A late 20's idiot seeking advice.
After spending my early 20s smoking weed and goofing off and generally being an idiot, taking way too long to finish my degree, I'm now 29 and finally getting my career off the ground. I've started wondering what it's actually going to take for me to live on my own and eventually have a home.
I've been working since I was a teenager, but I never made enough to save anything meaningful until about a year ago. My father passed away when I was young, and my mother is disabled. She's been generous enough to give me a place to live, and in return I handle repairs around the house and cover half her bills. She receives disability payments and my father's pension, so she gets by — but it would be very tight for her if I left, and she tends to struggle with money management. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement, and I'm aware she'll still need my support even after I move out.
I have a degree in IT and currently work as an Assistant Director, earning $85k a year. That said, I only reached this salary about six months ago — before that I was an entry-level sysadmin making around $50k. I live in a fairly low cost-of-living area in the southern US.
Honestly, not great, but not hopeless either. I have basically no savings or emergency fund right now, about $12,000 in my 401k, and still owe around $15,000 on my car. I've been throwing about $2,000 a month at it to get it paid off as fast as possible. My credit score sits around 730. The last six months have mostly gone toward paying off debt I built up during university, so I haven't had much of a chance to actually start saving yet.
I don't want to live with my mother forever. Her place is small, and I'm ready to stand on my own two feet. Honestly, I'd rather pay all of her bills than hand money to a landlord — at least that helps family. I know she'll still need my support even after I move out, and I'm okay with that.
I know this is going to take serious discipline and I'm willing to live as frugally as necessary to make it happen. I've thought about selling my car to get my money back out of it before depreciation takes too big a bite, and just driving something cheap and reliable in the meantime. I've also been looking into opening a high-yield savings account to make my money work a little harder while I grind through this.
My situation isn't ideal, but I know it could be a lot worse. If anyone has advice or insight to share, I'd really appreciate it.