VeeshanVault

Without getting into grimy detail, I need to move out. My buddy and I found this 2 bedroom 1 bath house in downtown Royal Oak for 875 a month (!!). Right now I have about 1500 in the bank. soon I'll have student loans to pay off, food to buy, insurance and rent to pay, etc.... basically it's my first leap into teh real world. i have a full time job that i like, and i am good at saving money when i need to. I am capable of being financially desperate. i've lived on such bare minimums in the past that i know i can go back to that very easily, especially if i'm making money on top.

question for y'all with experience in taking the leap... how much should i save up first? how do i spend less? how do i keep landlord / city off my ass? how do i save save SAVE? i really need to unlock my inner jew on this one or i'll end up in a cardboard box with a very small laptop that doesn't even get good internet. thrift is the name of the game here. even budgeting advice would be very helpful. i vaguely budget but i dont' keep track of expenses like i should. a nudge in any direction would be extremely useful.

thank you ahead of time, fellow browsers of the greatest nook the internet has to offer.

Food. Figure out details with your friend as to who will eat what, and who will buy it, and where it gets stored. Food is the easiest place to save money when you're dirt poor. My meals, on average, cost about 1.70 to 3.00 dollars a pop, depending on what I make around the house. You can easily drop six bucks on a fast food piece of shit, or cook for yourself and save half that cost. Just make sure your roommate doesn't start eating all your shit.
Budgeting will help in the beginning. Cancel your membership cards to places like Best Buy and stuff. It helps cut down on the lure if you know you don't have one.

I saved money on food and entertainment. I played lots and lots of Everquest. I spent around 50$ every 2 weeks on food.

Living hand to mouth sucks. Luckily, when you're young you never kniw howuch it truely sucks. You get those realizations in hindsight!

When I moved into my new place, I think I had less than 100$ leftover after buying food, setting up cable and Internet. I did alright

Should always have enough for your first and last months rent including utilities. Make sure you detail out who is responsible for utilities too. Will the phone be in your name or his, the cable, the electric, any other odd bill along those lines. If you have a cell phone I'd suggest forgoing the landline altogether.

Bubba Grizz wrote:Will the phone be in your name or his

Bubba showing his age! No one has a land line anymore, silly!

I do. And DSL. No lame cell phone here!

VOIP here, no cell. Hated being "on-call" 24x7

I always heard you save 10% or every pay check. If you have $1,500 in the bank, I wouldn't worry. That should be plenty of seed cash to get you started in the real world. I went years without having more than $1,000 in my bank while living on my own. Then one day when I did break the four-digit barrier, I ran around telling everyone I know that I was a thousandare. Pretty hilarious when I look back on it now.

My checking balance never broke 200$ for about 2 years

If you've lived on the bare minimum in the past, you should know what you're able to get for what amount of money. So take that amount, and add all your new bills-- your rent, your student loans, anything that you're paying yourself for the first time. Break it down to a monthly amount. Compare that to how much you earn per month. If you don't make enough to cover the cost, scrap everything and come up with a new plan. If you do make enough, then figure out what you want to do with the excess.

Top.










Ramen.









That is all.

lol fuck ramen. this isn't college and the sodium hurts us. i figure cooking some damn good cuisine daily will be the first good habit to pick up.

easy part:

If you've lived on the bare minimum in the past, you should know what you're able to get for what amount of money. So take that amount, and add all your new bills-- your rent, your student loans, anything that you're paying yourself for the first time. Break it down to a monthly amount. Compare that to how much you earn per month. If you don't make enough to cover the cost, scrap everything and come up with a new plan.

hard part:

If you do make enough, then figure out what you want to do with the excess.

i'm going to start out with no cable, hopefully free internet (please lord give me neighbors with wireless amen), certainly no home phone and a shit ton of canned tuna. i'll use honey mustard every other day, IF I DESERVE IT.

Thinking a bit more on it, don't move out. Stay with your parents until you are 40!

You better not be hitting the bars in downtown Royal Oak, young man! RO is pretty much the center of young professionals in the area, is a bit trendier than surrounding areas, and as a result can be a bit more expensive. Hit the holes-in-the-wall outside of downtown or surrounding cities if you need to get crunk (as you kids these days are always saying).

And if you really want to save money, move to the D where you could buy a mansion for that kind of money.

