has. I'd say take advantage of that Travel - Luggage, toiletry bag, international travel adapter/converter, etc. You will presumably be traveling a bunch! Get the right travel accessories if you can Desk accessories - post its, highlighters, pens Notebooks - it seems like everyone has been unanimously pro-moleskine notebooks on here. mmmm I'm not! What *EYE* recommend is going to your local art supply store, and buying sketchbooks from there. They are usually so much cheaper. And most art stores have artist and student memberships available, so you can get major discounts. I just showed a sale and got all my notebooks and pens for less than $30. Just my opinion  Software - Just some of the software that came highly recommended and that I felt like was still relevant today: Evernote. Zotero. Scrivener. CamScanner. Nuance. iStudiez  Most of this is hella obvious. But some of these I hadn't even considered! And its nice to think about these things early so you have enough time to save up or search the internet for deals. I curated an Amazon wishlist based on the information i listed above. Let me know if you'd like me to post it here and make public! 
And remember: 90% (if not all) of this is OPTIONAL. Let's not make academia seem more inaccessible than it already is. You will excel regardless of whether or not you have these things.  There's always borrowing. lending programs through your university. free services through your libraries. There are options! 
Hope this is helpful to those reading this post 8 years later! It was certainly helpful for me. Aside from curating a great list of things i want, it also helped distract me from decisions this week ://////

just got accepted by the top choice from the waitlist!! plan to accept! don't lose hope guys!!!

I was at work getting coffee in the kitchen. I checked my email on my phone and saw the email with "Admission " in the title and "Congratulations!" in the previewed text.  My knees buckled a bit and everyone looked at me and I went and hid at my desk and cried a little lol.

One other grocery store to look at: Cermak Fresh Market, which has a couple locations in neighborhoods with good affordable housing options. Really awesome value for produce in particular.  Between that and Aldi you'll be in great shape with a mix of easier to prepare options and good from-scratch meals. If you have access to a car, supplementing with a Costco membership for bulk staples (and decent cheap wine!)  might also be worth looking into.

Lol yours is my favorite ?  a short scream of frustration 

My landlord reached out to find out whether I wanted to renew my lease which expires at the end of next month. I informed him he is on my wait list. 

Sorry for multiple posts but just checked the portal for my top choice and noticed that it has been switched from "Pending" to "Admitted" and I'm freaking out trying not to get too excited until it's email-official.  For all I know somebody checked the wrong box in some system...!

School: University of Miami
Concentration: Community Well-Being
Type: PhD
Date of acceptance: 3/6/2019
Notified by: Email from Admissions Supervisor with POI (I.P.) + Committee CC'd
This was my first choice - my POI's work was literally the reason I became interested in the field in first place. I'm beyond words.