Submitted by postcryglow t3_116vub7 in personalfinance
Hello. Please remove if this doesn’t belong here.
I (24F) just signed the lease to my new apartment for the next 12 months. I had the option of living at home with my family with about 1.5 hours commute time (from my apartment it’s <10 mins) but my family environment is extremely toxic that I don’t think It’s healthy for my mental health.
My living expenses comes to about $2000 with rent and everything and I’ll be able to save around $1500-2000 but looking back I don’t know if I did the right thing anymore because I could’ve saved everything staying at home for free of charge but I really wanted to prioritize my mental health especially working night shift 12 hours a day and having to get my sleep during the day. So now I am only able to save just half of it. Just feels like I am wasting money because paying rent is essentially money down the drain and not an investment. I don’t know.
Just looking for reassurance from anyone who prioritized mental health over saving every penny and if it was worth it at the end
EDIT #1 UPDATE: 02/20/2023
Thank you so much for all the LOVE & SUPPORT! Especially people who has done this sort of thing at my age and now giving me their testimony of how it was the best thing they have done. It means a lot to me. The support has been overwhelming and I’m so grateful.
This is my first big girl job. I’ve worked in fast food and restaurants for $8-11/hr before nursing school and this is huge for me so it initially felt like $2000 in expenses is a lot but with me able to save about $40%-50% and as people pointed out that it is a great saving rate for my age, I think I am okay.
As far as investing: my hospital gives 401K and I plan to match (5%) that amount and open an HYSA for my savings.
I am getting the keys to my place today. I am on my way now!
I am getting my keys with lot of love and support from so many people today and I think I am doing something right.
THANK YOU 💗
I have posted my budget under one of the comments so feel free if you need that information for curiosity or using for your own information.