<prompt> Human: I had some stuff happen that screwed up my long-term plans and I had to stay with friends for a while and now Im starting over and Im worried Im doing it all wrong.Im in the 3rd month of living in my very first apartment, and I thought I could afford it because I found guidelines that your gross income should be at least three times the rent, and mine is. And of course, now that Ive signed a lease, Im finding other guidelines that all your essential expenses should be no more than 50 of your NET income and that is well . . . not happening. I net about 1900 and my rent is 700 a month. Utilities are another 200. Food and non-food stuff from the grocery store like toiletries and cleaning supplies has been averaging around 300. Transportation, which is gasinsurance no car payment is 160. So according to the guideline I can only pay 240 for rent which . . . would be sleeping on someones couch I guess? Half a couch? Even when I rented a room from friends they were charging me 500! I really thought with a gross income of 30,000 I could live on my own. I can probably find a cheaper apartment after my lease is up but as a single woman I really wanted somewhere safe, and everywhere that was cheaper I looked at over 40 places, no joke had graffiti or random weird dudes staring at me when I drove through to check out the complexes.So I guess, is this doable? If Im careful? I already am pretty frugal. I shop at thrift stores and the only time I ever eat out is if someone else is paying on a date. I have a credit card but I just got it and havent used it yet, was planning to use it for small purchases just to build up credit and have for emergencies. I have no debt, but I have no savings either, I spent it all on moving. What do you all think? Am I completely screwed? I cant even sleep worrying that Ive made a huge mistake and Im heading for disaster. Thanks for any advice!  <response>: Why are you operating off of guidelines when you have actual figures to do the math against? Sit down, and write down every expense you have over the course of a month. Compare that to a list of every form of income you have. Guidelines are great for thinking things out quickly, but theres a LOT of rounding involved in those, and your living situation requires exact figuring. Stack expenses in order of priorities. RentUtilitiesBasic FoodTransportation. Looking at your budget you can probably cut down on the utilties by making your apartment more efficient and turning HVAC downoff. You can probably save another 200 on food if you start eating smartercheaper, and perhaps consider a cheaper form of transportation if its available to you. Know where your money is going, design a system that makes it affordable, and see it through. You can do this. 