Critique my expenses

BradicusMaximus

This seems like a dumb question to ask you guys but I wanted to get some advice just in case.

A few months from now my SO and I hope to move in together. Shes perfectly set expense wise - this is about mine.

My paycheck is usually about 1400 a month. Not great but in terms of where I am right now its manageable.

If we moved into this place I'd be paying about 680 a month. This includes rent, utilities, net, a gratuitous amount towards food (for cooking mind you, not fastfood), car insurance, and phone bill and simple household items. I'd also like to put at least $100 back every paycheck into savings. This would leave me with probably around 500 for gas and whatever else (maybe even more to put into savings) and fun money for the lady and myself. Am I leaving myself with enough money? We have another option that would save us about another 150 bucks each but the place we're looking at now is really nice. I don't think I'm missing anything but feel free to critique me on something I'm missing. We have all the time in the world to do this so I'm not about to rush into this.

Skeith

What's your commute going to be like for work if you go to this location?

BradicusMaximus

We'll be like 5-10 mintues from work and its going to be fucking AWESOME. Both places I'd be within 5-10 mintues of work actually. I could even bike to work if I can get my hands on a decent bike. Currently it takes about 25 minutes to get to work and entirely too much gas. Win win!

admanb

Those numbers sound reasonable to me, but as Skeith suggested I would figure out approximately what you're going to be paying for gas from the new location.

NightDragon

It might not be much, but check to see how much your car insurance is going to be at each location. I moved across town a few months ago (into a new zipcode, not as nice of an area as I was in previously), and my rate went up a bit.

I also assume you can cover how-ever much is required to sign the lease? Fees, security deposit, 1st month's rent (and maybe last month's, too)?

BradicusMaximus

Yeah, I'll have plenty in savings to cover the pet deposit, security fees, app fees, fee fees, etc etc. I didn't think on the insurance thing. I'm not sure it'll change any in my case but its definitely worth looking up just to add to my list of money stuffs.

Dhalphir

If you're not commuting, your gas costs will be nearly nothing. When my wife's commute changed from 35-40 minutes (~30km) to 5 minutes (less than 5 kms), she went from filling up her car's 50L tank every week to filling up every three or four weeks. We don't even budget for fuel anymore, it just comes off our budget as a normal luxury expense.

BradicusMaximus

Its funny how the older I get the more excited I am about that kind of stuff. My younger self would be shaking his head in disgust right now.

Blake T

If you're that close (five minutes) I'd honestly just look at riding your bike. (Or buying one). I now only use my car for evening trips or for driving down to the train station when I need to get somewhere immediately after work.

Dhalphir

BradicusMaximus wrote: »

Its funny how the older I get the more excited I am about that kind of stuff. My younger self would be shaking his head in disgust right now.

That's all right.

Somewhere along the line, I started loving house hunting and browsing display homes. No idea when the fuck that happened.

Thanatos

If you don't have it already, look into renter's insurance, too.

It's cheap enough that it's frequently free if you get it through the same company that does your car insurance.

admanb

Thanatos wrote: »

If you don't have it already, look into renter's insurance, too.

It's cheap enough that it's frequently free if you get it through the same company that does your car insurance.

Echoing this. When I moved the cost of renter's insurance was less than the amount my car insurance went up for moving...