This is for you peope living out on your own in apartments or whatever; how much in bills do you pay each year? Since I'll probably be moving out of my home either late this year or early next year, I think it's time I started looking at costs.
Thirty grand a year is good money, but I'd still like to know how much I'll be looking at after expenses. Plus I plan on getting into investing, so I need to figure out how much money I can spare and how much I can afford to lose if my investments go bad (if anyone knows of some good businesses to buy stock from, I'd much appreciate it.)
I have yet to get into the stock market sorry. I also live at home still, as I am still not close to 18.
Well rent can be anywhere from $500 - $1500 per month, depending on what area of town you're living in (regardless of the city). Utilities (heat, light, water, cable, internet, etc) will vary depending on your consumption, so it could run $100 to the moon. Then there's groceries which will vary from person to person, but I'd say $50-$75 per week would be enough.
These are just estimates because I live in a dorm room, so everything is just put down in one huge figure. But having three siblings that moved out on their own, I'm used to seeing all kinds of numbers flying around. If you crunch those out to the worst possible outcome, you'll get about $2000 - $2500 per month.
For the stock market thing, I've heard that practice is the only way to gain any kind of knowledge or insight into it. No one can just tell you how to make smart investments, alas.
Here in Wisconsin an apartment in the fancy pants parts of town can run up to 3 grand per month. I lived in one for about a year and a half and then we had to move out due to the high expense.. I hated it.
I haven't done much looking around either, but I will be soon. I'm in New Jersey and I would say they start around 1000. At least, that was the price of one I was going to move into.
Just in case, don't forget that you can have someone else move in with you. You don't have to live alone. And I hope it would be with someone you trust.
I would agree with Senjuro's numbers.
You've come to the right place. I have my own apartment. I pay $905.00 per month for rent, plus $75.00 per month for cable (very basic), internet, and phone, plus $35.00 for electric, plus $35.00 for gas (I don't use heat or the stove), plus $70.00 for gasoline (my car gets good mileage), plus $120.00 for groceries (I pretty much just eat lettuce, tuna, and generic cereal and soda).
Well, I don't think I'll be spending too much time in my apartment; with firefighting, you're generally on two days and off two days, thus I wouldn't be using too much of my apartment's utilities. And as far as sharing an apartment with someone, I'm sure I won't be the only firefighter living in an apartment.