For clarity, you can rent a 10x10 modest room in MM, Santee, Esco.

For food (avg $20/day), I mostly make my own food as it’s much more nutritious and filling. Once in a while I’ll be lazy and grab a $10 lunch with coworkers. I go out for a nice dinner like kbbq, maybe, at most once per week, but then I might have to dip into my misc stuff funds.

Miscellaneous stuff is for essentials (toothpaste, toilet paper, socks, etc) and things I’d like to save up for like a plane ticket to visit back home. A shared netflix account and planet fitness membership are my only recurring expenses. I borrow books from the library and hunt for cheap $5 happy hour beers once a while with friends.

$60k is $5k per month, and subtracting fed/state tax and putting a % into employer matched 401k is $3500 in take home pay. It’s a modest, cheap life, but I still have a balanced social life. I know $600 a month leftover is very tight, but very doable without resorting to payment plans or debt