Hello fellow friends of Reddit. I really need your help. So my situation is that I recently was offered an entry-level engineering position at a respectable firm in Seattle, WA. I am really excited about this opportunity, but instead of being excited to be finally moving forward in my career, I'm really stressed out about my budgeting and future. I graduated with my Bachelor's in 2015, and since then have been working non-engineering jobs making much less than what I should have been making. As such, at this time I have no retirement fund started, I have about $5k in credit card debt, and about $15k in student loan debt still.
I'm currently in a city semi-far away from Seattle for $750/mo. I could save alot of money by staying here, but the total commute time from where I currently live would put me on the road 3 to 3.5 hours a day. Because of this, I am looking for an affordable apartment in Seattle.
So, like any responsible adult would do, I planned out my budget so I could make everything work... and I'm really discouraged. After taxes, I will bring in about $3,350/mo BEFORE 401k contribution. To get the max company match I need to take out 10%, which leaves me at around $3000/mo.
Here is a breakdown of what my budget is looking like:
Car Insurance: $100/mo
Cellphone: ~$100/mo ($60 plan, $40 monthly payments on phone)
Misc. Payments: ~$100/mo (Assoc. dues, etc.)
Gas: ~$50/mo (Looking to live relatively close to new job)
Food/Groceries/Toiletries: $600/mo
Personal Funds: ~$150/mo (Goes towards random things I want like games, etc. Rest goes into Savings)
Credit Card Payments: $250/mo (Minimum payment is $150/mo) (Owe $5k w/ 12.65% APR)
Student Loan Payments: $150/mo (Minimum payment expected is ~$100/mo) (Owe $15k)
Savings Account: ~$100/mo
Rent (w/ Utilities): MAX = ~$1400/mo
Total: $3000/mo
As many of you know, living in Seattle is incredibly expensive. There is an apartment I really like but it's $1400/mo before utilities, which puts me out of my budget. My living space is incredibly important to me. Am I being completely unreasonable by wanting to spend basically 50% of my income on rent at my age given my situation of being in debt and having no retirement fund? Is it possible for me to live in the moment but also plan for the future? Any and all advice is so much appreciated.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this.
Submitted September 20, 2018 at 05:04AM by KKynetiq https://ift.tt/2QIpEZI
