My mom is moving out, but is planning on keeping the house she owns now and renting it out as a source of income. I'm going to be living at the house rent free while I go to college. She is going to give me monthly spending money for food and such, but we are having trouble figuring out a good amount. How much money would I need a month to cover all expenses? I basically only need money for food, gas, toiletries, cleaning supplies, and other miscellaneous items. My car costs about 80 dollars in gas a month.

No rent, no utilities or cable or cell phone bills? Car insurance, oil changes no cost to drive except gas? Just for basics like food and soap you will need about $50-$60 a week so with gas money maybe 300 a month but that leaves nothing extra for beer, pizza, birth control pills, medical, dental, car repairs, tuition or books. Does your mother want you to learn to budget and live a student lifestyle or eat high on the hog? Eating can be very cheap or very expensive same with things like cleaning supplies. One person might go buy name brand cleaning supplies in a grocery store where another uses vinegar or ammonia from a dollar store. Same with laundry soap, some buy a bucket at Costco and others buy pods in a grocery store at more than double the price per load.

WOW really ....she should have a good idea what this cost..

since you do not work and you should be closer to college you should not have a car you can not pay for..if you need a car you need to work to pay for the gas and insurance and maintenance tags and license...yes older enough to drive you need to pay for it...or find a closer place to college

neither of my children could have a car until they could pay for it...buy it and pay for every aspect of it...so they worked..even going to fulltime college and working on a Ph.D...worked for a car and worked for 12 years of college toward the degree...

basically ...you need money for everything..you need to bascally run a house without a income...it teaches you nothing...

you need to cook...eat fresh fruits and easy cookable protein..pack a granola bar..nuts fruit..

if you learned to be frugal things could last...I would take you to walmart and gather all the personal item shampoo, tp..detergent..dish soap liquid soap..pads tampons...and tell you that is for 2-3 months..make it last...cleaning stuff which should last several months..

80 for gas for the whole month because mom pays all the other car bills..it cost money to drive..

100 a month would teach you how to budget and use what you have and be happy...for the most part you should be at college or In the library completing homework...make the grade and apply for scholarships...

find a part time job with a consistent schedule so school is the focus...

over all college should have a differnet focus...to reach a goal

No one budget works for one person. You need to figure out your income, living expenses and discretionary income and stick to it. If you do an online search you can find many helpful sites that have a simple budget platform you can adjust to your specific circumstances

Cell phone and internet costs?? who pays those.

Will you be cooking at home and bringing sandwiches to school or buying a meal plan at school??

If you are cooking and bringing sandwich's then you need $75/wk for food and toiletries---$80/mo for gas----then add to that what you will be paying for school costs and cell and internet and you have it. Notice I included no money for entertainment.

I'd say $300/month for everything