<prompt> Human: Pretty straightforward, I am 23 and just landed my first job out of college taking home 44k a year in Georgia. I am lucky enough to have awesome parents that paid for my schooling and are allowing me to live at their place rent free for a couple of months while I start working. This means that I have no debts and about 2,000 saved in checkinga fidelity account at the moment. Independence is a huge thing for me so I want to move out soon but I want to make sure that I am prepared for life on my own. My final step before I move out is to fill an emergency fund so that if anything does come up I will be prepared. I have pretty good job security at the moment so i dont think ill lose my job anytime soon but you never know. The thing is I dont know how much to save because all advice is based on monthly expenses and at the moment I dont really have any. I have heard 3 months rent but I would like yalls advice. When I move out I will expect to pay 1,200 a month in rent as I will most likely be living with a friend in Atlanta. My car is paid off and my insurance is relatively cheap. Any advice on how much I should save or other helpful ways to manage my money is welcome! I am new to this whole adulting thing and I want to make sure I dont screw it all up.  <response>: Hey there. I have a kid roughly your age who is also moving out soon, so Ill just run through some of the advice I gave him.1 Know your monthly expenses. You say you dont have any yet, but you can still talk to friendsfamilyroommates and get an idea of what they will be. You will want to make sure you have a line item in your budget for car insurance, gas, phone, rent, utilities water, electricity, heat, internet, garbage, and food. 2 Know your non-monthly expenses. This is the trickier one, and the one that frequently trips up young people living on their own for the first time. You should try to estimate a monthly savings amount that will cover larger, non-monthly expenses. For example, Christmas comes once a year, but you can divide the cost by 12 and save for it all year long, to keep from panicking and charging up debt in December. Other non-monthly expenses are car repairs, furniture, electronics, clothing, medicaldental, tuition, car purchases etc. These tend to be bigger expenses when they DO hit, so plan ahead for them.3 Know your savings goals. The sidebar has a great flowchart for tracking your financial progress. Know where you are, and what youre moving toward. Have an emergency fund? Great! Are you getting that employer match in your 401k? Do you have any debt? Etc. The flowchart is great because all this financial stuff can be really overwhelming, but the flowchart lets you tackle one thing at a time, and then the next when youre ready. 4 Budget for fun. This is last for obvious reasons, but make sure your budget has line items for fun stuff, too. Eating out, vacations, hobbies, etc. You dont have to blow a ton of money, but staying within pre-determined limits in the budget allows you to splurge without guilt. Btw, you dont mention if you currently use a budget app, but I highly recommend one. Many people like Mint, and my kid and I use YNAB, which we find really convenient and easy to use. Even if all youre doing is tracking stuff on pen and paper or an excel spreadsheet, make and keep a budget. It makes all the difference, I promise you.Good luck! 