My take home pay is $4000 after taxes and 401k contribution. I'm wondering how much it would be wise to spend on housing. Most 1 bedroom apartments in my area are in the range of $1580-1675 after all monthly fees. I have no debts and own a reliable vehicle.
Would one of these be in budget? I could stay at my current place for about $1470/mo but I'm worried the savings might not be worth the toll on my mental health. I was going to just renew but today I was woken up by a loud crashing sound from my neighbors and couldn't fall back asleep. This happens pretty often unfortunately😞. I toughed it out for a year to try to save some money but now it's time to renew.
Can I afford an apartment on my budget?
byu/Best-Woodpecker-9496 inpersonalfinance
Posted by Best-Woodpecker-9496
6 Comments
Housing should be no more than 1/3 of your income.
I don’t think $1470 to say $1600 is THAT drastic of a leap if it tangibly improves your quality of life. But I wouldn’t go higher than that. Also consider moving costs, it usually ends up taking a couple thousand between hiring movers and inevitably buying new stuff for the new place.
The 1/3 of income recommendation will come up. However it depends on your other expenses and aavings rate etc.
If you can afford it and all of your other expenses, the additional spend can be classed as a part of your “want” if that’s how you budget.
If you’re still meeting your other expenses, saving some, and not going into debt then life quality wise it’s a no brainer
do you have an emergency fund in place?
Just make a hysa and put that amount in there plus utilize every 1st of the month. See how it works out in real life.
I know you mean to improve your mental health but not being able to afford things or rent is pretty stressful too.
Noisy neighbors can happen in another apartment
If you already sleep with foam earplugs and they don’t cut it, consider spending $150 or so on really really good custom fit sleep earplugs (the kind where you go to an audiologist to get an ear mold taken). They should last 5+ years.
Well, you’re asking in the personal finance thread where most people will tell you that Housing shouldn’t be any more than 1/3 of your income.
Most people here will provide a conservative answer and say you should always spend less what you make, pay off all your credit card bills, never get into bad debt etc.
However, I’ll give you another perspective.
Lived in an area that was reasonable for my income and ended up living next to someone who was a horrible person.
So much so, this person pulled a firearm on another neighbor and lead to a very bad situation where someone went to jail.
Then the following year, someone got shot in that same area and the overall safety went down.
I ended up moving to another area that costs more and exceeded my 1/3 rent rule slightly because paying slightly extra was worth the peace of mind.