I came from Saudi Arabia
I live on Greenville, SC. I do have my own car, I do not have a student loan because I am on a scholarship from my Work " full coverage"
“Average” lifestyle? No. $1850/mo is pretty minimal income at $22,200 per year. (Is that your “take-home” pay or is that the total before taxes are taken out?)
You could get by on it with a little room for luxuries if you’re careful. If you could pay less in rent, you would be better off, but not everyone can live with roommates comfortably, so I won’t say its something you absolutely must do.
I think most people are able to keep things clean for a lot less than this. I spend about $100 and I pay a maid to clean up after me.
this is after taxes are taken out.
They said if I get married They will raise it to 2700 dollar LOL -__-
I lived in Greenville SC back in the mid-90s.
I’d say you can squeak by, but you will need to be careful about luxuries, such as cable for TV/internet, eating out, stuff like that. $700 a month is reasonable for rent in that area. I’m sure I paid around $450-500 a month 20 years ago for a 1-bedroom apartment downtown. $700 a month 20 years later seems reasonable. If I recall correctly, utilities and such are fairly cheap there. Public transportation there is nearly nonexistant, so you will need a car and that will be a huge money-sucker. If you can find a roommate and split rent, you’d have more room for frivolities.
After taxes? That’s quite a reasonable amount for most parts of the country (and, despite what some may say, would also be a reasonable income in a major city, depending on the lifestyle you are used to).
Not for raising a family, mind you, but as a single person who is renting? Not glamorous, but certainly livable.
I live on not much more than that as take-home pay (every time I get a raise it goes into my 401K) and I do very well. I own a small farm and have lots of animals who all get appropriate care. I don’t spend anywhere near $500/month to feed me, 4 horses, 6 dogs and 4 cats. I have no debt besides my mortgage. You should be okay, although you won’t be able to live an extravagant lifestyle.
StG
A rough rule of thumb is that your rent or mortgage should be one-fourth to one-third of your take home pay, or else you’ll end up in too much of a financial crunch. One-third of 1850 is 616 (and change) so you’re looking at roughly $600 a month. If you are single and you are careful with expenses then the $700 range that others in this thread have mentioned is probably ok. You wouldn’t want to go higher than that though or you’ll be struggling to get by every month.
There are places where you can get a mortgage for that kind of money, but in most places you’re looking at renting an apartment. In most bigger cities, a decent apartment is going to cost more than that. For that kind of money you’ll be living in a poor area with a high crime rate, which I personally don’t consider to be acceptable (though some folks do).
That’s plenty of money for an apartment in a smaller town or an area with a lower cost of living though.
Not necessarily true. I’ve been (am- I won’t take my pay increase for granted) in that situation- just spend smartly and live within your means, that’s all.
Ditto this.
Thank you all for the reply
Agree with grude. If I spent $500 a month on food I could eat at some seriously high-end restaurants.
For two people, in Chicago, we pay around $300-ish a month for food. This does include random things like coffee at Starbucks, but keep in mind we don’t do that a hell of a lot. And honestly, despite being two people it wasn’t much cheaper for one, we gain some efficiencies there by pooling resources. We also cook from scratch with whole foods more often than not, so short of eating nothing but ramen packets our expenses will be cheaper than those who rely more heavily on pre-packaged food. If you’re not going to cook for whatever reason, you’ll have to budget more.
It would be difficult to get below that $300 mark, at least here, unless of course you are eating nothing but ramen or otherwise subsist on nothing but dry goods without fresh produce. I wouldn’t recommend that though, the sodium content on ramen packets are through the roof! (But hey, if you’re young… I once got through an entire summer in college on a $20-a-week grocery budget. It did consist mostly of ramen and boxed mac-n-cheese. I don’t think I saw a vegetable that entire time.)
Here are my budget items, straight from my budget spreadsheet, with a few modifications to fit a renter (vs. homeowner). Also, this assumes that you have sufficient money withheld from your paycheck to not owe money in April when you file your taxes:
House Rent
House Furniture
House Gas & Elec (if not included in rent)
House Water (if not included in rent)
House Cable/Satellite/internet connection
House Cell phone (include an international calling plan)
Auto Car payment (if financing)
Auto Gasoline
Auto Repairs/oil changes
Entertain Food (groceries)
Entertain Dining out/movies
Entertain Concerts/plays/activities
Entertain Sports (golf/tennis/etc)
Entertain Travel/Vacations
Entertain Other
Misc Clothing
Misc Gifts (Bday, grad, Xmas)
Charity
Education tuition
Education books/enrollment fees
Insurance Auto
Insurance Renters Insurance