Budgeting for Your New Apartment
There comes a day in everyone’s life when it is time to break free and move out on your own. Mom and dad have been great but you need to get your own place and really start your life as an adult.
Breaking free doesn’t always mean running out of your hometown to a city across the country or somewhere around the world. Sometimes you can enjoy all the freedoms of being on your own and still live close to your family and friends.
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But too often the problem is that even if you are ready to move out on your own, sometimes your wallet isn’t. And since being an adult also means it’s time to start paying for everything yourself, it’s important to get some money to start your new life. So if you are going to move out to Los Angeles to seek stardom or plan on remaining loyal to Ohio State Buckeye and want to live in some apartments in columbus ohio, it’s important that you learn how to budget for your new place.
Here are some tips to get you started.
- Determine the real costs for your monthly expenses. This doesn’t only mean your monthly rent. You have to add in costs of utilities, cable TV, and Internet. Do you pay to park your car and/or rely on public transportation to get to and from work? Do you have monthly student or car loan payments? Don’t forget groceries, gym memberships, credit card payments, dining out, going to the movies or renting DVDs. You have to break down everything that you spend each month. And don’t forget putting a little money in saving with every paycheck for a rainy day.
- Categorizing your expenses. You should have two piles of monthly expenses. Things you have to have (requirements) and things it’s nice to have (fun). Paying bills stinks but you have to do it. It’s not an option. Add up all the expenses you have in the required pile and all things in the fun pile. If the requirements pile plus the fun pile is more than how much you make, you need to cut down on the fun pile.
- Figure out how much you earn every month. Not your gross pay, but the money you take home after taxes and insurance premiums. It also has to be the money you are guaranteed each month. Extra money like overtime, bonuses or from freelance work is nice, but can’t be counted on every month.
- Subtract all the requirements expenses from your monthly earnings. Hopefully you still have money left over. This left over money, and only this money, is what you will use to entertain yourself, buy gifts, go out to dinner, etc.
It really is that simple. If you don’t live beyond your means and you follow a budget, you can enjoy apartment living for years to come.