Maybe it's funner to just WANT to live in LA??? (Glendale: rent, credit card)

[CESpeed]

I've lived in LA most of my life and right now if my choices were deal with cold and get to leave or stay in LA, I would deal with the cold in a New York minute.

[allenk893]

Originally Posted by jc76

To make a long story short, I live in Indiana and have moved to LA twice now, once I got to LA I became very discouraged for many reasons. I'm not a professional and I have no college. I am lucky to have a great friend who lets me stay there free until I get on my feet, problem is i never get on my feet. The rent was so high that I knew i would not be able to make it on those $9-10hr starting wages, even with a room mate it would be hard to make it. I am supposed to be going back to LA in a few weeks, but now since i have moved back and forth so much the thrill seems to be kinda gone. Not really looking forward to it like I planned, not looking forward to the 6 months of cold weather here in Indiana either, but I can make it here. I love LA, I would never talk it down and LA/CA has TONS of fun things to do, perfect weather and what I found to be some nice people too.
Can anyone give me some advice here? Yes, I KNOW ONLY I CAN MAKE THESE DECISIONS, however, it's nice to hear what all of you have to say. So confusedThanks.

Well I didn't really read the replies of everyone else. So here my own suggestion. I don't know if you'll take it into consideration. Did you ever think about simply saving up your money? I mean let's think about it for a second. You are getting rent-free for your time in LA and with no job. You realize it is going to be too agonizing to keep an apartment on a $9-10 wage. So you save up. While your living rent-free in LA, get a job (any job) and start saving on the deposit price for an apartment which is usually the apartment's monthly rental price in LA. Once you do that, don't move in yet. For the next few weeks, work and pay off the first month's rent. Don't move in then either. Then start buying the necessities like food, furniture, etc. Spend your money on those things first before you move yourself in simply because the next time you work, it needs to go to rent and electricity. I don't know about all this. It's just a suggestion on getting off your feet first.

[matt345]

I've been living here for almost a year now. I currently live by myself, rent a studio apartment for $850/month in Burbank. The landlord pays for water and trash, I pay for electricity and sewer. I have basic cable (about 70 channels) and high speed Internet, which I also pay for monthly. Before I moved here, I had a very big savings, which allowed me to buy my car in full (used of course), so I don't have to worry about monthly car payments, which really helps. I'm currently making about 35k and I've been doing pretty well, but I can't imagine getting by on much less here. Keep in mind that I rarely go out to eat in a really upscale sit down restaurant; mostly I go to the cheap ethnic restaurants (Little Ethiopia, Chinese in Monterey Park, Indian in Artesia, etc), which I prefer anyway. Also, I spend my "entertainment" money on doing things, not buying things (I think some other poster may have mentioned this). I haven't bought a single new piece of clothing since moving here and have yet to step foot in one of those overpriced Hollywood clubs. But, then again, I have done a lot of traveling since moving to LA (San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix), so I guess that's where I spend my money.

[jc76]

Originally Posted by lalife

Advice? Quit complaining and open a book and learn new skills. I work in business for a Fortune 500 company and constantly take more classes to make myself more valuable to my employer ( currently enrolled in an on-line program) The complainers in the company work in the manufacturing plant. Funny, but they could also take advantage of the annual $7000 + tuition reimbursement that the company offers to EVERYONE, however they would rather complain about their lot in life than open a book and get educated. It is their choice to remain miserable with their lives.

First of all I am NOT miserable in my life. Money and hot shot jobs do NOT make me "happy."
Tuition reimbursement have never been an option for me at any place i have ever worked, lucky YOU.
You are right in one aspect, I could go back to school, but I have no interest in that to be quite honest, but that does not make me "miserable" or any less of a person. Just because someone is a manual laborer does not make them "miserable."
Jeez!

[lalife]

Originally Posted by jc76

First of all I am NOT miserable in my life. Money and hot shot jobs do NOT make me "happy."
Tuition reimbursement have never been an option for me at any place i have ever worked, lucky YOU.
You are right in one aspect, I could go back to school, but I have no interest in that to be quite honest, but that does not make me "miserable" or any less of a person. Just because someone is a manual laborer does not make them "miserable."
Jeez!

I worked in a factory for about a week and that is all I could take before I would have killed myself. IT SUCKED and is a miserable way to spend a day at work. Hence, my decision to go to school.

No tuition reimbursement? Well you have the free will to find a company that offers this, but apparently you have not tried hard enough to locate one. Am sure lots of companies in Chicago have such benefits.

Oh please, you don't care about money. Give me a f**ing break. Need lots of cash to live the good life in LA.

[greggd]

Originally Posted by jc76

Maybe it's funner to just WANT to live in LA???

Take one step at a time....basic reading, writing, and arithmetic should be a priority for you right now.

[jzt83]

If you want abundant sunshine for a low price, there's always NV, CO, UT, western OR and WA, AZ, NM, and FL.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by matt345

I've been living here for almost a year now. I currently live by myself, rent a studio apartment for $850/month in Burbank. The landlord pays for water and trash, I pay for electricity and sewer. I have basic cable (about 70 channels) and high speed Internet, which I also pay for monthly. Before I moved here, I had a very big savings, which allowed me to buy my car in full (used of course), so I don't have to worry about monthly car payments, which really helps. I'm currently making about 35k and I've been doing pretty well, but I can't imagine getting by on much less here. Keep in mind that I rarely go out to eat in a really upscale sit down restaurant; mostly I go to the cheap ethnic restaurants (Little Ethiopia, Chinese in Monterey Park, Indian in Artesia, etc), which I prefer anyway. Also, I spend my "entertainment" money on doing things, not buying things (I think some other poster may have mentioned this). I haven't bought a single new piece of clothing since moving here and have yet to step foot in one of those overpriced Hollywood clubs. But, then again, I have done a lot of traveling since moving to LA (San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Phoenix), so I guess that's where I spend my money.

I'm surprised you're able to live that kind of lifestyle on 35k. 850/ month rent is probably the key-- but that sounds awfully low.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

I'm surprised you're able to live that kind of lifestyle on 35k. 850/ month rent is probably the key-- but that sounds awfully low.

Yeah that's pretty cheap but it is a studio. The real fun comes when that car needs new tires, repairs, and eventual replacement, clothes wear out, computer needs replacing, TV blows up, etc. Its easy to get by for a while without spending much money but things have a way of catching up with you eventually. Before you know it you owe a few thousand on credit cards that just never seem to get paid down.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Yeah that's pretty cheap but it is a studio. The real fun comes when that car needs new tires, repairs, and eventual replacement, clothes wear out, computer needs replacing, TV blows up, etc. Its easy to get by for a while without spending much money but things have a way of catching up with you eventually. Before you know it you owe a few thousand on credit cards that just never seem to get paid down.

I'm paying $1200 a month for a studio apartment right by USC and this place is a dump. And this is actually considered relatively cheap for the area; when I was looking for a place to live last spring I found studio apartments even smaller and dingier than the one I live in, except that it had new faucets and token "granite countertops" going for $1400 a month. I have a friend who lives in an "okay" one bedroom apartment in Torrance who rents for $1300 a month. And another friend in Redondo Beach who recently moved out of a one bedroom going for $1350 a month. I know acquaintances in west LA who pay over $2000 a month to live in a "luxury" apartment. In any case, 850 a month sounds insanely low. Is that in a bad part of Burbank? Or is Burbank considered a screaming deal compared to the rest of LA?