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Work out how many months your savings last while job hunting
Practice: Giving the right context. About 5 minutes.
About this exercise
You want to know how long your savings last while you look for work. Your student loan is paused until March (not $0 on the list yet), and you earn about $800 a month from weekend tutoring. Write exactly 3 numbered lines: 1) monthly expenses added up, 2) monthly gap = expenses − income, 3) runway = savings ÷ gap in months. Plain text, under 60 words.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Not mentioning the pause and your income. The AI counts the loan and ignores tutoring money, so runway looks much shorter. Try: Add: "Loan is paused. I earn $800/month tutoring."
- Copying the list as-is. The AI keeps canceled streaming and misses the gas you noted. Try: Add: "Apply my notes: add gas, drop canceled items."
- Not asking to see the work. A bare number of months is hard to trust. Try: Add a line to copy: "3. Runway: $8,820 ÷ $X = Y months"
- Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it. Try: Cap each line: "each line under 14 words."
- Forgetting where it goes. AI loves markdown tables and bold, which show up as clutter in your notes app. Try: Add: "Plain text, no bold, headings or tables."
What a strong prompt includes
- Mentions the loan pause
- Mentions your income
- Asks to show the math
- Sets a word limit
- Asks for plain text
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