Hi
Great blog.
Can you tel me if this math will stay the same in other cities? like London? Tokyo?
is good for homes? like Prague? Moscow? or for Israel Real estate??

These formulas apply to apartments in large cities in the United States.

Here's another quick monthly budgeting rule of thumb for those living in small cities with cheaper rents:
1 week's take-home pay for rent
1 week's for fixed expenses (commuting, electric, phone)and food
1 week's for discretionary expenses (clothing, entertainment, travel)
1 week's for savings

I rented my first apartment when I was 18, literally the first one of my buddies who had their own place. The learning experience was tremendous, just trying to survive actually, and I came up with some novel ways to do things. One of the most difficult things for me to do was handling my paycheck week to week and at the end of the month I always seemed to come up short.

The solution came one Saturday as I was watching this local TV show called Bozo the Clown. Bozo took some nesting blocks, and as I sat there eating my Frosted Flakes, he told the kids to put pennies in the smallest block, nickels in the next size, dimes in the next one, and quarters in the biggest box. They would be all separated and you would always know where your money was.

That was an epiphany. I ran to the desk and took out some regular business envelopes, then I labeled them with all my bill names. Phone, Electric, Gas, Rent, Emergency. Then I calculated how much of each paycheck I would need to put in these envelopes to make a payment every month ON TIME.

I began feeding these envelopes at every payday, placing the money needed inside, then putting the envelops inside a locked box, for total safety. At the end of the month, I would write out the checks for my bills, deposit the money in my checking account, balance it out, and I was done!

Oh, and, by the way. At the end of every month, I would use any unused emergency fund money to treat myself to a night out with my girl, or to buy a new video game.

Hi
I'm 18 and seriously considering moving out on my own but before I make the move, since I've been told if I leave I can't come back, I'd really like to get some advice someone who has been in a similar situation so please if you've been in the type of situation and are willing to offer some advice, email me at princess_scooby_ashley@yahoo.com

Hi Princess Scooby,
I'm assuming that you're working and making enough money so that realistically you could live on your own. Put that to a test while still living at home. Use the system of envelopes suggested by the Anonymous above and pretend you have all the expenses you would have if you lived in your own apartment. If after two to three months it looks like you will be able to cover all the costs and still have a few dollars left over for fun, you are ready to start looking for a place. The money saved in those envelopes will cover your security deposit, first month's rent and moving costs. Good luck!

Hi, I'm getting my first Apartment ever and been saving for acopple months now I live in Canada Ontario and I'm kinda nervious I was wondering if someone could help me out with the average cost of living. Rent here is about 500 to 700 Hundred a month everything incl, but how much do you normaly on a average cost of
-Food
-entertaniment
-Phone
-clothing
-emergency
How Much would this normaly come up to a month is someone HELP me on this or give some advise that would be GREAT. thanks so much you can email me too at
x.o.x-Crystal-x.o.x@hotmail.com

thanks again

im planning on making a move from northern FL to southern ME
im 18 and i plan to move out about this time next year

how much money should i have saved up? before i move
including costs such as truck rentals etc. also what is the best (finacially) way to move?
the apartment im looking at has a rate of 640 a month