Cost of Living

[Jrecee]

I am poor. I wish to not be poor. I live at home. I wish to live at my own home. These things, however, conflict with each other.

I am trying to figure out how much $$$ I would go through in an average month if I had my own house. What do people here live on? Or rather, how much do you spend in an average month? My rough estimates are that I would need to make about $3000/month before taxes to live comfortably. Slightly more to be able to afford things such as a yearly vacation, or other luxuries, such as. . . retirement.

[Octopod]

Depends where you live really. In Texas you could be fine off of like 1,500 a month while here in Massachusetts you need like 3 times that amount.

[spin the demon]

Where do you live? I live Out in the Sticks With my GF
We Pay 475/Month For Rent of a Two Bedroom house
305.05 for the Car Payment
400.00 Per Month on School, Gas and Junk(Monsters,Smokes,candy,chips ect)
200.00 Month on Food
100.00 a month on Eating Out and Fast Food
Phone,Net and auto in. our parents pay for as of now (thank god!)
Gas/Water/Elc. 80.00 a Month
Dr. Bills around 150+ Per month
Soap, Razors T.P. Tooth paste cleaning shit, ect 50-200 a month
Whats Left half in savings half on games.
So Like 1,700-2,100 a Month
but is two of us you know.

[BoringSupreez]

If you move to Mississippi, you really wouldn't need much. Of course, you wouldn't make much either, though.
A good way to get some savings and cash would be to join the military and live on base, and save all of your paychecks. Wouldn't be much fun, of course, but it would work. Then, when you got out, you could buy a house.

[jeffro11]

In less populated ares of British Columbia, Canada, where I live you can survive on $1400 a month if you were to own a house. You would also have some money left over to do some stuff with.

I live on $1800/mo and get by just fine... $3000 a month would be crazy. I don't know what I'd do with that amount...

$800/mo - mortgage
$100/mo - elec/gass
$100/mo - food
$80/mo - car insurance
$60/mo - House insurance
$70/mo - fuel
$60/mo - phone/internet

$1270 in total... So yeah, lots of money left over

I rarely eat out, and I live a 1 minute walk from a grocery store...

[Inazuma]

I live in southern California and I make roughly $2500 a month after taxes. My monthly expenses (renting an apartment, utilities, food, car, etc) are about $1500 a month. From the remaining $1000 I invest $500 into mutual funds and use the other $500 on fun stuff such as retro video games.

I would like to buy a condo someday but I can't afford it yet. Maybe after we recover from this recession and then have another recession, I will be in a better position for it. By the way, I am 27 years old and unmarried.

[dgamemuster]

I live in southern California and I make roughly $2500 a month after taxes. My monthly expenses (renting an apartment, utilities, food, car, etc) are about $1500 a month. From the remaining $1000 I invest $500 into mutual funds and use the other $500 on fun stuff such as retro video games.

I would like to buy a condo someday but I can't afford it yet. Maybe after we recover from this recession and then have another recession, I will be in a better position for it. By the way, I am 28 years old and unmarried.

your rolling dude. what do you do for a living? up north is tough.

[MrPopo]

I live in southern California and I make roughly $2500 a month after taxes. My monthly expenses (renting an apartment, utilities, food, car, etc) are about $1500 a month. From the remaining $1000 I invest $500 into mutual funds and use the other $500 on fun stuff such as retro video games.

I would like to buy a condo someday but I can't afford it yet. Maybe after we recover from this recession and then have another recession, I will be in a better position for it. By the way, I am 28 years old and unmarried.

your rolling dude. what do you do for a living? up north is tough.

Rolling? I make twice that a month and still have about the same salary I did when I got out of college (most of my pay increases are through stock grants).

My monthly expenses are between 2 and 2.5k. I'm planning on buying a house next year once I've gotten the down payment together. My biggest expense is my apartment, which is high due to it being in the downtown area. I save a fair amount of money on gas and car maintenance as a result, since I walk to work.

I am trying to figure out how much $$$ I would go through in an average month if I had my own house.

When you say "had my own house" do you mean "had my own place", which would include apartments, or do you really mean purchasing a house? If you are trying to buy property you'll need 20% of the close price for your down payment or you have to pay mortgage insurance, which is not something you want to do.

[Luke]

This is an area where I'm going to say none of your business.

[Reverend]

I'm in the minority of racketboy members who are still in High School, so right now I just need to worry about getting into a good college. My part time job as a rock climbing belayer gives me literally 2 hours of work every few months, so I rely entirely on saving every penny I have. By spending almost no cash gifts since the time I was 10, I have enough to buy small things like the occasional game, dvd, or book, without taking a hit that can't be fixed by the next gift giving holiday.

In short, I'm a poor high school student, about to become a poor college student.