I can easily find things like rent, internet, insurance prices, but how do I find things like grocery prices? I honestly don’t even know what an average grocery list might look like, are there resources to help with this? my gf and I are looking into moving out, and assuming a monthly income of ~4400 USD and rent being 500 USD, I think we should be okay, but I need to be 100% that we won’t be barely scraping by or anything. thank you everyone
The other side of that coin is the cost of commuting to work, assuming you live where you work presently.
You’ll have to consider gas and/or public transportation if you’re commuting 2 hours daily for work or school. That doubles if your girlfriend will be commuting separately. Insurance may also increase if they consider your communiting distance, but definitely for annual mileage.
On top of commuting, have you considered your utilities such as gas, electricity, and internet?
That $500/month, is it for an apartment to yourselves or a room in a rooming house? If it’s a rooming house, there are other costs to consider like stolen food, cleaning and hygiene products. Lost time due to roommates not cleaning up after themselves. Other problems like the other people being psychotic.
If it’s for an apartment you’ll have to yourselves, just consider why it’s only $500/month over and above it being an hour away. Is there heavy crime in the area? Is there high joblessness in the area? Is it falling apart and/or moldy? Are there multiple apartments in the same town as low as that or is this a one-off, which makes it even more suspect.
Generally speaking, if possible you want to keep your housing expenses under 33% of your net income. So even $1k/mo you’re under that. 66% of your net income not going to housing expenses means you should be able to spend decently on food, wants, other needs, and savings.
Take time to consider all that and look for free financial literacy education. Being financially literate goes a hell of a long way to not putting yourself in the shit.