Cost of Living

[Beak]

This is an area where I'm going to say none of your business.

It's a good thing he made it a thread instead of PMing only you then, right?

[benderx]

Living in a castle would nice. King

[Jrecee]

Yeah when I say having my own place I mean owning. I'm aware of the down payment requirement. I have looked at renting but it just doesn't make sense (for me). Around here the cheapest 2 bedroom apartment I could get is about $800. Even with a high mortage rate I can get a house for about $900 a month. A 3 bedroom/3 bath/2 car garage/basement/backyard house.

Cell phone/TV/Internet/Landline is about $150. My car insurance is $150. Food (grocery and eating out) about $250. Health insurance $100. Dental insurance. . . $6 a month, it's called Listerine and floss. Gas for my car, between $50-$100. $100 for everyday stuff like shampoo, paper towels, detergent. $100 for movies, games, etc. Right there that's $1750. Then there's gas/electric/water which I'm not sure about, homeowners insurance, also not sure about. That at least gets me up to $2000. And that's without any savings. I want to be able to travel a bit and save up for necessary things like my next car, sudden expenses, etc. So $2500? And that's before taxes. Yikes.

[jeffro11]

Just cut down on what you spend. Pretty simple. Do you NEED cable/satellite? Do you NEED to eat out? Of course not $2500 would be nice... god damn. I'd be living the high life with that.

[Limewater]

Cell phone/TV/Internet/Landline is about $150. My car insurance is $150. Food (grocery and eating out) about $250. Health insurance $100. Dental insurance. . . $6 a month, it's called Listerine and floss. Gas for my car, between $50-$100. $100 for everyday stuff like shampoo, paper towels, detergent. $100 for movies, games, etc. Right there that's $1750. Then there's gas/electric/water which I'm not sure about, homeowners insurance, also not sure about. That at least gets me up to $2000. And that's without any savings. I want to be able to travel a bit and save up for necessary things like my next car, sudden expenses, etc. So $2500? And that's before taxes. Yikes.

Most financial planners don't suggest getting into a mortgage that is more than 25% of your income, and most apartment complexes require that your monthly income be at least three times your rent.

But why would you rent a two bedroom apartment by yourself?

[opticledilusi0n]

It isn't really hard to live in a house. if you don't make much, your life consists of looking for food store coupons and staying in instead of going out (for food, entertainment etc)

which is why I play videogames

anyways

2500$/month for mortgage, taxes, home owners insurance
100$/quarterly for water
Electric is about 100-300$ a month
gas is 20-40$ a month

if you get just internet and use the internet to replace cable tv... use google voice/aim/facebook/skype instead of a phone you save a bundle .

next is food. i can live off 30$ a week for food (you need to make everything from scratch for that)

So yea, around 3k$ a month

at least in jersey

[chupon]

The trick is live below your means and be happy playing video games.

[pepharytheworm]

I have made a wide range of money from a thousand a month to 5 thousand. Right now living off $2000. Living in Atlanta, to live on your own and drive a car its gonna cost over $2000. I've always had to have a roomate, fiance now.

Now its totally doable to live in atlanta making less than $2000 if you ride Marta, Public transportation, and live in a cheap area. Cheap here is around $700 and still be close to atlanta.

[vash23n]

My wife and I live on the Main Line in the Philly area. It is obnoxiously expensive. We ended up here because I was in grad school at Villanova and we ended up both working. There are plenty of benefits, the main one being safety. We have lived in Philly and it is too overwhelming as we are both not city people.

Rent: 1200/mo
Truck: 350/mo
Car Insurance for 2 Cars: 110/mo
Electric: 100-300/mo depending on Winter/Summer
Phones: 125/mo
Cable/Internet: 125/mo
Gym: 108/mo
Meds: 175/mo (no insurance)
Only Credit Card we Currently Pay: 600/mo
Netflix: 15/mo
Total: 2908-3108/mo

Total Monthly Income: 3500-4000/mo depending on hours we get at work. Of course I left off the other two credit cards that total about 7000 that we currently ignore and the 130,000 we owe in student loans that we have deferred. Also, not including groceries and stuff. I should mention that those credit cards were all cards we applied for in emergencies. The one we pay on is when my computer broke while I was writing a major paper for grad school. The two we don't pay are both from auto shops because cars broke down and we need transportation to get to and from work. This makes it sound like I am trying to make excuses. Well, kind of, but also what that means is that these cards have like 23% interest rates. The one real credit card we had we paid off recently. Thank goodness for tax returns.

[Jrecee]

Unless it was a very big apartment I'd have to have a two bedroom. I have way too much stuff to fit in a one bedroom. Anyway, my dad lived in apartments for a long time and it sucked. I really don't want to throw the money away anyway if I can pay slightly more and own something. Not to mention get a whole lot more.