<prompt> Human: Okay, so heres a little background of my situation: -Im gay, my parents would NOT be okay with it -I want to move out for my sanity -Im 23, just finished my bachelors in psychology and moved back into my parents house. I plan on starting a masters program next year to become a counselor-Im a noob at personal finance: my parents supports me financially in almost every way-I work part time at a grocery store and make anywhere between 150-300 dollars a week Basically, I need advice on what I can do to be able to support myself: what full time jobs can I get with a bachelors degree in psychology? How much should I be making in order to move out? Is this even a good idea to attempt while Im in grad school?  <response>: My main recommendation would be to check out the FAQ in the sidebar for some general advice on how to get started with saving and budgeting.First, youll need to understand what your expenses are. If your parents have been supporting you fully until now, this might be a little difficult. I like to use Mint.com online to track all my expenses through debit and credit cards, but you can do it yourself in excel by saving your receipts. You need to know how much you spend every month, especially on essentials like food, housing and transportation. I would track your expenses for a minimum of one month. If your parents pay for these things now and will stop when you come out to them, youll need to estimate what they are so you can be prepared to pick up the tab before you start grad school.Next, youll need to figure out the expenses you can expect in grad school. Food may be similar to what you pay now if you buy your own groceries at home, but rent, utilities, transportation, textbooks and other school expenses are all things that might change. It sounds like you were living on your own for your undergraduate degree, so hopefully you have an understanding of the amount of cash youll need upfront for deposits and first months rent in your area. Only after knowing your own expenses will you have a good idea of how much money you need to be making to cover them.If you could give me a little more information about the cost of living in your area, it would help answer your question. My best estimate would be: if you keep working at the grocery store part time through grad school, your minimum cash flow is 600 a month. As an example, If you rent for 350 a month in a place with roommates, spend 75 in utilitiesinternet and 150 in food, youre left with 25 dollars at the end of the month for transportation, school expenses, cell phone and emergencies. Ouch. It sounds like its possible to make more than that at your current job, but worst case scenario, you might have some rough months. If you could work full time during the summers to save up, that would give you a cushion through the rest of the year. Will you take out student loans or have paid internship opportunities in your field?However, you have a really important reason to want to move away from your parents that has nothing to do with money. It may be an unorthodox view in a personal finance thread, but if you need to get out of the house when you come out to your parents because they will not support you, you have a lot of motivation to come up with clever and unusual solutions to support yourself. Finding a higher paid part time job, working more hours, working summers full time and overtime, saving all extra cash before you tell them and putting off any expenses besides housing and food will go a long way. If its a matter of your sanity or safety, you might find that sacrificing current things is worth it to you. It might not be easy, but if its a matter of survival, you can do it!Youll need to do some planning ahead on how youre going to live differently on your own compared to now. My immediate recommendation on ways to save money as a student is to: look for low cost, shared housing; never buy clothes or furniture new --go to thrift stores; do not pay for cable TV -- you can stream everything you want online and you wont have as much time to watch TV in grad school anyway; split utilities and internet bills with roommates; dont drive a car --get a used bike off craigslist and ride it everywhere; dont eat out-- cook your own food and pack your own lunches every day. Its possible to spend 30 a week in groceries and eat pretty well. I still do this and am no longer a student; dont eat as much meat or dairy-- its really expensive compared to veggies; dont drink at bars -- buy from the store and split with friends or just drink less; pick up hobbies that are free, like biking, hiking, or playing frisbee; get a library card and use it for all book, music and movie needs; hang out with other students who support themselves because they will also do these things plus more. 