Rent/Mortgage (we’ll focus on rent as most people starting out don’t buy a house right away. The rent fluctuates a lot depending on where, how large the unit you’re renting, what services the place you’re renting from covers, etc.): Average rent in area : $1800 per month Rental Insurance (required by many rental agencies): $40 per month Power (in most places the cost of power varies from month to month, but most power companies will allow you to put it on a monthly plan based on average usage, this is also sometimes split into electricity and gas): $ 80 per month Water : $50 per month Sewer/Wastewater : $35 per month Garbage (whether you opt for curbside pickup or running your garbage to the dump, some rentals include this in your rent cost) : $60 per month Car insurance : $100 per month (if you use public transportation you can reduce this to about $50 per month) Internet services : $25 per month (optional, if you want to add cable or other streaming services to this the cost can range from $20 per month to $300 per month extra) Cell Phone Plan : $50 per month Food : ranges from $100 per month and up depending on how you eat, pick an amount that you feel is reasonable for you at $100 per month or more
There are other possible costs depending on what you want, but let’s stick with those basics to begin our budget with.
Start by finding a monthly total for your bills then write a linear equation to find your total cost (y) based on number of months (x).
Graph your monthly budget and find the cost for one year of living at those rates.