My mom raised me on 5,000/yr as a single mom for 18 years. I grew up abused and in severe poverty. I have never felt comfortable in any home. My boyfriend and I have the opportunity to move out together (we have been living with his grandparents for 2 years) into the nicest apartment in our town.
We make 3,400 combined and rent alone is 1174. I plan on getting a better job that should raise my income to about 1800 - 2200 (it is a serving job as a waitress in the nicest restaurant in town. I expect there to be a big discrepancy, but some people make 800 a week working 40 hours. The average in the slow periods is 50$ for a 5 hour shift.) I'm worried I'm making the wrong decision because this is the most expensive apartment in my town, yet, I've been homeless due to my situation before (domestic abuse/violence as a child), so I feel like I have worked very hard to achieve what I really want. It's a one bedroom but it's 856 square feet. The median rent in my area is 750$ for a 1 bedroom. I keep overthinking that I need to just rent a 2 bedroom house, but none of them allow pets and I would need to either buy my own washer/dryer or go without central AC (only have window units). A 2 bedroom would run us about 200$~ cheaper than the 1 bedroom we are looking at. Yet, I'm worried about landlord issues/things not getting fixed on time/higher utilities in living at a house.
I've literally spend hours that have turned into whole days obsessing over this because I want to be frugal yet feel comfortable in my home. The apartment that we looked at is literally perfect, but it is so expensive. The houses I saw would require us to buy a few applicances, and I also think that there may be a water bill minimum for usage as it's a house. My apartment is right next to my job, though, and it would save me 1k a year to live here rather than the house I was looking over.
I have a 746 credit score after 2 years and I have my own car that is completely paid off. Even though we are both good at saving, I am just scared because of how starving I was when I was younger (I am 20 now and so much more equipped to deal with weird situations). I will have 400 leftover after all my bills with my current job. I want to save at least 250. I'm working towards my bachelors with my Pell Grant, so I'm trying to work jobs that are below the lowest threshold to receieve the maximum amount of help. Thank you.
Submitted November 27, 2018 at 03:17AM by nihilistictablelamp https://ift.tt/2TNEBv5
