<prompt> Human: How much rent and car payment would you say that I could afford?Ill be graduating in May starting my first full-time position in June. I would prefer to live in a nice place drive a decent car. However, I want to make sure I dont run into any cash flow problems. Ill be salaried at 55K. I would like to make a 10 contribution to my 401k to receive the max match. I have 18k in student loans which should be around 200 a month and no other debt. Im single and would be living by myself. I currently have 5k in savings and would be receiving a 4k signing bonus.Would 950 a month in rent and a 500 car payment be too much?Thanks in advance for any advice!  <response>: 500 car payment is crazy, so dont do that. Also, try not to look at purchasing an affordable car as just the monthly payment. Thats a quick way to start getting into too much debt. Given that this is your first full-time position and first experience with regular budgeting and income, I would strongly suggest going a little more on the cautious side at first. You might consider using the 4k signing bonus to make a sizable downpayment on a used car. There are some solid options in the 10k range with fairly low miles and recent year models. I might take some of the savings as well and use it for the car, but not much more than 1,000 or 2, to keep the rest in savings for an emergency fund.With 55k plus taxes and a 10 match, youll be looking at probably around 33k takehome, or 2,750month. 2750 - 950 for an apartment are utilities included? - 200 student loan payment, now youre at 1600 for the month. Lets say a 200 car payment, 100 for car insurance, 100month for gas, now youre at 1,200month. Say youre putting 200month to savings.That leaves you around 230 per week for foodentertainment. Which is plenty, but this also doesnt account for any other expenses you may not be consideringincluding. Utilities? Gym membership? Netflix? Internet? Paying extra on student loans to knock them out quicker?Car payments are, IMO, one of the things most of us waste too much money on. Getting more car than we can afford or need etc. You can also play around with budget calculators and worksheets to get a better idea of where your money will be going.Hope this helps! 