How do I know how much money do I need to make to live on a reasonable budget?

Question

How do I know how much money I need to make to live on a reasonable budget? I am looking for a job and wonder how much I need to make per hour. I am a single mom and finished LPN school. I can make 12-15 dollars locally, or drive 45 miles everyday and make closer to 20-25 dollars an hour, but what about the price of gas and wear and tear on my car??

Answer 1

Sit down with your normal bills and calculate your living expenses, add in the cost for gas, you can calculate that if you know how many miles to a gallon your vehicle gets, if not set your odometer and measure it against how much your tank holds and miles you drive. Also the cost of wear and tear on your vehicle and insurance to drive.

Then add in a little bit for savings in case you want to take a vacation and then you divide it into an hourly wage.

That will tell you the minimum you need to make, don't forget to use all of your expenses, not just your food and rent, also include things like your kids clothes, yours, haircuts etc.

Answer 2

If you are working full time, the difference between the closer job and the one 45 miles away can be as much as $520 a week before taxes assuming that the local job pays $12 and the further one pays $25, this is an extra $2000+ a month. I don't know what kind of vehicle you have or what kind of mileage you get but assuming it takes $50 of gas for every 300 miles (and that the 45 miles is round trip), it will cost less than $50 a week for gas back and forth. As for wear and tear, you will be putting an extra 11,700 miles on your car per year. Well worth it for a potential $27K+ a year (before tax).

Answer 3

It depends on:

a) how long your shifts are, and

b) how much it costs to run your car.

In terms of your shifts, if you're only doing, say, 3 hour shifts, you're talking of a difference in wages in the vicinity of $25-30 per trip, and for 8 hours about $70-75. So you have to ask how much it costs to make the trip, and factor in the fact that you may need to pay more childcare costs to cover the extra time in your car etc.

With regard to the cost of running your car - if your car is older, your depreciation due to the higher mileage is lower, but your maintenance costs may be higher; and if you have a gas-guzzler then gas would be more significant than if you drive a more economical vehicle. But in any case, I'd at least treble the cost of gas to approximate the real cost of running your car. I imagine it's still well worthwhile for the longer shifts.

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

I have an air-tight budget with minimal bills, very little left over (as in $80/mo for misc expenses!). I make good money; 18/hr, but it's never enough to make ends meet. There are formulas for knowing how much is enough. For example, don't pay over 33% of your income to rent/house pay't, and you should comfortably be able to save 25% of your income (savings, IRA, 529 Education saving, other estate planning). If that isn't happening, you need to make more money. Go back to school, add on to the GREAT degree you have. Or find on the job training that will boost your income potential. Many states have such a shortage of Nurses that hospitals will train you for free. GO GIRL!!!

Answer 5

Wear and tear on your car is a major consideration. Personally I just add up all my expenses and come up with a total and divide that by the amount of hours you'll be working and see what you come up with. Of course you should make more than you spend for that ole rainy day that always shows up when we least expect it. You mentioned you're a mom so I wouldn't travel too far if I was you. If an emergency occurs. That would make it much more difficult to return home. Best of luck to you.

Answer 6

If you take the better paying job , could you move closer to work ?
'Reasonable budget' means living on what you make , whether its $25K or $50K .
If you take the better paying one , also factor in the additional cost for sitters for that extra 2 hours you are on the road .
We don't know your local costs for housing , only you can work this out .

But I would check out the housing in the better paying job area . . . ( leaving kids with sitters is not good , and the longer it is , the worse it is ) .

>

Answer 7

How do I know how much money do I need to make to live on a reasonable budget?
This is the WRONG question. A reasonable budget is one that allows you to live on WHATEVER you are making.

Answer 8

Why can't you move to the higher wage location?

Answer 9

depends upon ur budget