How Much Can You Set Apart For An Apartment?
If you need to rent an apartment, the first thing you have to be sure of is how much you can set apart for renting an apartment. It is only subject to this amount that you can look for apartments and decide on which one to take.
The rental of an apartment will be based on several factors such as its location, type of construction such as (luxury, semi luxury, economy etc.), size, available accommodation and facilities such as (number of rooms, attached toilets with tiled floors and tiled walls, bath tubs, hot water geysers, heating and air conditioning, number of halls and pantry area with pantry cupboards etc.) and amenities available such as (swimming pool, gym, spa, sauna, community hall, theatre, security service, intercoms, playground, leisure park etc.)
Budget your Routine Expenses and Monthly Income
Make a budget of your income and expenses to ascertain how much you can pay for an apartment. If you are a fixed salary earner, then commence from your take home pay and add any other sundry income you derive such as fixed deposit interest etc. which would be your budgeted average monthly income.
Next, make a list all your routine expenses in summary form such as utilities like (gas, electricity, water, telephone, cable television, internet services), and other expenses such as all insurance premiums payable, gas for car, traveling, food and beverages, groceries, entertainment, medical expenses, subscriptions to clubs, etc.
Total it and add another 10% for contingencies and a further 5% for a forced saving in case you are already not contributing to some savings fund through your office. Deducting the total of the expenses from your income will give you the excess of income over expenditure, which would be the amount available for renting an apartment.
It is a good idea to check back several times to ensure that you have included all the conceivable expenses and income in the above budget.
Examine Expenses Critically to make room for Improvements
The purpose of this budget should be two fold for maximum benefit. While the above budget was prepared mainly for the purpose of ascertaining how much you could set apart for renting an apartment, take advantage of this exercise to look at every item of expenditure critically and see if there is wastage in any areas that could be plugged in (such as electricity – are you switching off the lights when not in use, and similarly do you allow the water taps to run without closing after use?)
Try to channel multi services such as TV, Telephone, Internet and Cable TV, Cell phone through one service provider and take advantage of bulk discounts. You can do likewise in respect of all the different types of insurance premiums paid too.
Check what you incur for instance on entertainment, food and beverages and telephone are reasonable and if there is further room for cutbacks. If you are already living luxuriously and extravagantly, this is the time to make a few sacrifices on these accounts for the greater benefit of being able to pay more for a better rental apartment.
Cell phones and Internet are further areas where you are possibly not utilizing the full advantage of what you pay for by way of different packages. If your actual usages in respect of these services are mostly below the level for which you have obtained packages and being paid accordingly, waste no time in downgrading immediately to the next lower package and save unnecessary expenditure without making any sacrifices at all.
With regard to Cable TV too, you may be paying higher rentals on premium channels, which are not being watched by you. Small and sometimes major cutbacks and savings on so many items of expenditure would result in the generation of more cash flow that you could divert to other more beneficial areas to further enhance your standard of living.
What is the need for Indiscriminate Pruning of Expenditure?
There is no need to go on pruning every bit of expenditure and make too many sacrifices unless there is a need for it. The need of the hour is the leasing of a Rental Apartment. If you are happy with the type of apartments that you can rent for the budgetary allocation already available, then there is no need to explore ways and means of accumulating more funds for the propose especially it is at the cost of heavy sacrifices made on certain other areas. However, if the present budgetary excess is not sufficient to rent out the type of apartment you are targeting, then of course further tightening of belts for the achievement of that goal may be warranted.