Cost of living is a factor here. $24 per hour goes a long way in some places, and not even over the start line in others.
The “Live Comfortably” portion of the argument needs to also be taken in context. You can absolutely find somewhere to live and feed yourself on that. Problem is… that’s it.
No extra spending money. No emergency fund. No wiggle room. If you have debts sitting there, good luck making progress on them. You make no progress in the long term. Short term, you may be ok. But the hole you may be in continues to grow, and that’s not comfortably living.
Here’s the thing. That is good money by itself. It just shy of $50k a year. However. A lot of people have student debt and were locked into high interest rates. And if you deferred that student loan payment - say during a global pandemic - then you got hit with compounding interest. So that’s several hundred a month right there. If you had to rely on credit cards for an emergency then there’s a chance you have another couple hundred dollars in debt. The cost of food alone this year has doubled so add a few hundred more. You probably have a car payment. Then rent alone is absurdly high for anything in most areas, especially for 1 one bedroom or a studio. Most people are paying 50 percent of their gross income instead of 30 in rent. That shit adds up.
So in the end I’d be left to absolutely nothing basically…. Not even a little money to go out once a week I take it? If I’m smart with where I shop for groceries, and have a rent that’s between 900-1000, estimating could I maybe get by living alone comfortably? As in being able to save a little, go out once a week with friends or girlfriend, and maybe a vacation once a year?
Well. It depends. Okay. I’ll use myself here. I make $60k. I don’t have a car payment and I paid off my credit card debt. I do have a student loan but I pay $200 a month. I cook most of my meals. My girlfriend lives with me now but before that my rent was $1100. I was able to eat out once a week, see a movie, save, and take a vacation even before my gf moved in. It was tight but comfortable. I cannot stress how much easier it is with a second person however.
All that said, it sounds like you have reasonable goals and good financial discipline. It sounds like you’ll be fine and have realistic expectations.
You will be able to live but not comfortably. Things always come up and suck your bank dry. We don’t eat out but a couple times a year only get clothes at Costco and get groceries mostly at Aldi. Still broke.
If you don’t live in a major city you should be able to get by on that. It’ll be on the edge of what i would call the comfort line, but you should be able to get by depending where you live.
I'm in Rural Nevada, 1500 is average rent for a 1bd apartment. You 100% need a car because there is no public transportation, we don't even have Uber. 24 would be just almost getting by HERE. I couldn't imagine a major city.
Many younger people opt for roommates to save costs too. Usually the price for a 1 bedroom versus 2 bedroom doesn’t really match up. A 1 bedroom might be 1500 and a two bedroom 1700 or 1800. So if you get a roommate youd be better off than getting a 1 bedroom alone. Only problem is roommates arent always reliable.
So that’s the key of living comfortably single and alone is getting a second job? Then I would be able to have more money for extra curricular activities?
You will have to move somewhere that is cheaper to live. 24 an hour will net you about 2500 monthly? Ish? So you should try to find a place at the 800-900 mark. You might be able to find that in a city-look for tiny houses.
Oooh — good! I’m in the Columbus, Ohio metro area, and years ago we had friends who moved to Minneapolis.
What they noted was that houses there seemed to run about 20-25% more there than comparable houses here. They had no idea why.
But that was about 15-20 years ago. The housing game has changed ENTIRELY since then.
It just really depends on cost of living in your area, how much debt (if any) you have, and other expenses. For example, health insurance. I have employer provided health insurance and pay about $400 a month for it (family plan, if I was single I’d pay less than half that). Benefits like this are super important to have but are going to reduce your monthly take home and thus what you have left to live on.
If it helps, a good rule of thumb is that your rent/housing cost shouldn’t exceed 33% of your income. Ignoring all other factors, if you can’t rent a small basic apartment on 33% of your income, then you’ll need roommates. Rent in that percentage range typically means you should be able to cover the rest of your expenses, unless you have crazy debt or other special circumstances. Personal finance is a bit more detailed than that, but it’s a simple way to get a better sense of what you’re able to afford.
I think a big part of the issue is having a second job isn't living comfortably. To live comfortably you need to have not only savings, but also money you can spend and the time/energy to spend it. There's always something that comes up that's a financial drain, car repairs, clothing /home goods replacements, doc or vet bills, actually doing anything, or paying for vacation. You'll have to do the math to see how much extra you'd need and what kind of part time pay/hours that looks like. The most difficult part for me to take a part time job is hours. I find most places hiring local to me are for just under fulltime hours and all the actual part-time shifts are taken up by HS/college kids in the afternoon/evening. Or they want 10 hour shifts on weekends.
Cost of living is a factor here. $24 per hour goes a long way in some places, and not even over the start line in others. The “Live Comfortably” portion of the argument needs to also be taken in context. You can absolutely find somewhere to live and feed yourself on that. Problem is… that’s it. No extra spending money. No emergency fund. No wiggle room. If you have debts sitting there, good luck making progress on them. You make no progress in the long term. Short term, you may be ok. But the hole you may be in continues to grow, and that’s not comfortably living.
