<prompt> Human: I live with my boyfriend of 3 years and my 2 teenage children from a previous marriage. I work full-time, bringing home about 2200 a month after taxes, benefits, and 5 matching contribution to a Vanguard IRA. In addition, I have a second independent contractor job that brings in 850 a month before taxes, about 70 of which has been going straight into savings for the last few months. My boyfriend works less and his income varies he is self-employed. I do not actually know how much he makes and Im pretty vigilant about keeping our finances separate because of his ongoing issues with money. The relationship is not working and I need to end it. Doesnt have to be tomorrow or next week, but it is on the horizon. What is keeping me from ending it now is my fear that I will not be able to pay bills on my own. We rent a small house for 1500month, including water and garbage a really good price for our expensive city. Our other utilities electricity and internet are about 200month.I can neither figure out how to make these numbers work nor what else to do in this situation. My children already share a room, so they cant double up to make way for a roommate. We might be able to find something slightly cheaper, but not with the garbagewater included most people in our city pay about 50mo for garbage and 250 every 2 months for water. What might my options be to prepare financially to be on my own? Realistically, how little can one live on if one is spending 23 of ones take-home pay on rent and utilities?  <response>: Try to move outside the city a little further. Maybe you can get a place cheaper? 