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The 6 months net pay total cost actually sounds like a pretty reasonable aim.
Is the $700 you pay for rent your portion or does your S.O. pay part of that?
Either way, your rent is under 30% of your take home which is a good place to be. If you're sharing that at 50%, that leaves ~$370 a month before you would actually hit 30%. If you could put enough down that your car+rent is less than 30% of your monthly outlay you'd be in a pretty good place.
My current rent is a bit high, but my lease is up in 3 months. I'm aiming to get it down by a couple hundred a month at least so that I can save more on top of my student debt and car debt.
If I'm perfectly honest, financially speaking a car probably wasn't the best decision for me, but three things put over for me. 1. Cars are my hobby. The enjoyment I get out of driving the car is worth the cost. 2. My old car had 212k on it. I was going to have to be putting some serious money into maintaining it in the very near future. On top of that, it left me stranded for four days when I was working on the brakes and a refurbed part didn't fit. I decided I wanted a warranty for the next few years. 3. I'm young and single. As long as I discipline myself to save at least a few months emergency fund now, I can recover from any long term impact.
I also decided that if I was going to have a car payment (Which was a given if I wanted a warranty) I would rather pay for a few more months and get a car that I really wanted instead of paying a similar monthly payment for a shorter time for a car that was just sort of okay. With the loan terms I was offered on different options, the monthly payment differences were minimal. In the short term, that is what matters. As I progress in my career and get raises I can always dump more money into the car payment to get it done faster.
On $2400 a month, I would be hesitant. Even with my student debt and higher rent than yours, I'm coming out a little bit ahead of where you would be. But that depends on your living cost. Living with your S.O. has the potential to decrease them considerably if you're smart.
Nathan
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