[Cirque du Soleil's Viva]

Oh, Las Vegas Drunk, I posted to quickly, I just saw your breakdown of expenses post. That's really great. Personally, I don't know if I could do the roommate thing since I'm so use to being on my own, but should the need ever arise it's good to know I could live off of $800 a month and still buy beer too.

[mojavedxer]

Originally Posted by Cirque du Soleil's Viva

Oh, Las Vegas Drunk, I posted to quickly, I just saw your breakdown of expenses post. That's really great. Personally, I don't know if I could do the roommate thing since I'm so use to being on my own, but should the need ever arise it's good to know I could live off of $800 a month and still buy beer too.

You can still live very inexpensive and have a place of your own if you manage your money correctly. Learn to negotiate a better price for services and insurance and learn how to bargain shop.

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by mojavedxer

You can still live very inexpensive and have a place of your own if you manage your money correctly. Learn to negotiate a better price for services and insurance and learn how to bargain shop.

In order to have your own place, you would need to at least take home $1,400 a month. Even then, you would would be living paycheck to paycheck. On what I make I could afford to get my own place, but it would not make financial sense. I would have to pay more money to live in a worse place. For example, there is nothing more that I hate then a place that does not have a washer and dryer in the unit.

[mojavedxer]

Originally Posted by las vegas drunk

In order to have your own place, you would need to at least take home $1,400 a month. Even then, you would would be living paycheck to paycheck. On what I make I could afford to get my own place, but it would not make financial sense. I would have to pay more money to live in a worse place. For example, there is nothing more that I hate then a place that does not have a washer and dryer in the unit.

I live comfortable on $1100 a month. It's all about your money management. What you spend of food and gas I can do for half your amount.

[Snowlife]

LV really isn't bad. I was born and raised in Hawaii(where a gallon of milk is like $8.00 and a decent 3bed/2bath is still $650,000), moved to Lake Tahoe(where space is at a premium and everything costs more because trucks have to drive out of the way uphill and in the winter, in blizzard conditions), and then lived in LA($$$). I consider my COL in LV very reasonable. I pay $460/month+$80 or so in utils every month for half of a 2 bed/2 bath in a nice condo at Silverado/Maryland, food is cheap here(although I eat a lot ), and I have a very decent job at the moment so I am very happy. However, car insurance KILLS me! I don't even wanna tell you what I pay, but I will say that overall the pluses outweigh many of the minuses

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by Snowlife

LV really isn't bad. I was born and raised in Hawaii(where a gallon of milk is like $8.00 and a decent 3bed/2bath is still $650,000), moved to Lake Tahoe(where space is at a premium and everything costs more because trucks have to drive out of the way uphill and in the winter, in blizzard conditions), and then lived in LA($$$). I consider my COL in LV very reasonable. I pay $460/month+$80 or so in utils every month for half of a 2 bed/2 bath in a nice condo at Silverado/Maryland, food is cheap here(although I eat a lot ), and I have a very decent job at the moment so I am very happy. However, car insurance KILLS me! I don't even wanna tell you what I pay, but I will say that overall the pluses outweigh many of the minuses

Try going with progressive insurance. I pay $230 every six months. One of the frugal tricks I use is to drive an older cars that are worth no more than $500 or so. That way, you only need to have liability insurance. I assume by really bad, you are probably talking about $100 a month or so. That would hurt me too.

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by mojavedxer

I live comfortable on $1100 a month. It's all about your money management. What you spend of food and gas I can do for half your amount.

I will admit you got me beat. There is no way I could live on $5 a day, and spend only $5 a week on gas. I do not know how you do it either.

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by las vegas drunk

Try going with progressive insurance. I pay $230 every six months. One of the frugal tricks I use is to drive an older cars that are worth no more than $500 or so. That way, you only need to have liability insurance. I assume by really bad, you are probably talking about $100 a month or so. That would hurt me too.

Eliminating collision coverage on an older vehicle is smart. However, how much liability coverage do you have? Is that $230 for the state minimum of $15k/$30k/$10k? If so, what will you do if you are at fault in an accident and cause more than $10k damage to a car? That doesn't take much these days.

[Snowlife]

Originally Posted by las vegas drunk

Try going with progressive insurance. I pay $230 every six months. One of the frugal tricks I use is to drive an older cars that are worth no more than $500 or so. That way, you only need to have liability insurance. I assume by really bad, you are probably talking about $100 a month or so. That would hurt me too.

Yeah, well my car blue books for 10k+ and I have full coverage. I'm in the process of selling it, but in the meantime, its more than a few bucks over $100 Dang insurance

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

Eliminating collision coverage on an older vehicle is smart. However, how much liability coverage do you have? Is that $230 for the state minimum of $15k/$30k/$10k? If so, what will you do if you are at fault in an accident and cause more than $10k damage to a car? That doesn't take much these days.

Well, I am not going to lie to you. I have the state minimum that you quoted. I have tried to get the $100k/$300k/$50k that is recommended, but they triple my rates. Here is what I found:

$38 a month for basic liability at the state limits

$120 a month for $100k/$300k/$50K (still only liability)

$228 a month for $100k/$300k/$50K, plus comp and collision, rental, medical payments etc (full coverage)

Because of the ridiculous rates, I have to accept what I got. I have no property or any assets worth anything, so I do not think anyone would waste their time suing me. The good thing is I have never had an at fault accident in my life, so hopefully it never happens.

p.s. What is really sad is these rates I quoted are for a 1991 Ford Escort!