<prompt> Human: Hey guys, long time lurker on this sub. I often see posted on here that you should aim to not spend over 30 of net income on rent. My question is: Does this percentage include utilities? So if I have a net income of 2500mo and I pay 833month for rent excluding utilities, am I going over that percentage or is it purely based off cost of rent and utilities are seen as a separate expense? Thanks!  <response>: I personally spend about 50 of take-home on rentutilities. This is a location, guaranteed rise in income, and quality of life question.Some locations have perks that dont make sense in other locations which will cost more. In New England, getting an apartment with covered parking saves you an immense amount of trouble during the winter.Sometimes you can guess where youll be at career-wise in 5 years and if that does not include a change of scenery then even if youre not saving as much now you will be saving much more without a rise in rentutilities as your income goes up. This leads me to the next point of interest.Quality of life is huge. If you can get to work and the places you play gym, etc with a shorter commute by paying more in rent then you are increasing your quality of life. You can get up later, or you can prepare a better breakfast, or in other words you are buying time. Many people here are buying time for their 30s and 40s and onward by selling their quality of life now Im looking at you, financial independence. I want time now, in my 20s. I want reduced stress by not having to worry about getting to work on time, shoveling snow, or finding time to do things outside of work that interest me. Living closer to work buys me that time. Renting into the more expensive apartment complex gives me the amenities that buy me that time. Knowing where my ideal quality of life is and meeting that now in my 20s, even though I cant put more of my take-home income into dynamic savings, even though I could save a lot more and easily afford vacations with a roommate, even though I could easily have gone to a worse apartment complex costing half as much as this one thats still relatively close, means I am both less stressed and much happier than I would be in other situations.You should always be able to pay any loans you take out. You should always be able to afford your rent. You should always be able to stock and re-stock an emergency fund as-needed. You should always be able to contribute to a 401k or IRA. You should always be able to save something outside of your retirement accounts that will not be missed. Once these are met, everything else is personal preference. 