Help me save up and move out! - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by huy 

You really need to sit down and figure out your monthly expenses to see if it is even possible for you to live on that income.
Example:
Income after tax = $1800
Expenses:
Rent = $1000
Utilities = $75
Food = $300
Insurance = $50
Gas = $50
Student loan = $200
Alcohol & bars = $75
Entertainment = $50
Misc = $100
Total expenses = $1900
That is just an example, but you can see that if rent and utilities are over $1000 you are not going to have that much money for everything else. You can make some small sacrifices like living with roommates, cooking more often, going out less often, etc. that will put you into a better financial situation.
After that is done, you can figure out how much savings you need to live if you lost your job (4-12 months depending on how much of a cushion you want).
The more frugal you are, the quicker you can leave your parent's house.

Actually I put a little something together for living at home and away. Tell me what you guys think:

At Home:

                                                   ($1950)

Savings -                                         $800

Car -                                               $400*

Gas -                                              $150

Misc. -                                            $100

Entertainment/Going out -                 $200

                                                      $300 Left over (To be split to Savings or whatever else)

Moved Out

                                                  ($1950)

Rent+Utilities -                              $1000

Food -                                          $300

Gas -                                           $150

Entertainment/Going Out -             $300

Misc. -                                         $100

                                                   $100 Left over

* I plan on purchasing the car, this would be my monthly payment. I'll keep the car until I'm promoted and ready to upgrade. The reason why the payment is so high is because I would want to pay off the entire car before I move out so that I have one less bill to pay.

I figured I would save up around $23,000 before I moved out. Why so much? Here's why:

$2000 Furniture

$3000 New Wardrobe

$1500 Rent Deposit

$2000 Car Deposit (From first couple of months of working)

$14,500 still in my Savings Account

If I ever go over (which I shouldn't) in my expense while moved out, I can dip into this $14.5k. That should be enough dip in money to last me another 2-3 years before I get promoted right?

What do you guys think? Am I missing anything?

Thanks again in advance!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lord-Barrington 


Your plan looks a hell of a lot more sound than the "moving out right now" plan, which looks terrible. And keep in mind that Harvey_Birdman and that other guy are dinosaurs who don't know what the hell they're talking about.

Sweet, thanks. It'd be great to move out immediately but I think the biggest thing keeping me from doing that is that I need a new car and even if I didn't need a car I'd still be living paycheck to paycheck.

I've never been financially sound so having that extra $14.5k behind me would be great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by harvey_birdman 

Yes, I'm a dinosaur. In particular, a Sexual Tyrannosaur who got laid between the ages of 21-25. Ignore everything I write and enjoy your celibacy.

I want to get laid too. :'(

Quote:

Originally Posted by gort 

$300 a month on going out in LA, is that feasible? One thing to keep in mind is that it is very hard to plan and stay within budget if you do go out regularly. A few more rounds of drinks sounds like a good idea in the heat of the moment, but the next morning a $150 bar tab just zapped 50% of your going out budget within the first Friday of the month.

This is so true and I'm quite the party-man. I'll have to instill some self-control.