How to Navigate a Housing Budget

January 6, 2019 | By Nat AuthorMy First Apartment

The general suggestion for rent is 30% of monthly income, but many people end up paying far more. In fact, 1 in 5 millennial parents report spending 50-59% of income on housing, according to a 2016 report from the National Endowment for Financial Education. Crazy, right? Due to rising rental rates and fewer available units,…

4 Ways to Save Money On Now

April 10, 2018 | By Sarah AuthorMy First Apartment

Many of us start the year with resolutions around saving money, but by now the good intentions are gone and we have slid back into our old wasteful habits. It’s not too late to course-correct and, fortunately, it won’t be as hard as it may sound! There are plenty of easy swaps you can make…

3 Top First Apartment Money Traps and How to Avoid Them

March 4, 2018 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

This post is aimed at all you new grads starting to plan for your first apartment. Watch out for these three money traps that can foil your plans for getting your dream apartment or bust your budget once you get one. Trap #1. Your Car Your car? What does your car have to do with…

Budgeting Boot Camp: Printable Apartment Budgeting Worksheet

August 8, 2017 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

Our Budgeting Boot Camp continues. We are getting a high volume of comments from our readers to our budgeting-related posts Rent Calculator, How Much Rent Can I Afford on My Hourly Pay, How Much Money Do You Need to Save to Move Out, and others, asking for help with estimating first apartment living expenses. In…

This is How Much You’ll Save in Rent by Living With Roommates in Top 25 Markets

April 27, 2017 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

Our first apartment budgeting boot camp continues with a roommates edition. Today we show you how much you’ll save living with roommates vs. getting your own place. What do you save getting a 2BR with one roommate vs. a 3BR with two roommates? Luckily for us, the real estate site Trulia.com has collected information about…

First Apartment Budgeting Boot Camp: Couples

April 21, 2017 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

As promised last week, this is the couples week at the first apartment budgeting boot camp. We’ll try to figure out answers to Rachel’s, Celeste’s and Jimmy’s questions. Rachael Rachael asks: “Do you think $810 would be too much rent for my boyfriend and I together?” See Rachael’s question as a comment to https://www.myfirstapartment.com/2012/08/how-much-should-you-plan-for-utilities/this post.…

First Apartment Budgeting Boot Camp – Formulas and Guidelines

April 7, 2017 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

Moving into your first apartment is a big learning experience in so many ways: How to deal with landlords? How to keep your place clean? How to manage to cook and eat a healthy diet? However, for most first time renters the biggest learning hurdle is how to manage all the new expenses. For the…

How to Create a Basic Budget

July 28, 2016 | By Kalee AuthorMy First Apartment

Creating a budget is one of the most important steps in keeping your finances in order. When you move into your first apartment, you’ll have to pay for necessities, such as rent, utilities, and groceries, while also being able to afford many other monthly bills, including commuting or car payments, student loan payments, phone, cable…

How Much Rent Can I Afford on My Hourly Pay?

July 26, 2016 | By MFA Editors AuthorMy First Apartment

2017 Update: You can download our new Printable Apartment Budgeting Worksheet and use it to estimate your rent and budget for all your expenses. The basic target rent formula that landlord’s use is annual before-tax income divided by 40. When you are on a straight salary estimating the number is easy. However, if your are…

Saving for First Apartment: How Much Money Do You Need to Move Out?

May 4, 2016 | By Alex AuthorMy First Apartment

This post was originally published in September 2013 and has been updated here for 2016. Check out the comments to the original post for some detailed examples on how to calculate your savings target. For many of our readers, moving into their own apartment is the ultimate goal. You want a place of your own,…