Food is one of our biggest expenses. We used to eat out all the time. For two of us, we were easily spending $20 on lunch and at least $40-50 for dinner. For health reasons, we started cooking at home every day, and now I spend $50-100 on groceries for the entire week.

It helps me to plan out a menu for the entire week, so I can make the best of leftovers, because I usually won't eat them as is. For example, I'll roast a chicken (~$10 meal, including stuffing and rolls and stuff for the brine) one night, and the next night, I'll use the leftover chicken for something else. It also helps to plan the menu because I can go to the grocery store once a week to get everything, and I don't end up buying a bunch of junk food that we may never eat. Also, if I have the food on hand, it's much harder for me to justify going out to a restaurant if I'm feeling lazy.

There are lots of great ways to save on The Consumerist. Check out their Personal Finance Roundups in particular.

Learn how to cook with dry beans and lentils. They are cheap, healthy, and super tasty if prepared properly. Invest in a crock pot, because there ain't nothing better than prepping the night before, throwing a bunch of shit in the pot on low, and getting home from work to find hot soup/stew/porridge waiting for you.

So much good advice in this thread!

Sylvus wrote:You better not be hitting the bars in downtown Royal Oak, young man! RO is pretty much the center of young professionals in the area, is a bit trendier than surrounding areas, and as a result can be a bit more expensive. Hit the holes-in-the-wall outside of downtown or surrounding cities if you need to get crunk (as you kids these days are always saying).

And if you really want to save money, move to the D where you could buy a mansion for that kind of money.

I'm a master of spending very little at expensive bars. Those are for the wimmenz. The holes in the wall are for becoming a billiards regular. We looked at some places in Hamtramck when perusing the offerings of the D. The bar scene there would be amazing but the whole caucasian thing we have going for us might limit our lifespans. I was accidentally driving around 7 mile a week or two ago and the cop behind me was beeping his horn at red lights so that I wouldn't stop at them.

Since I made this thread, we spotted a place of craigslist in downtown RO for $750. I almost feel like I should wait a little longer since there seems to be a mass RO exodus in the works. Wheeee I love this market!

I'd think you need about 2k (first + last + deposit), plus 1500 contingency, plus 2-300 for your own household stuff if you dont already have it (dishes, pots etc), and another 1k if you have a car.

Check out any local produce markets. Sometimes you can get produce really cheap if its in season & locally grown. Its just a matter of knowing how much produce typically costs at a grocery store so you can price compare. Buy in bulk the things you regularly eat, like rice & pasta. Knowing HOW to cook will definitely save you some money as you will better utilize your resources. Learn a few basic sauces and how to make soup stock from leftover bones and veggie scraps. It's economical and you'll wow the ladies in the process. I don't know a single woman who wouldn't be impressed by a man who makes his own stock. Making your own bread is pretty awesome too.

If you have cable strictly for movies/TV shows, consider ditching it. We were spending $75/month for cable with no premium channels, but dropped it and use Netflix instead.

Create a budget and adhere to it. Make a spreadsheet of monthly expenses. Look up Dave Ramsey and follow his debt snowball plan to pay off any debt. He probably has a ton of other advice on his site for people who don't have debt but want to be financially responsible. You don't need to buy his book or anything. His site alone is a great resource.

Kudos to you for thinking about these kinds of things. Most people don't and end up getting themselves into debt or other financial pickles.

If student loans are going to be a thorn for now, you can call your student loan holder and request to defer payment for a period of time. Usually its 3 to 6 months. Doesn't hurt credit score, they just don't ask you to start paying for another period of time. Yes, interest will accrue during that time.

Kluden wrote:If student loans are going to be a thorn for now, you can call your student loan holder and request to defer payment for a period of time. Usually its 3 to 6 months. Doesn't hurt credit score, they just don't ask you to start paying for another period of time. Yes, interest will accrue during that time.

I heard speak that there are obamadollars available in the form of very deferred student loan payments. Such as... one year or more of no payment if you're not making a lot of money. I've never applied for any government programs and I wouldn't even know where to begin with that process.

I don't know a single woman who wouldn't be impressed by a man who makes his own stock. Making your own bread is pretty awesome too.

Consider it added to the list of new habits to start. I figure the pickup line "i live down the street" will work for most bar ladies but I like this approach for the girlfriend (non std) types.