<prompt> Human: I signed a lease a couple months ago for an apartment Ill be moving into on June 2. The monthly rent is 40 of my take home pay each month. I know the 30 rule. Ive also heard that 25-33 is an acceptable range. I get a Christmas bonus every year equivalent to one paycheck I get paid twice a month. I may also get other bonuses if the law firm I work at wins or settles cases. As of this week Ive paid off all my student loans and Im 100 debt free.I kind of wish I had held off and gotten a cheaper apartment, maybe something with the utilities included, within walking distance of my office there are plenty of those around. The apartment Im getting is nicer and has great amenities, but its more expensive and out in the suburbs, so I have to commute to work.If anyone has been in this situation before, did you ultimately end up regretting the amount you spent on rent?EDIT: After giving it some more thought, I contacted my apartment complex and got out of my lease. Because it was still a month and a half before I moved in, I was able to get out of it and only lost my security deposit of about 150. Im now in the process of applying to a different apartment. This one is a two-bedroom with a roommate, but the rent and utilities together every month are about 20 of my take-home pay.In other words, Im going from 50 of my income on rent and utilities each month to 20. The new place is also two blocks from my office, so I can walk to work every day and will have no commute time. This is probably the part Im most excited about. Im about to get an extra 5-10 hours of time each week.Assistant: You might. What does your budget say? Make a budget, add goals like retirement, vacations, new car some day, etc If you can still retire when you want, with as much money as you want, and pay for other goals, and stay debt free, and still put 40 of your income into living expense - then you might not regret it. If you have to work till youre 70 because you spend 40 of your income on living expenses, shiny new phones, expensive cable packages, etc etc - then yes you might regret it.Human: The tough part about budgeting in my situation is that because Ive never really lived alone and paid rent, my entire budget is just an estimate. Im estimating what my monthly utility cost will be, what my grocery bill will be, etc. Im trying to use higher numbers than what I think theyll actually be, that way, worse case scenario I can handle it, best case scenario its cheaper than I thought. Ill have about 25-33 of my income left over after all my expenses are accounted for.  <response>: All budgets are just an estimate. Very few things are 100 guaranteed fixed costs, the price of electricity might go up in a few months, or you might decide to make a new dietary choice that influences your grocery spending.Going by what you just described, it sounds like youre on the right track. Youve just gotta kind of do it for a while and see how accurate your budget is, then adjust as necessary. 