Don't do it until you can afford it. If you are really losing a lot of money to the donks at the $0.50 tables then you need to figure out the leak in your game and plug it.

It sounds like you may have difficulties playing against loose opponents and maybe you are having trouble making tough laydowns. So instead of thinking that moving up to the $1 tables is going to make it easier for you, (cause it won't) you should pick a couple of books or start reading every thread on this forum until you can improve on those aspects of your game.

Trust me on this one, I've gone that route before. I blew my entire BR (+$600) when I moved up to the $1 tables too soon. You won't find a big change in the level of skill and the only difference you will see, as you already mentioned above, is that the bad beats hurt a LOT more than they did at $0.25 tables.