Reply to Living on $25,000 after taxes

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[quote=Anonymous]At $25K per year, that gives you just under $2100 per month.  So say $2050/month take home.

Let's discuss what you've already detailed:
First, you really don't want to spend more than half of that on lodging, so you definitely cannot afford to live alone.  As others have suggested, I would look to rent a room in a house.  There are many homeowners who are trying to make ends meet by renting out a room in their house.  You should be able to find a room in a house for under $800.

Second $130-150/day is very tight.  That's $4.50-5.00 per day for 3 meals.  Yes, it is doable if you make all of your meals at home on the cheap, but it is very tight.  I would play to spend about $180-200 per month on food which gives you a lot more leeway to adjust.

If you aren't tied into your phone plan, you might want to look for one of the discount phone services.  If you bring your own phone, you can find plans for closer to $30/month (see Republic Wireless, Virgin Mobile, Cricket and other low cost providers).

Now, a couple of things that you didn't budget for:
Utilities - unless you are renting a place with utilities built in, you will need to pay at least  your part of electricity, gas (if your unit has gas), water/sewage.  What are you planning on doing for Internet service from home?  Will you forgo Internet at home?  If not, you will either need to increase data on your cell or get some Internet service at home.  Going without is an option, but you have to plan around that.

Emergency fund - you should plan to set aside some money to build up an emergency fund.  This is a little money set aside for any unplanned emergency.  This ranges from service on your car to emergency medical needs for you or your cat to parking tickets to replacing your cell phone if you drop it in water.  I would try to set aside at least $25/month if you can to an emergency fund.  It doesn't sound like much, but it will be $300 for the first year and will build from there.  [/quote]

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