Quote:
Originally Posted by rzzz
You can rent houses in Minneapolis for that much and the job market here is pretty good.
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You can rent houses in about every area of the country for that much. There are very few exceptions (outside your huge metro areas like DC, NYC, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, large Cali cities, and apparently Hawaii). I rented a 6 bedroom house (built in 2004) in a beautiful area of Orlando, FL (gated community) for $1,400.
I spent most of my 20s living off of 1-1.5k/month while in grad school (2007-2011)
3-4 roommates
Rent: 350-400
Utilities & Cable: 100-125
Car Insurance: 60
Food: ~200
Gas: ~100
Entertainment: ~100-150
Cell Phone: 50-75
When I got married to my wife I was 27 and she was 24. I took home exactly 1k/month Grad school stipend and my wife took home slightly more (making about 12 dollars an hour).
Together we took home about $2,400 a month after insurance, taxes, etc.
Rent: $880
Cell Phones: $100
Utilities: $150
Cable: $90
Internet: $50
Gas: $200
Food: $320
Car Insurance: $100
Total: $1890
Remaining: $510
Most people who are talking about how difficult it is to live on or near min. wage budget have probably never even done it. Sure I couldn't go buy a new car, but I had a car worth about 3k and it sufficed. Sure I didn't have a flat screen tv, or a ps3, but I didn't need it. I biked to campus a lot (6 miles) and showered at the gym, especially when gas prices in Florida were hovering around 4-4.50 a gallon. I spent a lot of time doing free stuff, hanging out at the apartment pool, going to the beach, watching a sporting event with roommates or friends or playing pickup soccer or basketball.
I guess according to most here, I wasn't really living, more like resembling a third world country citizen, but I loved it.