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I'm trying to get a ballpark idea of what it would cost me to live on my own. I know rent's gonna be pretty bad no matter what.
I'd appreciate if you used this template
# of people in household:
Monthly grocery expenses:
Monthly gas / Metro expenses (or both):
Monthly natural gas expenses:
Monthly electricity expenses:
Monthly water expenses:
Monthly internet expenses:
Miscellaneous expenses (savings, insurance, etc):
I'd be interested in hearing this as well. I told my new roommates I wanted to save $1000 a month and they laughed at me. They said that's only possible if I have no life, and well, if I don't make any friends (it's been a week here so far) then I will be well on my way. I figure: $775 for rent. Another $100 for utilities and cell phone. Another $500 every month on food. Then $600 on student loans. Metro and health insurance are covered by work. I make $3000 a month.
Monthly grocery expenses:$150-200...I try to eat basic things though, never go out to eat but do spend on cheap fast food, no extravagant things i used to cook like salmon, shrimp and steak which I haven't eaten in MONTHS *sigh*...forget about fresh veggies and fruit ESP organic foods unless I want to splurge lol...again haven't eaten organic since being laid off
Monthly gas / Metro expenses (or both): metro/bus-20-25 bucks a week(I'm near the center of DC though and try to use the bus as much as possible even if it's a long bus ride to MD/VA for interviews
Monthly natural gas expenses:$60 a month...and right now $40 bucks a month using no AC this spring for the past month
Monthly electricity expenses: $50-$80...turning off as much as possible when not in use including microwave...but at least i'm helping the environment
Monthly water expenses: Landlord pays this so I don't know
Monthly internet expenses: Internet and phone $80 and directtv cable $40 with barely any channels since I had to cancel most of my other channels due to price
Miscellaneous expenses (savings, insurance, etc): I can't afford to spend on anything else...including health insurance and live check to check on my unemployment...i do have a $40 cell phone bill though and $50 a month in student loan payment and about $65 in credit card payments (thank god i never took out major loans in college)
Rent: $1050 a month (a financial gem in this city)
as you can see I'm spending about $1700 a month barely making it and living as basic as possible with no social life besides seeing movies at home with friends who drop by...seeing a movie at a theater last month was an extreme treat for me lol
Wow. Evidently it would be very difficult to live on my own with my projected monthly earnings (unless I get my best theoretical wage, which probably wouldn't happen).
So it seems the biggest things are groceries and rent... I supposed one could really cut back on the grocery expenses living off of ramen... but I can't imagine that's good for you.
I think the worst thing about this area is that even the farther-out suburbs like Springfield or Gaithersburg are still very expensive.
hey...it will probably cost you $200 on utilities...unless your apartment includes gas and water. electricity for my 2 bd is about $60 a week and I'm rarely home. Cable/internet is too much, for me it's $130 through comcast but I have a lot of the options, I would think you can get basic cable/internet for less than $80. best of luck!
# of people in household: 1 (I'll list my half of the expenses)
Monthly grocery expenses: ~$150
Monthly gas / Metro expenses (or both): gas-$35, I get $66/month for Metro from work, which more than covers any Metro expenses I have
Monthly natural gas expenses: $0 (paid by my landlord since it's only for the stove)
Monthly electricity expenses: usually around $50 total, but ranges from $45-60 (so my part is $23-30). This is for a 2-bedroom townhouse.
Monthly water expenses: included in our rent/owner's condo fees
Monthly internet expenses: $130 total for phone, internet, and satellite TV (so $65 for my half)
Miscellaneous expenses (savings, insurance, etc): I pay $150/month for parking, set $400/month aside in savings accounts, and pay about $300 for car insurance every 6 months
not necessarily...some independent landlords that rent out their condos have condo fees that include water/gas, but the condo fees are factored into your rent anyway. I rented from a management company and I swear I will never live in/recommend them again
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