There are lots of decisions to make, like how close do you want to be to work or to your friends or to your family?

有許多事情要決定像是你住的地方要離辦公室、朋友和家人多近？

How much space do you need? Are you going to live alone or with roommates?

你需要多大的空間？你要自己住或是和室友一起住？

Once you have a sense of where you want to live and how you want to live, it's time to start thinking about what renting a place will actually cost you and what you can afford.

對於自己想住哪、想如何過生活有了概念之後就該開始思考租屋實際上會花掉你多少錢，以及你能夠負擔多少。

Now, the two biggest costs you'll have are going to be your monthly expenses and your move-in costs.

你的兩大花費將會是每月的支出和搬家費用。

To start, you want to figure out your monthly expenses, which will help you determine what you can afford to rent.

一開始，你得弄清楚每月的支出是多少，才能幫助決定你能負擔多少房租。

Then we'll take a look at what your move-in expenses might be in another video.

之後在另一部影片中，我們再來看看你的搬家費用可能會是多少。

So, first, you'll need to decide what your budget will be.

所以，首先你需要決定你的預算是多少。

A decent guideline for figuring out what you can afford is something called the "thirty percent rule".

有個不錯的準則叫作「30% 原則」，能幫你弄清楚自己買得起什麼。

Basically, you take thirty percent of your gross income, that is, your entire income before taxes, and allocate that to your general housing expenses.

基本上就是拿出你總收入的 30%，總收入就是繳稅前的所有收入總和，然後把錢分配給大概的居住花費。

That's not just the rent, it's also your utilities, insurance, and other costs associated with your home.

不只是租金還有你的水電費、保險費以及其它和住房有關的費用。

It is set at thirty percent so you can still have some money left over to cover your other expenses, and hopefully, even save something while you're at it.

金額訂在 30%，這樣你還會有剩下的一些錢來支付其它費用，甚至有望在這個情況下也能存下一點錢 。

Now, everyone's situation is different.

每個人的狀況不一樣。

For instance, if you have student loans or credit card debt to pay off, you might want to spend less on your housing.

比方說，如果你有學貸或信用卡債要付清，你或許會想少花一點錢在住屋上。

Or if you live in a city where rents are higher, you might be able to afford more, because you can use public transportation and won't have the typical costs that come with a car.

或者如果你住在房租較高的城市，你可能可以付更多錢，因為你可以利用大眾交通工具，也不會有一般隨著車子而來的花費。

But for this example, let's stick to thirty percent.

但在這個例子，我們遵守 30% 原則。

So, say we're looking at an annual salary of forty thousand dollars.

那麼假設我們考慮的是一年 4 萬美元的薪水。

In this case, your budget will be forty thousand times point three, divided by twelve, is one thousand per month.

如果是這樣，你的預算就會是 4 萬 x 0.3 再除以 12，也就是每月 1,000 美元。

Now, this doesn't mean you are going to go right out and look at rentals listed at a thousand a month or that really nice place you see for ten fifty.

但這並不表示你要直接出去找月租 1,000 美元的房子，或是你看到的那間很不錯、月租 1,050 美元的房子。

First, let's think about some other monthly expenses you'll have in addition to your rent.

首先，我們來想想除了房租外，每月會有的一些其它支出。

The biggest monthly expenses you're probably going to have are utilities.

你每個月最大的花費可能會是水電費。

That's your electric; gas, oil, or other fuels; water; and sewer bills.

也就是電力、瓦斯、汽油或其它燃料、水和汙水處理費。

In some cases, the landlord pays for some utilities, but not others.

有些情況下房東會負擔某些水電費用，但其它的則不會。

What you're responsible for and what the landlord is responsible for should be spelled out in the lease.

你負責和房東負責的分別是哪些費用都要在租約上詳細註明。

Electric bills can vary dramatically ; the price of electricity fluctuates throughout the year, or even the time of day.

電費可能會有很大的差異。電價一年都在變動，甚至一天內就有變動。

But for this exercise, let's say this averages out to ninety dollars a month over the course of a year.

但在這個練習中，我們假設一年的過程中平均電費是每月 90 美元。

Your fuel bill, typically your gas or oil, can also vary dramatically throughout the year, but for now, we'll estimate it to be about ninety dollars a month as well.

你的燃料費，基本上就是瓦斯或汽油，在一年中也可能有很大的變化，但現在，我們估計燃料費大概也是每月 90 美元。

And if you have to pay for water, that bill might be around thirty dollars a month.

如果你也需要付水費，費用可能會是每月大約 30 美元。

You might also want to think about getting renter's insurance.

你可能也會考慮買租屋保險。

If there's a fire, a bad leak, or a burglary, rental insurance can cover the cost of your belongings, and it can be as little as fifteen dollars a month.

如果失火、嚴重漏水或發生竊盜，租屋保險可以補償你所有物的費用保險費可以少到一個月只要 15 美元。

Keep in mind, these are all general estimates.

請記得，這些都是大概的估算。

Your local utility or insurance companies are usually the most accurate source for this information if you want to figure it out yourself.

如果你想自己弄清楚，當地的水電公司和保險公司通常會提供最精確的資訊。

And these are just a few of the basic monthly costs you might encounter with a rental.

而這些都只是你在租屋時可能會遇到的一些每月基本花費。

You might run into extra charges for other amenities as well.

你可能也會碰到生活設施上的額外費用。

And again, depending on the lease agreement, you could even be responsible for additional things, like home repairs.

還有，根據租約，你可能甚至得負擔其它費用，例如房屋修繕費。

In any case, adding this up gives us a total of two twenty-five for general housing expenses.

無論如何，把這些加總起來可以得到居住費用大概是 225 美元。

So, we want to take this and subtract it from the original budget of one thousand, which leaves seven hundred seventy-five dollars for rent, which may or may not be enough.

所以，我們用原來的預算 1,000 美元減去這個金額，就剩 下775 美元用來付租金，這可能夠也可能不夠。

If it's too low, one possibility would be splitting your housing expenses with roommates, leaving you more to spend on rent.

如果不夠，有個可能的方法是和室友分擔居住費用，就可以留多點錢來付房租。

So, you can see there are a variety of expenses you may want to think about in addition to the rent, including the cost of just getting a new place, which we'll cover in another video.

所以你可以看到，除了房租之外可能還要考慮其它很多種花費包括搬到新家的費用，我們在另一部影片中會談到。