My rent is about to double from 600 to 1200. I make about 2800/mo. can i survive on that... ?

Question

i suppose adding 200 for utilites...it'd be like 1400/mo. ouch.

including maybe 200 for utilites... my roommate (the homeowner) has decided to move out, but is giving me the option to stay, provided i rent her room out... but ideally, if POSSIBLE, id like to keep the whole house to myself.... could I, with my monthly income?

Answer 1

how old are you and what is your education? take your net pay, that is the amount left after Uncle Sam takes out taxes, FICA, etc. Then add up all your bills, (car payment, insurance, electric, gas, credit cards, food, clothes, entertainment) everything you can think of, and subtract that from your net pay. If you have a positive amount left then the answer is yes you can do it. The reality of it is you will not be able to do it because you were not smart enough to figure this out for yourself so you probably are not smart enough to cut spending enough to survive with your rent at $1200.00. The quickest way to know if you can do it without doing all the above is to do this.
Ask yourself, when rent was $600.00 did I have $600.00 or more left over each month? IF the answer was no, then you will not be able to pay $1200.00 and still pay all your other bills.
By the way, Marge F is an idiot, you won't be fine. You won't be able to save a dime. Get another roommate or move to a cheaper place.

Answer 2

Bankrate.com
Saving when you're barely surviving
Monday August 28, 6:00 am ET
Don Taylor

Dear Dr. Don,
I am a husband and father of two young toddlers. My net pay is just enough to scrape by every two weeks. With health insurance premiums well over $400 per month, my net pay is only enough to cover the bills. Every time I set aside money, I end up having to use it all for some unforeseen expenditure, and then some with credit cards (whose balances continue to escalate). Where does one in my situation begin to save?
-- Underfunded Mike

Dear Mike,
Your question is one of the more difficult issues in personal finance. How do you work toward the future when you're having trouble getting through the week?
The key is to keep spending less than income. Easier said than done, but that doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done. Spiraling credit card balances aren't the answer. Credit cards just postpone the problem and have you spending money on finance charges that should be going toward meeting your family's needs.
Differentiate between what's necessary and what's nice in your monthly spending. Cutting out cell phones (or alternatively land lines), cable TV, dinners out, etc. brings down your monthly nut. Bankrate has a budget work sheet that you can download to put together a monthly spending plan. Talk to your employer's personnel department to see if there are ways of reducing the health-care costs while keeping family coverage. Taking advantage of flexible spending accounts to pay for medical costs with pretax dollars is one possible way of accomplishing this goal.
The other side of the equation is to increase income. Take a second job, or a third. Don't think of it as forever, just until you can get the credit card balances down and build a bit of a cash cushion. If your wife doesn't work, perhaps she should. Bankrate's "Should my spouse work, too?" calculator will help with that math.
The answers aren't easy, but you've got to ramp up income, throttle back on spending or both to get to the point where you move past paycheck-to-paycheck living and get to the point where your income is also building toward your family's future.
If you've worked through all this and still can't see a way, it's time to ask for help. Your state government might be able to help with health-care insurance for the children, for example. A Bankrate feature, "Finding help in hard times," has some other ideas, too.
To ask a question of Dr. Don, go to the "Ask the Experts" page, and select one of these topics: "financing a home," "saving & investing" or "money."

Answer 3

Do you rent a guest house or a apartment ??

They should not have doubled it! I think they should have increased 10% ... By my experience on living in apartments my rent will go up 10% every 6 months ...

The last apartment I lived in I renewed our lease before the last month is up and they kept the same rent for 3 years without going up ...

Did your landlord sell the place ?? If so, talk with your new landlord and see if they can make agreement with you to increase 100 dollars every 3 - 6 months (that should give you time to search for new apartment)

Other thing is ... Talk with Real Estate if they know any rules about increasing the rent that fast!?!

Answer 4

That is 42% of your income which is pretty high percentage-wise. How have you been doing with the lower rent? Are there things you can easily cut out of your current spending?

Taking a roommate or moving may be the best bet.

Answer 5

Oh My Word!!!!!!!!!!!!!, Where on Earth do you live, where your rent doubles? Well anyway, If you make $2800/month than its easy to live off on it.
$1400 for rent and utilities
$100 Gas
$ 60 Phone/Internet
$ 70 Cable
$200 Food
That comes out to be $1830 in expenses, so No Problem!!!!!!!!!

Answer 6

You can probably get by on it, but as far as you making 2800, that's not really good money-wise and You'll be cutting out of lot of stuff in your budget. You may have to cut down on your grocercies shopping, may have to swtich to basic cable, get on engery saving bills for light... try to use AC/Heat little as much as possible, sleep with blanket if possible.. because I speak from experience.. YOu will struggle big time and it'll get to the point where you ask yourself " is it worth it?" assuming that you don't have any big debts ( car payment, student loans) I think you'll be ok..

but if you do have student loan, credit cards, car payment... well it'll be hard My advice is to check into your rent agreement, and speak with your laywer to make sure that landlord can raise your income 50 percent... because to me, that's not right, supposed to be 10 percent.. so u better check it out before you make any descsion.

Answer 7

If you like your place and don't want to leave you'll have to cut back on other things. If not it time to shop around for another place or roomate.

Answer 8

well egold is right no prob in that

Answer 9

You should be fine.