Date Posted: 2012-07-06 02:50:24
Site Posted: Myproperty.ph
If you’re going to live on your own for the first time, chances are you’ve been comfortable having your parents pay for and do everything for you all this time. Now that you’ve decided to be independent by moving to an apartment, you have to start being responsible for all the things that you didn’t have to bother with before, and that includes money matters.
When you live in an apartment, the monthly rent isn’t the only financial responsibility you have. Before you choose an apartment for rent, make sure that you also consider these expenses so you won’t be in way over your head when you start budgeting (Keep in mind that these costs are constantly rising and may vary depending on the location).
1. Utilities – After paying the rent for the apartment, you have to think about all the other monthly bills that you’ll be receiving, such as water, electricity, Internet, phone and cable. Remember to ask the landlord which of these utilities will already be included in the monthly rent, if any.
2. Parking space – Apartment landlords normally ask for an additional fee for parking space on top of the rent. Add this to the money you spend on gas, and it adds up to a pretty substantial amount that will make up your monthly costs.
3. Public transportation – If you don’t own a car, then you don’t have to worry about parking fees. What you do have to worry about is the cost of getting to and from work on public transportation. Whether you take the MRT or the bus every day, these are costs that you need to remember to include in your budget.
4. Food – From now on, you can scrap the idea of eating your mom’s home-cooked meals every night; you’ll be doing your own groceries to stock up on food. Make sure that your budget won’t be too restricting; you have to leave room for when you do the occasional run to the coffee shop or the sudden night out with friends.
5. Laundry – Your dirty clothes aren’t going to clean themselves, and if you truly want to be independent, you can always be coming home to your parents every week to do your laundry there. If your apartment doesn’t have a laundry area, you’ll have to take your clothes to a laundry shop and pay for the service. Even if you have no problem doing laundry in the sink or the tub, you’ll still have to include things like detergent and bleach in the budget.
Once you have a rough estimate of these expenses, add them up and take a look at your income. Based on this calculation, you can now analyze how much monthly rent you can pay so you won’t waste time looking at dream apartments that you can only afford if you don’t eat.
Jillian Cariola, Writer
(cover image by Jakub Krechowicz)
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