Is 1600 a month enough to live on your own?

Question

I know this is a silly question but i really need to move out i live in the seattle area I am going to school part time and working 2 jobs at aprox 48 hours a week and have about 500 dollars in credit card debt and my monthly bills now come out to about 500 dollars

Answer 1

I manage to live on about 1000 a month, but my rent is ridiculously low and I have roommates. It's possible, you'll have to find a place with decent rent so you can afford utilities and food and stuff.

Answer 2

First I was going to say it all depends on where you live, but then of course you mentioned where you live.

Honestly, I don't know what the cost of living is up there. Are you talking moving out from your parent's house, or moving out from a roommate situation.

If you are just wanting to move from your parent's, I would totally think you could live on that much if you got a good place with a roommate.

As far as your own place, I don't know if it is enough.

Where I live, I could live like a queen on $1600, but that is just because of where it is. A larger city like that, I don't know.

Maybe you should check in the paper and see how much apartments are running for. You should never pay more than 1/2 of your income for a place to live. Even better if you can pay only 1/3. 1/2 in your case would of course be $800 and 1/3 would be approx. $500 to 550.

Keep in mind that the more you pay for a place to live, the less you have for other things - bills, entertainment, clothing, food, car/transportation, etc.

I bet you could find a good roommate situation for $500.

Okay, I will stop prattling on. Good luck, hope you find a good place!

Answer 3

For the Seattle area, it does not seem to be enough. There are no silly questions, it is good for you to ask for answers if it is important to you. You seem to be putting enough effort and time in. Is there a possibility of getting a better paying position, or use your creativity. Will your Parent be willing to help a little if you move out? Are they in agreement with your move out? You may be able to share living arrangement with another girl. That sometimes has a set of difficulties.as well , but it may help save on rent. You do need to pay off you credit card.Then you need to make a financial plan that includes rent utilities Food and clothing, your tuition for school. Transportation to and from School and work. Those are the basics, See if you can get to a figure of how much you need for these expenses, discus it with your parents, and see if they can help you.

Answer 4

You can probably do it - but there are no guarantees unfortunately. Look around to get a feel for how much rent would cost (getting a roommate would save money). It sounds like you are hard worker, and that is something to be proud of. Typically your cost your rent should be about 1 weeks pay. And all your other expenses would be covered by the rest of your months pay. This would allow you to live comfortably. I would suggest that you get out of debt before you move out; it might be hard but when you first move out you will be taking on more debt initially so the less you have prior, the better.

Answer 5

You can live on your own for $100 a month, it just depends on what you're willing to put up with. You should be able to get a decent 1 bedroom apartment for under $1000 so that leaves at least $600 for food, and other expenses. You just have to look around for a good place and be willing to cut out some luxuries until you get a raise.

Answer 6

You need to sit down and do a balance sheet. One side: all the money you make a month. The other side: the amount you would spend (current bills, approx rent, food, utilities, gas, etc). If you still have enough to be comfortable with when you deduct your bills/expenses from your income; then you can move out. But also consider that you are going to have to have a deposit (at least one months rent). Good Luck.

Answer 7

I would say that you would probably have to get roomates and couldnt afford to live alone. Your current bills/debts are not that large (trust me!) and if you can make an arrangement to pay those off in monthly increments, I think you would do just fine. If you budget well and limit socialising (movies, outside dinners etc etc) and cook at home $1600 would be enough to live on each month

Answer 8

It all depends on how expensive or how cheap it is to live in Seattle. Like for instance in NY, $1600 might be cutting it really close. But you also have to consider how you spend your money, do you have a lot of bills, do you dine out, do you shop or party a lot. Try making a budget and see.

Answer 9

It's gonna be tough. If you can, find a way to pay off your credit card since that can be a huge drag on your finances.

You may want to try finding a room-mate to split costs, or living outside Seattle in one of the less expensive nearby areas.

Answer 10

I'm not sure how much rent is up in Seattle, but 1100 sounds like it would be enough for a room, or maybe a shared apartment.