What can I afford as a beginning independent nurse?

Jules A, MSN · Apr 15, 2015

You sound like an amazing daughter. If you can save $154 a week you will have your $8,000 and since you are single and living at home I would think that should be very easy. My guess would be a new nurse starting salary is probably around $25 an hour which works out to be approximately $700 a week take home after taxes, benefits etc. Good luck!

CTnewgrad826 · Apr 15, 2015

Depends on how much you make but if you have basically nothing else to pay for (house, kids, etc) you should easily be able to do that within a year. That's awesome you're doing that for your parents!

ThatBigGuy · Apr 15, 2015

First, find out how much you would be paying for rent if you lived on your own. Then simply pay that much each month into your savings account. Looks like 12 months at ~$650 a month gets you pretty close to $8000. You can pick up one OT shift per pay period, which should get you pretty close to your goal, depending on pay.

Of course, the easiest way to figure all this out is to set up a budget. Mint is a great app for budgeting, so is everydollar.com (comes with an iPhone app, but not Android). Plug in all your expenses, bills, loan payments, gas, food, etc, and see if you have the room to give this fantastic gift to your parents.

llg, PhD, RN · Apr 15, 2015

You should be able to do it. Make a budget and stick with it. Either live with your parents or get a roommate to save on rent. Don't go out to eat often. Buy cheap clothes. etc.

Make a budget and stick with it.

But also ... be sure you contribute some to your retirement plan at work, too. Put that in your budget, too. Too many young people delay that, thinking they can always do it later. But money you save when you are young has more time to grow and as it compounds, that's how you accumulate large amounts for a safe, comfortable retirement. If you delay, the money will have less time to grow (and compound) and it significantly lowers the amount you will end up with. So be sure you contribute enough to your retirement to get whatever matching amount your employer will contribute. (That's free money for you -- don't turn it down.)

Good luck. I went to Edinburgh briefly, many years ago -- and loved it.

anon456, BSN, RN · Apr 15, 2015

I was a stay at home mom for 10 years and my husband didn't make loads of money. We had a medically needy child and lots of medical bills. We managed to stay out of debt by being frugal and not ever taking out a loan unless it was an emergency.

You do sound like a great daughter! I think the vacation will mean more when you can pay cash for it rather than taking them when you owe student loans or you are paying for the vacation with credit cards. It should not take long if you are frugal and pay close attention to your expenses. There are several good apps that can help you track things so you can see if you are spending $100 on Starbucks every month or other things like that.

Even now that I'm working, my husband and I live pretty much on his income, plus a few extras that my income affords. The majority of what I make goes into savings. We have kids and one is heading to college soon. People are astounded that we are a middle income family with a couple of kids and are debt free except for a low mortgage payment on a very modest home. We don't live like paupers but we are frugal.

Here are some things that help save money:

- avoid those expensive runs to Starbucks and learn to make your own at home. A coffee grinder and some flavored creamer makes you feel gourmet without the price tag. (Besides it saves time to not have to make coffee runs)

- never pay full price for anything unless you need it right now because of some urgent situation (a wedding or funeral). Buy clothes at the end of the season for deep discounts and save for next year. Shop at the discount clothing stores. You have to pick through a lot but often find something nice. Buy shoes at Zappos.com or other similar sites. I often buy cute, expensive name-brand nursing scrubs at the thrift store and get many compliments on them.

- Eat out or get carry out only on special occasions. It makes it more of a treat.

- If you are setting up your own place, try the resale furniture stores rather than buying new.

- Hold off on buying that new car or nice apartment until you are debt free and have enough in savings to put down a large down payment.

- Keep a simple hair style so you don't end up paying $$ on colors, highlights, and a complicated cut. Same with mani-pedis.

Every time you save money, write down how much you are saving and how much closer you are to paying off your debt and taking your parents on vacation.

Nonyvole, BSN, RN · Apr 15, 2015

Also in your budgeting, don't forget to put a few dollars aside from each paycheck for something just for you. It doesn't have to be anything fancy...massage schools offer massages by students for cheap, for example.

But you won't know just how you can budget everything out until you know what your base salary will be.

And actually, what I do? (now, granted, both my husband and I work so our income is quite nice, but I used this when I was single and living on my own, too) I use percentages. 60% or so of each paycheck goes to joint savings/pay off his student loans. We've had to do some pretty decent repairs on the house recently, so that gets eaten up rather quickly. 25-30% goes into my savings because I'm planning a surprise for the hubs. And paying for a hiking trip for the two of us. The rest goes to my checking account for my personal use and to buy things that normally I wouldn't, like dinner out at a nice restaurant instead of Denny's, trips to museums, that sort of thing. Living solo, it was about 90% bills/savings/essentials and 10% mine.

But yes. It's awesome that you want to take your parents on a trip. :) If you're really wanting to save up quickly, then also look into a second, PRN job. That way it would be flexible around your full-time job.

Editorial Team / Admin · Apr 15, 2015

Sounds like a great gift for your parents- and definitely doable! When I graduated and got my first nursing job, I lived at home for a few months, saved as much as I could. Then, I moved out and found a modest affordable apartment in a safe area. I was able to save up well over $20,000 in a mere 3 years even while paying rent, a car payment (paid off a 5 year loan 2.5 years early), student loans, contributing to my retirement account (at least enough to get the employer match but very quickly increased by an additional 2-3%), and having to purchase enough furniture and household goods to make my 1-bedroom apartment functional. How did I do it? Budgeting, budgeting, budgeting. If it wasn't in the budget and not essential, I made myself save up until I had the cash saved up, separate from the primary savings/emergency account. Many times, I realized that it wasn't something I wanted bad enough once I had the money available. Then I had even more savings.

Now, I have a mortgage, more utilities (many were included in the rent), student loans, a car payment (the old one finally died and had to be replaced), contribute 6% (plus whatever annual raise I get) of my income to my retirement account, and am working to pay off some credit card balances (unexpected home repair bills that were quite large and not fully covered by my emergency fund). I still save a fair amount of money and put myself back on the budgeting plan after letting it lapse for a year. I don't feel I'm missing out on anything by living frugally, because I budget a bit for myself to have fun- I can spend $20 on iTunes and $25 on eating out per month. During the month of my birthday, I also budget for a spa day. Makes it feel like I'm not sacrificing a lot but I'm building my savings and emergency fund back up (and the vacation fund, but that's a bit more of a slow go).

enuf_already · Apr 15, 2015

I would suggest you have a set amount of money direct deposited into either a credit union or savings account from your check. Do not make this money easily accessible and do not take anything out of this account.

It should take $308 per pay period to get $8,000 in one year. If you can afford it, put even more away in that account. It grows quickly when it's not readily available to spend.

If you and your parents get along well enough to live together for the next year under their stipulations, that may even help you more towards your goal.

Good luck to you in your career. Your parents have raised a wonderful, thoughtful nurse!

TravelRhythm · Apr 16, 2015

Thank you everyone for being so nice and helpful :)

bagladyrn, RN · Apr 16, 2015

Volunteer for overtime - not a ridiculous amount, just a shift per pay period and work the holidays. Tuck all the extra above your base pay right into savings and you'll get to your goal quickly.