Okay, so this is the time where you reach the point that you are now ready to move out. Even though you will miss the comfort of your parent’s place, as well as your loving parents, the thought of having freedom, independence, and privacy outweighs that thought.
However, when you think about moving out, you may eventually start to wonder, “how much money to save before moving out?” since you need to cover the rental fee of your new apartment and other financial obligations that may come along the way.
That is why before you move out you need to assess first if you can shoulder all the financial consequences and consider if your savings is already enough to live on your own. Hence, listed below are some things to consider when planning to move out for the first time.
How Much you Need to Save Before Moving Out Depends on Your Expenses
You can see below is an example of the breakdown of monthly expenses you will need to cover once you move out of your parent’s house. Match this to your current savings if you have already saved enough.
We recommend you have at least 1 month of savings to cover the time it will take to find a job and settle in.
- Monthly rental fee: $1000 to $2000
- Security deposit for rent: $1000
- Utilities: $200 to $300
- Moving expenses: $300 to $500
- Furniture: $500
- Meal: $200 to $300
- Others: $300 to $500
Therefore, you must have a savings of around $3,500 to $5,100, or more depending on your needs. On the other hand, to make you save more and cut back on unnecessary expenses, here are some money-saving tips, you can apply when you move out.
There’s a lot to consider when moving out from your parent’s place, so make sure you have read the following things before packing your luggage.
Let’s have a look at each expense:
For your concern about, “how much money should you have saved up before you move out, here are things to consider:
Rent
Utilities
Meals
Transportation
Medical
Rent
If you moved out for the first time, the rental fee will consume most of your living expenses. Your savings must be able to cover at least two months of the rental cost. However, you must bear in mind that landlords are capable of increasing the rent. Therefore, try to sign-in a contract that lasts for at least 1 to 2 years so that you are protected against rental fee increase.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if the rent consumes more than 30% of your savings or your income, you should reconsider finding a cheaper place.
Monthly rental fee costs $1000 up to $2000
Utilities
Since you are living on your own now, you need to pay for electricity, water, gas, wifi, and cable bills separately. For cable and wifi, they usually have fixed rates; however, with water and electricity, you need to pay what you consume. Therefore, when moving out in a new city, consider also which state has the lowest charges for electricity bills.
Monthly rental fee costs $200 up to $300
Meals
You must also consider your meal expenses since you will be living on your own and no one will prepare meals for you. However, you can trim down your meal expenses, if you will be the one, who will cook and prepare your own food, instead of dining out.
Monthly rental fee can cost $200 up to $300
Transportation
If you own a car, parking fees must also be considered, if street parking is not allowed. You need also to consider the fuel cost and the insurance cost.
On the other hand, if you utilize public transit, calculate your daily transportation cost from your place to your workplace, and then vice-versa. Lastly, try to consider saving a few from your budget for plane tickets (just in case you want to fly back home to visit your parents for the weekend.
Medical
If you have your own health insurance plan, that’s good. Make sure to allocate some funds from your budget to pay the monthly premium. Moreover, you need to consider as well some budget for medications and other emergencies.
As you can see, there are a lot of things that need to be covered when you move out, so, instead of getting overwhelmed, use this opportunity to assess your savings, if it can cover all these monthly expenses. Having this in mind will help you prepare for all the independent living entails.
As you can see, there are a lot of things that need to be covered when you move out, so, instead of getting overwhelmed, use this opportunity to assess your savings, if it can cover all these monthly expenses. Having this in mind will help you prepare for all the independent living entails.
Other Financial Considerations When you Move Out
1. Do you Need to Get your Credit Score in Order?
Landlords usually require a good credit score to see if you have good paying habits. In fact, it would be difficult to move out and find a place to live in, if you have a poor credit score.
Fortunately, there is an easy and free way to check your credit score. Just sign up here and you are good to go.
2. Where can you Get Furniture for Cheap?
When you are moving out, remember that you are also responsible for how to get pieces of furniture for your new place. However, it does not mean that you need to allocate funds from your savings to buy a brand new couch, dining set, dresser, and other things.
