{"id":123042,"date":"2012-02-17T04:00:31","date_gmt":"2012-02-17T11:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/?p=123042"},"modified":"2023-09-28T15:29:29","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T21:29:29","slug":"ask-the-readers-how-much-do-you-spend-on-housing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/ask-the-readers-how-much-do-you-spend-on-housing\/","title":{"rendered":"How much do you spend on housing?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the past few months, I’ve occasionally used the “Ask the Readers” feature at Get Rich Slowly to poll people about their budgets and spending habits. So far, I’ve asked folks to share their spending on food<\/a>, clothes<\/a>, gifts<\/a>, and health insurance<\/a>. Now I want to look at a bigger item in your budget \u2014 probably the biggest. Let’s talk about how much you spend on housing.<\/b><\/p>\n

More than other expenses, your housing costs are influenced by where you live. Some parts of the country \u2014 and some parts of the world \u2014 are much cheaper to buy a home or to rent an apartment. It’s cheaper to live in Boise, Idaho, for instance, than to live in New York City. Generally, however, there are reasons for these price disparities. Most people are willing to pay more to live in New York than in Boise, and that drives prices higher. It’s a trade-off.<\/p>\n

I’m a firm believer in the Balanced Money Formula<\/a>, which says that if you pay too much for housing, you’ll have less to spend on other wants and needs, and you’ll always feel pinched, as if you can’t afford anything<\/a>. On the other hand, if you limit your housing expense to below 25% of your take-home pay, you should have lots of breathing room.<\/p>\n

For my own part, I pay a little more than I ought to for housing. After a few years of spending $0 per month (because we paid off the mortgage after selling the blog<\/a>), I’m now paying $950 for my apartment in Portland. That’s 36% of my take-home pay, and a fine example of not practicing what I preach. But I’m able to get away with this because:<\/p>\n