Delete comment from: Captain Capitalism
Capt.
While I recognize that this is a back of the napkin estimate, I do not like the process. Seems a lot of the numbers are, for lack of a better term, pulled out of your...errr... let's say the air instead.
There are WAY too many questions that need to be asked before you can come up with a number like that.
Location, lifestyle, tolerance for discomfort/other humans, etc...
For example, there are plenty of places where you can get a place to live for less then $500 a month. Notice I did not say a nice place to live, just a place. What is your tolerance for rifraff?
Auto insurance, same thing. A lot of that cost is not your driving ability, but the statistical probability of accidents from the general area. Sure safe driver discounts, etc... still, move from MN to Memphis and watch what happens to your liability insurance rates.
What I would do, before I decided to sketch out any "back of the napkin" numbers is keep track of where my money goes for several months. Three to five at a minimum. Categorize the spending into those categories. Find out what it really cost per month for you to remain in the lifestyle you currently live.
Then, decide what you can cut back, and how realistic those cuts are. If you currently spend $200 on food, odds are you will not be able to cut that back to $100, look elsewhere for cuts.
There are plenty of places in the US where you could live reasonably well for a net of $16,200 a year, but you would be giving up a lot. And one of the things you would most likely be giving up is the ability to save a portion of your take home pay. Sure limiting your insurance to strict liability/catastrophic insurance is a great way to save money, but it does you no good if you do not have sufficient savings to cover the deductible.
Just a thought.
May 27, 2010, 6:29:56 PM
Posted to The Bachelor Budget