Hence, you can just seek help from your friends and other relatives for the furniture they no longer need. As the saying goes, “A man’s trash is another man’s treasure, especially if this trash is in the form of an old desk that they no longer need. This will surely help and save you more, instead of buying one.
3. Which State has the Lowest Cost for Rental Fee?
Since the rent consumes most of your budget; therefore, when you move out, you need to consider as well the state where you will be moving into.
According to RentJungle, the average monthly rent for an apartment in San Francisco is around $3,900. Therefore, if you will follow the old rule for not spending over 30% of your income in paying rent, you need to earn at least around $160,000 a year to survive the average San Francisco rent.
On the other hand, if you reside in expensive coastal cities such as Boston, New York, or in Seattle, low-cost apartment buildings for rent are nowhere in sight. Therefore, if you are looking for cheaper apartment buildings to rent in, they must be far from the coast (meaning: located midwest, mountain west, or in the south) since the lands in these areas are cheaper.
Hence, here is a table showing the list of cities with affordable average apartment rent:
| CITY/STATE | AVERAGE MONTHLY APARTMENT RENT |
| Greensboro, North Carolina | $880 |
| Lexington, Kentucky | $900 |
| Memphis, Tennessee | $790 |
| El Paso, Texas | $770 |
| Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | $750 |
| Wichita, Kansas | $640 |
| Tulsa, Oklahoma | $685 |
| Omaha, Nebraska | $905 |
| Columbus, Ohio | $920 |
| Fort Wayne, Indiana | $760 |
4. Can you Find a Job Easily?
Another thing to consider when moving out is finding a job. Can I easily find a job in the new place I will be moving in? This is a very important thing to consider because this will dictate how long you can still survive living in your new place. That is why you need a good amount of savings before you move out, to consider the days, weeks or months before you can land a new job and other expenses.
You may check the unemployment rate of the city you will be moving into to gauge whether you will push to move to this new city or find another city.
On the other hand, here is a list showing the states with the lowest percentage of unemployment rate (2% to 3%).
- Iowa
- Minnesota
- Virginia
- Nebraska
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Missouri
- New Hampshire
- North Carolina
- Georgia
Well, these are just some of the important things to consider when moving out. The bottom line is that you must have enough savings to cover all the moving out costs.
Moving Out From Parent’s House? Here are Some Money-saving Tips For First-timers
Here are some helpful tips on how to cut back your expenses:
1. Ask for a Friend to Let you Stay at Their Place Temporarily
If you have a friend living nearby to the place where you will be moving in, you can ask him/her to stay at their place for a while. This is helpful, especially, if you are unfamiliar with the place and you are just hunting for a new job. Use this opportunity, to prepare yourself with the new environment so that once you are ready to move out, you are ready and already find a job. Therefore, your worry about funding the cost for rental fee is now solved.
2. Skip the Option for Dining Out
If you are just starting out in your first few months living alone, saving money is a must. Therefore, you can trim down your meal expenses by cooking and preparing your own food, rather than dining out. Make sure you know how to prepare basic meals such as chicken and vegetables, pasta, tacos, and other easy-to-prepare types of food.
It is also good if you have a microwave in your place, so that you can reheat leftovers, which can help in cutting down expenses on meals.
3. Save Energy, Save Money
Make it a habit to unplug or turn off electronics, when not in use. This can also help in saving cost for utility bills, which also consumes a portion of your monthly budget.
4. Consider Commuting as a Means of Getting to Work
With the trend of Uber, Lyft, and other ride-sharing services, they are now other means of transportation to go to your workplace. Compare the transportation expenses,if you drive your car versus commuting, and see how much you will save.
Too Long; Didn’t Read? Here’s a General Rule of Thumb on How Much you Should Save Before Moving Out
Paying for your rent and other utilities could be a real financial shocker, if you are moving out for the first time. Therefore, before you move out, you need to assess first your savings, if it can cover the cost for a month or two months of living expenses.
As a rule of thumb, if you are living on your own, your income should be thrice more than your rental fee. Let’s say, if you find a place that costs around $1,000 a month, you need to earn a month of at least $3,000 to suffice other needs.
