Moving to Lincoln Park (Chicago: to rent, car insurance, safe neighborhood)

[New2LP]

Can I realistically survive in Lincoln Park on $1400 a month?? This is after paying rent and utilities. If anyone can answer that question or give any advice about the Lincoln Park area, that would be wonderful!! Thanks

[Drover]

There are already 13,482 threads in the Chicago forum that deal specifically or partially with Lincoln Park and a perfectly efficient search function to sniff them out, so I'm not going to elaborate on the details. Whether you can get buy on $1,400/mo of disposable income is, of course, up to you and what your personal lifestyle demands are. But I can tell you that there are plenty of LP residents who wish they had that kind of cash left over after shelling out a mint every month to rent a phone booth.

[aragx6]

I guess it depends on if you have kids - they're expensive (esp. childcare I hear)

[youngurbanprofessional]

Originally Posted by New2LP

Can I realistically survive in Lincoln Park on $1400 a month?? This is after paying rent and utilities. If anyone can answer that question or give any advice about the Lincoln Park area, that would be wonderful!! Thanks

No.

Lincoln Park is one of the most coveted areas to live in in the city of Chicago. You will have no rent left over from that 1400 + utilities.

You'd have to get a night job.

[New2LP]

I have no kids.

I have a car, but no car payment and am fine with street parking.

& I probably won't be spending too much money going out at first because I'm not going to know a soul.

[aragx6]

i think youngurbanprofessional read the OP's query wrong.

What exactly are you worried will cost $1400?? Groceries for one would never be more than $75-100/week on the high end (assuming you don't eat caviar for breakfast, lunch and dinner). I'm sure you have other bills like car insurance, cell phone etc. maybe $200/month tops... That still leaves you with like $800/month (or $200 a week) to play with- you'll be FINE (Wish I had that kind of moolah!)

[New2LP]

Originally Posted by aragx6

i think youngurbanprofessional read the OP's query wrong.

What exactly are you worried will cost $1400?? Groceries for one would never be more than $75-100/week on the high end (assuming you don't eat caviar for breakfast, lunch and dinner). I'm sure you have other bills like car insurance, cell phone etc. maybe $200/month tops... That still leaves you with like $800/month (or $200 a week) to play with- you'll be FINE (Wish I had that kind of moolah!)

I'm not sure what I think will be so expensive. I'm not from the area at all so I have been doing research online. Other online forums have people saying that there is no way a person could live comfortably on that amount of money in Lincoln Park.

Thanks for your help

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by New2LP

I'm not sure what I think will be so expensive. I'm not from the area at all so I have been doing research online. Other online forums have people saying that there is no way a person could live comfortably on that amount of money in Lincoln Park.

Thanks for your help

That's over $300 dollars a week to spend on whatever you deem necessary.

But if you don't think you can afford that, there's always the time tested solution of not living in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the city.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by New2LP

I'm not sure what I think will be so expensive. I'm not from the area at all so I have been doing research online. Other online forums have people saying that there is no way a person could live comfortably on that amount of money in Lincoln Park.

I think that's because, as one person did in this thread, people are misreading you and thinking the $1400/mo will be your entire take-home pay with which to pay for everything including rent and utilities. And in that case, they'd be right -- it would be a tight and probably stressful experience. But if that's what you think you'll have left over after rent and utilities, you'll be just fine unless you're the type who just has to live the high life every night of the week.

[KateL]

I think it depends on your age and gender and lifestyle. If you are a single guy, you'll have to watch it a little if you want to go on dates! (I know I know, some users on this forum will be horrified that I am suggesting that men pay for dates. Oh my gawd!) Dinner and the theater could easily blow your week's extra dough in one evening out. So you'll have to be a little careful and creative, but Lincoln Park really isn't that expensive. And you'll be in a great area for enjoying the great free things Chicago has to offer - especially with summer on the way. The zoo, the lake front, etc. Lincoln Park is geared for students in a lot of areas and so it has lots of inexpensive restaurants and bars that you can frequent when you want to go out but not blow your whole week's spending money. Tip: make your own coffee! I think it's worth the extra money to live in a nice safe neighborhood with easy access to the lake, but many others will and do disagree. You might even find that you could sell your car if you have one and then you'd have all that extra money, too.