That sounds about right. I'm young and single and my budget excluding student loans (because I paid them off already) is $3,500/mo but that does include a mortgage and a $625 car payment. So yeah, that $2,500 going to your loans is going to hamper your lifestyle and finances quite a bit.
Still, I can offer some small tips if you want to save money, because I do believe that every little bit adds up:
- If you're taking home $2,800 every 2 weeks, that's actually $6,066/mo, not $5,600. ($466 extra/mo)
- Get your tax withholdings spot on so you do not get a tax refund at the end of the year. Changing federal withholding from 0 to 2 allowances gives you about $175 extra/mo
- Remember that mortgage interest and property taxes are tax deductible. My mortgage (15 yr), property tax and insurance is $1,970/mo. The deduction saves me about $175/mo in taxes
- Yay for the 2% payroll tax cut! $183/mo
- Make a list of your expenses and scrutinize every line item.
--- Shop around for insurance at every renewal. I just cut my car insurance by $46/mo.
--- TV and internet, you can call your provider and threaten to switch to another company, or actually switch to get their special introductory rates saving you around $60/mo
--- Rationalize landline and cell phone plans maybe reducing by $30/mo
--- Reduce A/C and heating could save you $30-100/mo
- Get a rewards/cash back credit card, use it for everything and pay it off in full every month. They average a bit over 1% return so if you put $1,000/mo on it, you'll get about $10/mo back.
That's just a start and adds up to $1,245/mo already (though most of it is just creative accounting). Still, you get the idea and perhaps other people can chime in with more suggestions/corrections.
It has foreclosed and the bank has it listed for 15K and it wont sell. Could you imagine?
. Btw, I am living in the Bay Area, and $1300 for 1 bed room is pretty fancy
