Budgeting (real costs while living on your own)
By Off-Campus Living
We all want to move out on our own, once we got money for rent. We forget that we need things to survive while living in a rental place. When we have the necessity and the extra $$$, we can live on our own. This means we need to plan for what money we spend on a monthly basis, and what you can afford, this way you know if you are actually financially ready to live on your own. Examples of things you have to spend money on (on top of rent): Food, Laundry, Toiletries/house cleaning stuff, Clothes, Transportation
1. Food
It’s well known that this consumes a lot of money, this is definitely true. the cost of food can be reduced drastically if we plan well, just like in our previous post about eating out and cooking at home. If you take your time and weigh the options and know which you want. Most of the time, food cost for a month can roughly range from $100-$200. This is a wide range, but this is because people have different appetites and different habits (U-ACCESS also offers a food pantry for UMass Boston students!) Annual Estimated Cost: $1500 – $2400
2. Laundry
This is very underrated but funny enough, it’s part of our monthly expenses (no one feels comfortable wearing clothes over 5 times). This means laundry is something you have to do as often as necessary, this also depends on the amount of clothes you have. Laundry ranges from $5-$7 per load, depending on the laundry, and if this is done once a week for a month, we are roughly looking at $20-$24 a month, but if it’s done every other week, then that’s half the cost (better still if you can go to your friends’ or relatives who have a washing machine because then it’s free!)
Annual Estimated Cost: $250-$300
3. Toiletries/house cleaning stuff :
It’s all fun and games until your friends gives you the hint that you are smelling bad, or give you the dirty look when they come over to your house. Sanitation is something that is really essential in life. This is something that we tend to forget because living with family or people we tend to not really see it as our responsibility in some cases, but while living alone, this means this is your full responsibility and it must be taken care of judiciously.
Annual Estimated Cost: 300-600
Almost all of us love shopping and also we out grow some clothes and style also, but we forget its money that is used to do this. Most of the time we tend to overlook it, and just say “when I get a little money I will buy that” but the truth of the issue is that most of the time we will still go buy it with any little money we have, which affects other necessities that need to be taken care of. This means we should simply include it in our budget, and if we don’t see something we like that month, then that is just extra savings for us.
Annual estimated Cost : above $1000-5000
5. Transportation:
We all need to realize that living alone means we aren’t next to family, so the option of asking for a ride, gas money, or cab money isn’t there anymore. Right now we are responsible for our movement from one place to another. This means every Uber, Lyft, train pass, and other means of transportation is all on us.
Definitely living on our own is something that’s a really nice and bold step to take in life, but we just need to be aware of the responsibility that comes with it. Budgeting is one of the many responsibilities that comes with it, but like every responsibility, we need to carefully find ways to take care of them or they will come back at us. It’s something that we can’t run away from.
Other Helpful Items
- Click here for a budget template from the Off-Campus Housing website!
- Want some guidance for taking control of your finances? Sign up for an appointment with a Financial Peer Educator at UMass Boston!
- What our FPEs can advise you on:
HI I am doing a research project on your college and was just wondering how much is it to just live in a place off campus without all the extra stuff.
Hi, Thanks for your message. Rents have increased all over and especially in Boston the last 18 months. We recommend $1000/month for an individual for planning purposes. It can be a little less or alot more than that, depending on the apartment type, number of roommates, etc… Hope this helps.