When your rented out your first apartment, how much did it cost you?

I must say, while I know you are trying to get a lot of posts up (since you have about a hundred listed), this is a horrible way to figure out how much living on your own will cost you. You see...it is very much dependent on how big your apartment is and where you live. My first apartment was really tiny with a living room/kitchen combo and a bedroom and a bath. It was within walking distance of the college campus and it cost me $400 for rent (just the rent). I paid about $80 a month in the winter to heat it. Plus $25 for electricity and $12 for water. I didn't have a car...so that wasn't an expense. I did have cable internet which was $29 and a $40 phone bill. Then I moved to a new city. Got married. Got a new apartment. Here I paid $508 for a two bedroom 900 square foot apartment with the heat and water included. We paid electricity of about $25 plus phone and internet expenses. Then we moved from Michigan to Wisconsin where we paid $605 for a 1059 square foot apartment with heat included. We paid about $40 a month for water and about $100 a month for electricity. Then we moved from Wisconsin to Texas. Here we pay a ton more because the housing market is tight. We have a million and one issues with our apartment and pay $769 for rent with nothing included. It is a 1000 square foot apartment. We pay $50 a month for water and about $200 a month to heat it or cool it. My point...in order to figure out how much your expenses will be you need to look around and find out rent in your area. When asking about your apartments ask for estimates on the utilities. Figure out how much the phone will cost as well as car insurance. Work up a budget for all the things you will have to have and all the things you want (is cable a necessity or a desire, what about internet, or a cell phone). Then figure out where, when, how you can move.

Well, my first apartment was a while ago in 1998, it was not in the nicest part of town, in El Cajon, CA east of San Diego, CA. It was one bedroom pretty spacious, i was lucky my guardian paid the deposit of $300, he used his good credit to start an electricity account for which was like $20 a months but since I had no credit they wanted $100 deposit. My rent was $450 a months. I didn't have cable, I got furniture from friends and family. I paid $10 for a phone line. I already had a car before I got my first apartment, it was $200 a month and insurance was $150 a month.

Well i am from israel, and i do think that it depends where you live. but i will share with you what i did and what it has cost me, maybe parts of the story would be helpful. My first appartment was in tel aviv, it is one of the big cities in israel and the most attractive one. (like small n.y. city) i rented a 4 room flat in the center of tel aviv with 2 roomates, the appartment cost me 750$, and my part of the rent was only 250$. but i do have to tell you that after a year in the appartment with two wonderful roomates, i did get to the conclusion that three people in one appartment is too many for me. when i went to sleep, there was a person that heared music, and another one that just invited friends, so it was not easy. so i decided to move to a 4 room appartment with only one more roomate. now the rent was alote higher, it had costed me about 1250$ for 4 rooms, but it was worth it. so i think the first thing that you have to decide is where you want to live. if you want to live in a big centrel city, the second decision is with how many people do you want to live and the third one is: who is your landlord, because this is the person that you will have to be in touch when things in the house will need fixing. good luck:)

My first apartment, what a disaster! I was 19 and making next to nothing. It was the 80's and I thought I had it all worked out. I rented a $300 a month one bedroom apartment with a friend of mine, well at least I thought she was a friend. Rent time would come and she wouldn't have the rent. Bills would come and it was always next week. She always had one excuse or another. I managed to pay the rent but the electricity bill got behind and next thing you know we are living in the dark eating chef boyardee cold from the can. I can't to this day eat that stuff! The best thing I ever did was leave that place!

When my ex-husband first got out of the military in 1998 we moved off base and into a really nice area in Kettering, OH. Our rent was $650 a month, nothing else was included. It was for a 2 bedroom, 2 bath with a fireplace. That seemed like a fortune back then! Now my husband and I are living in NJ looking to move off base to save some money. If we could find something that cheap and nice we would be ecstatic! There is no way though. Apartments that are even close to what we had in Ohio are $1000-$1500 a month or more around here.

Well my first Apt. here in los Angeles for a single (rented with a roonmate then 2 roonmates) cost me $795.00 with all bills included. I was making $7.50 hr at that time, so it was tough. I had money for rent but not enough for food. Then we all got seperated and I found another single for $675.00 and I had to pay electricity which was $18.00 every two months and I was making $12.00 hr. So it depends on how much money you make, that his how you see how much you can afford for rent aside bills. Estimate everything and subtracted from your monthly income. Go to craigslist and see apts in your area to see how much they cost.

That was a long time ago. but, the rent was roughly 650$ and it was inclusive, which means the heat and electricity was included. I didnt drive a car, so by bus pass was another 50$, we didnt buy much food, but we bought enough booze to spend enough make up for having no groceriesand then some. . lol. I had one room mate at first. and then i started to share my room with another girl, so she paid for half of my half of the rent. I only lasted about 7 months before i had to move back home! lol.