Money/Job help please!?

Question

My girlfriend and I are 100% sure that we are going to move in together and eventually get married after high school (we're both juniors). My question to you guys is this, what kind of money will we need to make to support ourselves? This including rent, bills, food, some entertainment, and what not. As long as there is a roof over our heads, food in the fridge, and our bills are paid, we'd be happy. We wont be living in any big cities, but rather upper Michigan in a mid-sized town. Also, what kind of jobs are out there for someone who doesn't want to go to college or a trade school? Thanks for any help you can give me.
P.S. I will be moving from PA to MI when I graduate, so it's not like I could get a job now and try and move up in the ranks by the time this happens, thanks.

Also, what is the economy like in Michigan? Like is stuff cheap, but little money anywhere anyways or is stuff expensive?

Answer 1

Being 100% certain you want to live together is great but that certainty will bear some inverse proportionality to budget deficits, believe me!
Sit down together and do a realistic review of budgets you would need in varying cities; cola information can be found on any number of regions/cities you might choose to check.
Take a course at the college or in HS (BOTH OF YOU) on personal finance or whatever your school dubs it. This is important because being able to balance your budget is very important to peace in the household and comfortable living.
The kinds of expenses you need to consider:
Car (payment, insurance, tags, parking stickers, gas, maintenance)
Housing (rent or mortgage, insurance, utilities, deposits, furniture, linens)
Food and Toilitries (from TP to haircuts!)
Medical insurance/expenses (prescription/non-script drugs, premiums, copays for med care)
Clothing and Shoes
Entertainment and non-essentials
Once you have established your baseline, discuss it and decide when is best. It's a tough world and, as much as people would like to, you can't live on love!

Answer 2

I'll have to agree with the previous responder about the MI economy.

Look at some apartments and see what they are charging for rent. (est. a minimum of 600/month. Plan a month worth of meals, go to the store and price what it would cost to supply those meals. Don't forget to include things like salt, pepper, ketchup, soap (laundry, dish, etc). Find out how much utilities are, do you want cable? what level? You will need at least one car, figure payments and maint. Insurance (life, fire, car, medical). Include all of the other items that are part of life (gifts, clothes, personal items, furniture, retirement, etc.) This needs to be your take-home pay. And you need to plan that it is possible that at least one of you will be unemployed most of the time (babies, injuries, etc.). Figure that 35% of your gross pay will go to taxes! so you won't have that to spend.

I figure that in reality it takes about 36k a year or about $17/ hour (or 2 people at 8.50/hr-assuming full time) to be comfortable. Granted, some families live on 20k or less a year, but it's is tough going.

Jobs for someone with only a hs. educaton--pretty limited. Most will only just above minimum wage.

Answer 3

NO ONE is 100% certain they will still be with a girlfriend next year. If you need to ask a bunch of strangers how much you need to live on, you are NOT ready to make plans to live with someone. That said, do a web search for "Cost of Living" and you will find a number of sites that will help answer your question.

Answer 4

Michigan is the wrong state to move in if your thinking of finding a decent job these days. I live in northern Michigan, and i have a decent job, but they are far and few between.