Can I afford to live in Austin?

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by Antny12

Not trying to be mean but moving to a place like Austin on that income is a really bad idea and probably how the homeless population continues to explode.

In my "Girls New to Austin" Facebook group there are people left and right who move to Austin thinking its going to be amazing; find roommates online, get a little vet tech/restaurant/favor runner job and think that things are going to be great and they'll be able to hit up Rainey and the Domain and 6th nightly. No. Your roommate is not going to an angel sent from heaven to make Austin amazing and the job you thought would provide for you is not even enough to pay for a night out on Rainey. That's why in six months you're looking for someone to sublease your $900 a month room in Barton Springs and moving back to North Carolina to live with your parents.

Originally Posted by River City Rocky

I get it and I've seen the numbers, I guess it's just hard to really believe and assimilate given that they're so close to each other.

Before I moved to Austin I worked with a girl at a non-profit off of San Pedro who said she lived near Converse and her husband commuted to south Austin because the cost of living was too much.

[Austin97]

Originally Posted by ashbeeigh

In my "Girls New to Austin" Facebook group there are people left and right who move to Austin thinking its going to be amazing; find roommates online, get a little vet tech/restaurant/favor runner job and think that things are going to be great and they'll be able to hit up Rainey and the Domain and 6th nightly. No. Your roommate is not going to an angel sent from heaven to make Austin amazing and the job you thought would provide for you is not even enough to pay for a night out on Rainey. That's why in six months you're looking for someone to sublease your $900 a month room in Barton Springs and moving back to North Carolina to live with your parents.



Before I moved to Austin I worked with a girl at a non-profit off of San Pedro who said she lived near Converse and her husband commuted to south Austin because the cost of living was too much.

cbach is going to want to join that group..

[riaelise]

Even in SA that isn't a lot of money. Many of the better areas there would require more income.

Getting into a trade isn't bad and you can make good money. Construction makes good money here. It depends on the trade and usefulness. With cosmetology, you'll need to build up a client base. It's going to be hard work until you hit your stride and make more money.

If you're going to spend money on a trade school, spend it on one that will have better employment opportunities. Seriously, electricians, and skilled workers make good money anywhere.

You're fixated on Austin, but truth is, you'd probably need subsidized housing (and those dwellings have long wait lists here).

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by austin97

cbach is going to want to join that group..

:d

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by River City Rocky

Oh ok I'd been thinking about becoming a barber because it's what Ive been wanting to do for a long time and I've seen some barbers here that make a pretty good living and I thought it might be similar in Austin but I guess it just is way different.

Yes of course I've been wanting to visit but I work a lot and don't have a lot of free time to really get to visit the way I'd like to. I'm going to take a couple of days off and do it pretty soon though.

Go to barber school so you can get a barbers license. If you're good at cutting hair you can probably have an average middle class lifestyle in the Austin region. If you rent a chair in a barber shop, you'll find lots of loyal customers who request you, and if you decide to barber from home, and be willing to make house calls, you could have a pretty big clientelle.

I know a couple of barbers who been barbering in Austin for 30 or 40 years and they always lived modestly and have a nice middle class lifestyle, and they make house calls and take in customers at their house. Of course they started barbering when Austin was still cheap, and now everything is paid for so most money they make from barbering is all profit. They don't have $1000 a month rent.

I think you can make a living in Austin as a barber, as long as you're good at barbering and are passionate about it and consider barbering an art instead of "work" or a "job", you should mak it ok. At first you might have to live with room mates, until you can build up a clientelle, but it's doable.

[River City Rocky]

Originally Posted by Ivory Lee Spurlock

Go to barber school so you can get a barbers license. If you're good at cutting hair you can probably have an average middle class lifestyle in the Austin region. If you rent a chair in a barber shop, you'll find lots of loyal customers who request you, and if you decide to barber from home, and be willing to make house calls, you could have a pretty big clientelle.

I know a couple of barbers who been barbering in Austin for 30 or 40 years and they always lived modestly and have a nice middle class lifestyle, and they make house calls and take in customers at their house. Of course they started barbering when Austin was still cheap, and now everything is paid for so most money they make from barbering is all profit. They don't have $1000 a month rent.

I think you can make a living in Austin as a barber, as long as you're good at barbering and are passionate about it and consider barbering an art instead of "work" or a "job", you should mak it ok. At first you might have to live with room mates, until you can build up a clientelle, but it's doable.

Yea it's definitely something I'm passionate about, sometimes I just worry about the financial aspects of it.