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So all summer I have had two jobs (min wage - 10.25) and I have worked every day.. I have tried to not buy many things and thought I did pretty good. But checking today I see that all summer I have saved just $2400 dollars. Is that a lot of money?
How much money would I need to move out?
Answer
You're on the right track, but you just need some savvy advice on savings, enter me! Well, if you've worked two jobs all summer, and you're only making $10.25, $2,400 is pretty good. It really just depends on how many hours you work and what your expenses are.
Now, if you are interested in saving for a particular goal, you need to set goals. For example, don't just say that you want to save to move out, say, "I want to save (X) amount of money by (xx/xx/xxxx) date". Be SPECIFIC. Set an exact goal, and then decide on how you're going to get there. For example, don't just say, "I'll save money each month", say "I am going to save (X) amount of money each month.
Now, getting specific with you... If you wish to save to move out here are some things to consider:
1. What kind of apartment do you want (big or small? Nice, safe area or rough cheap area? Metro area or rural?)
2. Will you have enough money in wages per month to pay bills each month making $10.25 per hour?
3. How much will you be able to and need to save for emergencies and miscenllaneous expenses that might come up (your tire going flat, a trip to the hospital for the flu, your tv breaks, etc.)
4. What are your long term financial goals? (College degree? Kids? House? New car?)
Now relate it all to you. Here's an example:
If I wanted to go from living with my parents to living on my own I would feel comfortable having $5,000, but I would prefer $10,000. $10,000 is probably excessive, but I like to know that I have a lot to fall back on in emergency situations.
Now, here is how I got that number:
1. The average apartment here (Gainesville, FL) would be about $1,000 per month for a nice 2-bedroom in a nicer area.
A. The security deposit, cleaning deposit and first months rent (usually the cost of 3 months of rent) would be about $3,000.
2. To furnish the apartment (if I got all new furniture, but not enough to fill the whole space, but just the essentials) it would be about $500 per room. Now, this would be if I was shopping cheap and for deals. It could easily be more!
A. A new bed would be about $300-$500; a dresser would be about $100-$200; etc...
3. I like to have extra money for "just in case" type of situations. If your radiator on your car breaks that's easily a $1,200 repair. If you have to go to the hospital it could be $200. Obviously you cannot account for everything, but you can have a back up fund.
4. What are your long term financial goals? Do you need to start saving up now to achieve those goals? Those are questions to consider!
As you can see it's not cheap. If you have the time and patience, if you're willing to wait, I would suggest saving up for what your cost of living would be for 6 months. For example, if all of your bills for a month are $2,000, save up $12,000. Also figure out where you want to live, the kind of furniture you want, etc so that you know how much you're going to spend (remember to budget upward, in excess. If you think it will be around $2,359 for an apartment, just round to $2,500.
I hope that helps. Just do some research!
A word on how to save...
A lot of people don't realize that rich people get rich because they get their money working for them. What does that mean? INTEREST RATES!
Take a CD (Certificate of Deposit): usually you have to have a minimum deposit of around $1,500 for it to bed effective. Let's take the $2,400 you have now. Say you take $2,000 and deposit it into a CD. Here is what happens:
-There will be an interest rate, something like 1.25% APY. This means that each year you will receive 1.25% of your CD: [$2,000(1.25)=$2,025. Try and find a high interest rate and deposit as much as possible. If you have, say, 3 years to save, deposit however much you want into the CD and leave it there, all but forget about it! After three years you will find that your deposit could grow by about 3% or more. **Usually the more years you are willing to wait the higher your interest rate!**
If you have any more questions, please feel free to e-mail me!
Why is my electricity bill so high?
miss_neci
I just moved into a small 1 br apartment in Gainesville, FL to attend the University of Florida as a grad student. I had previously stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment (including washing machine and dryer) and used <500 KWH per month. Just received my 1st full month's bill from GRU and it's 871 KWH for 33 days. That's $126! I'm extremely conservative (central air is usually set at ~75/80 degrees, lights are kept off when not in use) and I don't even have a washer/dryer here as I did in my previous apartment.
Could something be wrong with my meter?
It is a 2 level apt/townhouse, so I guess that may be 1 contributing factor as one responder indicated....
I actually turned my central air off at the breaker as of today. I'm pretty sure that is a major culprit. Guess that will eliminate any problems with poor insulation, etc. right??? This adjustment shouldn't phase me since I'm in Florida. I simply can't afford it: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmBeAKQbY14vHdbNTdTE88_sy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20080926174623AA3GmN9
Answer
I answer this question in detail in my article, "Why is my electric bill so high?" at http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/whyhigh.html but I'll give you a short summary here.
(1) It's likely mostly from your air conditioning.
(2) You are not "extremely conservative" if you run air conditioning at all, much less at 75 degrees! You might say that most people do so, but that would make that action "typical", not "extremely conservative".
(3) Turn off all your breakers and look at your electric meter. Did it stop spinning? If so, your meter's not broken. Don't waste your electric company's time by complaining to them. It's not their fault or problem.
(4) The answer about needing to unplug things you're not using is flat-out wrong. The small amount of vampire power is not the biggest part of your bill.
(5) Paul's suggestion that you match the reading on your electric meter with what's printed on your bill is spot-on. Make sure they didn't charge you for more than the meter says.
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