How do you determine expences?

[rpames]

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Hi everyone,
OK, as I have stated as many times as I could the last couple of days, I'm going to be attending ICO next year...YEA!!! How do I determine how to budget my income. My soon to be wife is going to be bring home the "bread and butter" for the time while I'm at ICO and I'm trying to budget our/her income. She will be a first year teacher, in the Chicago area that means she will be bring home about $29,500/year plus full insurance for both of us. I plan to put a few hours a week in the ICO lab, they pay $10.20/hr. For simplicity lets say we will be making $30,000/yr.

My question is, how much should I plan for rent, food, ext. I would like a 2 bedroom, one bedroom to sleep and the other for a study/guest room. My parents are very generous when it comes to my schooling, and along with Financial Aid, my education will be taken care of, so that is not a concern. Is there a nice website that can help me budget/plan, or do you all have advice.

Thanks for the help.

 

[r_salis]

In the PCO Financial Aid Handbook, there's an estimated budget for "living expenses" (see below). The categories seem pretty broad, but you can start breaking them down into more detail.

I've heard that a good way to figure out your actual day-to-day expenses (beyond known costs like car insurance, cell phone service, etc.) is to write down *everything* you pay for over a 2-week period -- coffee at Starbucks, the newspaper you buy twice a week, the cool thing you had to buy at Target, etc. Put it all into a spreadsheet in categories, and at the end of the two weeks project your annual costs. It's a great way to see where your money's going!

(And again -- congratulations on getting into ICO!!!!! )

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Living Expenses

(9 Mo.); (12 Mo.)

Room: $ 4,400; $ 5,900
Board: 4,500; 6,000
Transportation: 1,300; 1,700
Health Care: 1,600; 2,100
Personal Misc.: 800; 1,100

Total Living Expenses: $12,600; $16,800

NOTE: Fourth year students add an additional $1000 of travel expense to the 12 month budget.

 

[rpames]

Thanks r_salis,
ICO gave us a listing like that as well.

They estimate/12 months:
Housing & Food: ~$15,000
Local Transport: $2000
Health/Personal Exp: $1600
Loan Fees: $1050

Starting 4th year
Externship esp: $2668