If we take out 7k of the gross $46,0000/yr for healthcare and retirement....

$5,700 for federal taxes, another k for state taxes...

That's about $2692 a month, net. Subtract the just over $2k a month listed, there's another $400 a month for.... Utilities, phone, transportation, entertainment, savings, emergencies.

Even as rent is under 25% of income, pretty tight. Doable. But very tighter. You will never retire saving $4000 a year. You can never get sick. You apparently walk to work.

Pretty much have to get a roommate until the student loans are paid off.

Talk with the student loan provider. Get on income based repayment plans, you end up paying more in the long run, but less each month (or none at all) so you can at least eat.

numbers don't check out

lists $2250 expenses.... 100 hours of work per month would cover it

I know they have other expenses, but they failed to list them and failed to make their point.

I want a single bedroom apartment for 850.

$23/hr x 40 hours = $920/wk
$920 x 52 weeks per year = $47,840 per year, gross.
government takes ~25% in taxes leaving you with net $35,880
rent is $850 x 12 months = $10,200
$35,880 - $10,200 = $25,680
student loans $1000/mo x 12 months = $12,000
$25,680 - $12,000 = $13,680
groceries $400 x 12 months = $4,800 $13,680 - $4,800 = $8,880 to spare.

Your annual budget has a surplus of $8,880
Divided over 12 months, you have an allowance of $740 per month.

Honestly you have it better than most people.

Furthermore you don't need $400 in food each month.

Food is stupid anyway; Most Americans are overweight, so you can probably get by on less.

If carbohydrates have not yet been made toxic to your biochemistry via your metabolism being turbofucked to hell by sugar and empty starch, you could pull the red beans and rice plus basic spice hack for staple nutrition. Literally just big fucking bags of dry brown rice and dried red beans.

I see dried red beans and dry brown rice coming in around $1 per lb, and that's DRIED remember - after you soak them and cook them you're getting multiple pounds of food per dollar. You could get your grocery budget down to $100 per month if this is your base-load calorie source per meal and you decide to spruce things up every so often with a dollar here and a dollar there.

The system has made it impossible to live alone. You pretty much have to pair up with someone and split finances, whether that's a romantic partner or a roommate or whatever. You have to be absolutely killing it to be younger than 40 and living alone right now.

23/hr at full time work (40 hrs/week) is $920/week.

Let's assume that 15% is taken out of each paycheck for taxes and withholdings and such, which leaves $782.

A typical month has 4 weeks, so $3128/month.

Stated expenses are $850+$1000+$400 totaling $2250

$3128-$2250=$878

bruh, if you're not making it with that kind of money, you need to take a serious look at your finances and cut back on things you don't need.

EDIT: I'm not replying to everyone.

There are several expenses that would be expected that were not covered. Those should easily fit inside the $878 monthly fund. I'm not going to go through item by item because they weren't mentioned by OP and everyone will have a different list. The things I'd put on the list absolutely fit, with plenty to spare.

The tax rate is based on my personal experience of being poor in Texas. This was a bit of an asspull, but I did math last year that determined I was losing 13% of my paycheck to taxes and withholdings, and I make a bit less than OP so I bumped it up a couple percent. Texas does not have state income tax, so if that number sounds low that's probably why.

Ultimately, I stand by what I said.

I'm realistically in the situation OP is trying to get at. I'm making over $30/hr, I've been in my career a few years. I pay $1500 towards my housing expenses each month (rent/mortgage, electricity, heat, etc). I pay something like $500 in insurance between my vehicle and home, probably a bit less... My debt repayments are well over $1000/month. I pay $100 each for my cellphone and internet....

I have a slew of other expenses I can't really enumerate. When I factor in food and gasoline, etc, I basically have no money left. I might have $200 left each month if I'm very thrifty with food.

You know what I'm doing? I'm in the process of getting my finances into a system that can help me visualize the spending and plan for my month over month budgeting. I'm trying to find where I can find costs I don't need, and cut costs where I can. My work requires me to have a car, and while my vehicle is older, it works great and is pretty good on gas; best of all, I've paid off my car. I'm trying to dig myself out of this situation I'm in, and get in the black eventually. I'm tired of worrying about debt, which I've been in for nearly 20 years, in some way, shape or form.

Thats the neat thing, you're not!

You have nothing to lose, but your chains.

If anon is in the US, they can switch to a SAVE plan which would make their monthly payments zero and get the loan discharged after 20-25 years. It's not much, but it's something.

Spend less on candles.

Kids keep going to college with the promise of making 400k/year, but normies don't get that. College is good and all but employers generally don't care which college you went to, or your major (if not directly related), what matters is who you became friends with in college, and who their parents/uncles are.

Better off studying something specific, vocational schools, trade schools. Learn something specific, either no or small loan