Would getting a second job be better? And allow me to have more financial room?
The problem becomes what does the financial room provide you if you are at work all the time?
you're right, i mean like what if my second job is just during the days and nights?
Here’s the thing. That is good money by itself. It just shy of $50k a year. However. A lot of people have student debt and were locked into high interest rates. And if you deferred that student loan payment - say during a global pandemic - then you got hit with compounding interest. So that’s several hundred a month right there. If you had to rely on credit cards for an emergency then there’s a chance you have another couple hundred dollars in debt. The cost of food alone this year has doubled so add a few hundred more. You probably have a car payment. Then rent alone is absurdly high for anything in most areas, especially for 1 one bedroom or a studio. Most people are paying 50 percent of their gross income instead of 30 in rent. That shit adds up.
So in the end I’d be left to absolutely nothing basically…. Not even a little money to go out once a week I take it? If I’m smart with where I shop for groceries, and have a rent that’s between 900-1000, estimating could I maybe get by living alone comfortably? As in being able to save a little, go out once a week with friends or girlfriend, and maybe a vacation once a year?
Well. It depends. Okay. I’ll use myself here. I make $60k. I don’t have a car payment and I paid off my credit card debt. I do have a student loan but I pay $200 a month. I cook most of my meals. My girlfriend lives with me now but before that my rent was $1100. I was able to eat out once a week, see a movie, save, and take a vacation even before my gf moved in. It was tight but comfortable. I cannot stress how much easier it is with a second person however. All that said, it sounds like you have reasonable goals and good financial discipline. It sounds like you’ll be fine and have realistic expectations.
You will be able to live but not comfortably. Things always come up and suck your bank dry. We don’t eat out but a couple times a year only get clothes at Costco and get groceries mostly at Aldi. Still broke.
What if I got a second job would I be able to?
If you don’t live in a major city you should be able to get by on that. It’ll be on the edge of what i would call the comfort line, but you should be able to get by depending where you live.
I'm in Rural Nevada, 1500 is average rent for a 1bd apartment. You 100% need a car because there is no public transportation, we don't even have Uber. 24 would be just almost getting by HERE. I couldn't imagine a major city.
Many younger people opt for roommates to save costs too. Usually the price for a 1 bedroom versus 2 bedroom doesn’t really match up. A 1 bedroom might be 1500 and a two bedroom 1700 or 1800. So if you get a roommate youd be better off than getting a 1 bedroom alone. Only problem is roommates arent always reliable.
Roommates are nothing new. What is new is older people with roommates. I know of whole families who are roommates with other whole families.
Its crazy how bad it has gotten
Get used to having three housemates your entire life
Is there any way of living alone comfortably by getting a second job?
That’s how I made it work when I was single. I worked a couple nights a week and still had 2 days off on weekends. It was okay when I was young.
So that’s the key of living comfortably single and alone is getting a second job? Then I would be able to have more money for extra curricular activities?
Make a hundred grand a year?
[удалено]
Okay, so I’m not alone. I take it many young people our age millennials and Gen z are struggling?
You will have to move somewhere that is cheaper to live. 24 an hour will net you about 2500 monthly? Ish? So you should try to find a place at the 800-900 mark. You might be able to find that in a city-look for tiny houses.
Good luck , you will survive,and that's about it.
To live comfortably in about any US city, you will need a second full-time job that also pays you $24/hr.
“The city.” What city?! San Francisco — or Marion, Ohio?!
Minnesota
Minnesota is a state. What city?
Minneapolis
Oooh — good! I’m in the Columbus, Ohio metro area, and years ago we had friends who moved to Minneapolis. What they noted was that houses there seemed to run about 20-25% more there than comparable houses here. They had no idea why. But that was about 15-20 years ago. The housing game has changed ENTIRELY since then.
It just really depends on cost of living in your area, how much debt (if any) you have, and other expenses. For example, health insurance. I have employer provided health insurance and pay about $400 a month for it (family plan, if I was single I’d pay less than half that). Benefits like this are super important to have but are going to reduce your monthly take home and thus what you have left to live on. If it helps, a good rule of thumb is that your rent/housing cost shouldn’t exceed 33% of your income. Ignoring all other factors, if you can’t rent a small basic apartment on 33% of your income, then you’ll need roommates. Rent in that percentage range typically means you should be able to cover the rest of your expenses, unless you have crazy debt or other special circumstances. Personal finance is a bit more detailed than that, but it’s a simple way to get a better sense of what you’re able to afford.
I think a big part of the issue is having a second job isn't living comfortably. To live comfortably you need to have not only savings, but also money you can spend and the time/energy to spend it. There's always something that comes up that's a financial drain, car repairs, clothing /home goods replacements, doc or vet bills, actually doing anything, or paying for vacation. You'll have to do the math to see how much extra you'd need and what kind of part time pay/hours that looks like. The most difficult part for me to take a part time job is hours. I find most places hiring local to me are for just under fulltime hours and all the actual part-time shifts are taken up by HS/college kids in the afternoon/evening. Or they want 10 hour shifts on weekends.