<prompt> Human: Hi everyone, I about to see a pay increase from 29k to 47k in an area with a slightly higher, but comparable, COL. When I was making 29k i saved very aggressively, mostly by finding the cheapest rent situation possible and not budging for my 5 years of grad school despite the volatile cast of characters I encountered. I started with no student debt and a healthy Hyundai Elantra thanks to my parents, and was able to feed about 11k into an emergency fund and 12k into my IRA during this time which I havent touched. I have another 10k for longer term investments tied up in a mixed porfolio of stocks managed by Betterment. I just leave these accounts alone except when I feed them.At the moment I am purposefully unemployed and living my dream of hiking a long distance trail for 5 months off the savings I also accumulated during graduate school. I have about 4k on hand to handle moving expenses and live on before my pay starts up, probably some time in December or early Jan, and will spend a lot of tha time bumming at my parents house. I will be starting my next job soon and am starting to look at housing options. I want to live alone but I have such a huge mental block about spending that much money 1k a month for a very humble studio apartment on rent. It makes me feel sick to pay that much when I could save 400 EVERY MONTH with a roomate. But on the other hand, I think I can still save 15-20 for long term savings retirement and a future house down payment, maybe 5 years and another pay increase from now a year even with the much higher rent price.I guess my question is... when is it time to back off on savings goals to allow for lifestyle inflation? Am I in a secure enough position to live alone, or is my money better spent building more savings for 5-40 years in the future? It feels like a punch in the gut to pay that much for rent, but I feel a pull to have my own place...  <response>: Do you have a comprehensive budget with goals attached? - spend 1-2 hours making a comprehensive budget, add your goals to the budget - youll know exactly how much to keep saving and applying to your goals. 