My opinion. First of all, you're not doing terrible.
1. Pretend you get paid four times a month. Extra payday that month? Sweet, savings.
2. 180 on groceries per person is a bit high. I'd work with your housemates to figure out how to go a bit cheaper. For example, any time you're using the standard carb-heavy ingredients (pasta, beans, rice, bread/flour, potatoes) consider buying in larger bulk for cheaper. You're doing things as a household but you could easily cut the cost in half for yourself, so what's being bought? Otherwise doing things as a household is a great idea.
3. You're doing pretty well in most areas. Well done! And yes, it is justifiable to spend a little on hobbies, especially when there's a decent chance of making some dollars from them.
Notes:
Your income level doesn't make sense to invest in a roth in my opinion - not unless you're already paying $0 in federal tax. If you are, then roth is right. Otherwise, traditional is better. That assumes you'll be earning more later than today.
When you go full-time, do you get a 401k? Those are awesome if properly managed.
How to invest? The simple answer is this: Index fund. In short, an index fund takes your money and invests it in many - hundreds, thousands - of stocks. For example, the favorite around here is Vanguard's total market fund (VTSMX); it's a fund that invests in most stocks in the US. Market goes up, you go up. Market goes up over time, generally speaking. It's very cheap (you lose very little money to management/maintenance), and has an excellent track record. Alternatively, you could buy shares in VTI which is pretty much the same exact thing, but cheaper.
If that sounds too easy... it is. If you try to be fancy, you will probably lose. A single index fund, or equivalent exchange traded fund, will do the job. Your 401k, if you have one, should offer at least one broad-market index fund with a low expense ratio.
(Do you want any of these words defined?)
Required reading:
http://jlcollinsnh.com/stock-series/Now, the question of loans vs investments. Hard question. Your mileage may vary. Generally speaking, if you have - for example - loans at 5%, then paying them off is like a guaranteed 5% investment. If you assume that over long periods of time, index funds get you 7-8%, then paying off 6% might make sense, and paying 3% off might not. On the other hand, you could have an iron will, and you'd rather invest at 7% than pay off 6%. On the other hand, you might want to be debt free ASAP, and you'd rather pay off 3% than invest at 7%. So! It's completely reasonable to invest as much as possible, pay off as much as possible, or strike a middle ground; whatever you're comfortable with.
(Obviously if your loans are over 7-8%, probably better to pay them off.)
Then you have to think a little about investments and taxes. Remember how I said not to do a roth unless you have 0% federal tax due at the end of the year? That's because any money you put into a traditional IRA is put in tax-free, grows tax-free, but is taxed as income when you take it out. So if you earn $37k, put away $5k, you pay taxes on $32k today. On the other hand, a roth IRA means you pay taxes up-front, but then it grows tax-free and is not taxed as income upon withdrawal.
Similarly, a 401k is pre-tax contributions, roth 401k post-tax. But a 401k often has an employer match, which is nice; it also tends to have worse fund options, which is less nice.
Whew! So many things to consider. Let's simplify.
- See if you can spend less on food.
- Figure out if you get a 401k, and if you get any match. Matches are free dollars.
- Figure out taxes, and whether you should roth or traditional.
- Figure out loan % and your comfort level.
- You'll be fine if you keep thinking about this sort of stuff.
Out of curiosity, what do you do with film? Large format?
