I put it at: (Monthly)
$175 Makeup + Hrt shit (likely less because minimal makeup + make the most out of it, but estimated up to be safe, hrt is same boat but less so, that one is more refined but I'm not counting insurance intentionally)
$1700 Studio Apartment (This is higher/middle end of studio for Denver (would likely go to a cheaper place in Colorado that would hire me, but estimating higher never hurt no one) potentially less with roommate)
$450 Food (No idea, some people say more some say less, this was in the middle)
$650 Utilities (again, rounding higher some would be more some would be less depending on the rented place)
$100 Clothing (I have no idea how much I would actually spend, probably less and once every couple months but building it in gives redundancy)
$750 Medical (Literally random insurance guess based on vague metrics about the state and not counting whatever the job offers)
(This is like 3.8k which I rounded to 4k)
I don't think this is doable and I want to know how I can lessen this cost while still keeping the necessary stuff as I outlined
Is this math about right of what I would have to pay to live in Colorado? And if so how feasible is it to land a job that can help with this post college. How can I make this work and what ways can make this less daunting.
byu/ZekeBarricades inFrugal
Posted by ZekeBarricades
6 Comments
You spend almost $200 a month on makeup and hair? I dont even spend that in a year. I think thats something you gotta cut. And as a family of 4 we spend about $300/mo on groceries. And why ate you buying $100 worth of clothes a month? $650 is also insane.
My utilities are like $250/month for heat/electric/water/sewer/internet/cellphone/streaming services. I live in CO.
Find a cheaper place or live with roommates. Also $650 is very high for utilities for a studio.
Edit: also, your insurance will probably be cheaper than that, either on the marketplace or through your employer.
I don’t live in Colorado but this budget is really high for someone supporting themselves fresh out of college. I just did a quick scan of the Denver CL and it looks like you can get a room for around $800, utilities won’t cost more than $100 in a shared place, if you’re careful and plan well you can eat fine on $200/mo, you can shop at thrift stores if you need clothes and not even touch $100. The makeup seems like a lot to me but combined with the hrt makes me think this is important to you personally, so I won’t comment there. Insurance will not be close to that either. There’s a lot to trim. Otoh, you don’t include any transportation expenses. I don’t know the public transit situation out there, but depending where you end up, you’ll probably need a car, which is a big expense and something to think about.
I live in Colorado and I moved here from Dallas Texas. One thing to consider is that, depending on where you are coming from, car insurance food and gas are all much more expensive here. All three were rude awakenings when we first moved here. We don’t even live in Denver, we live in what is considered to be a more affordable city.
Colorado is high cost of living. With no idea what your field is, its hard to say what your job prospects are. A lot of people want to move here and just “get some job.” But honestly, without a career type track, a lot of them don’t last long because its just too expensive and they have no way to catch up or get ahead in their financial life.