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Old 09-25-2015, 08:03 AM
 
73 posts, read 56,935 times
Reputation: 21

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for a single 24 year old who is looking to rent out a room in the bronx

a few details about myself

i am hopefully starting a new job where i will be making 33 thousand dollars a year not sure if it will be enough since i did work a valet job once before where i made roughly around 29 thousand a year and i was able to afford a 500 dollar a month room but had to limit myself a lot when it came to shopping and eating out things i love to do

the reason i ask if this is enough is because i will be commuting everyday on the train to go to work and get back home thats 5.50 every day it can get a bit pricey

i would just like to know if i can afford to live a good life with this money every year or am i better off locating a room closer to my job??

i will be working on beaver street
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Old 09-25-2015, 08:13 AM
 
Location: Detroit, MI
321 posts, read 414,557 times
Reputation: 697
No.
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Old 09-25-2015, 08:16 AM
 
Location: Ridgewood, NY
3,025 posts, read 6,783,660 times
Reputation: 1601
Quote:
Originally Posted by howlingtothemoon View Post
for a single 24 year old who is looking to rent out a room in the bronx

a few details about myself

i am hopefully starting a new job where i will be making 33 thousand dollars a year not sure if it will be enough since i did work a valet job once before where i made roughly around 29 thousand a year and i was able to afford a 500 dollar a month room but had to limit myself a lot when it came to shopping and eating out things i love to do

the reason i ask if this is enough is because i will be commuting everyday on the train to go to work and get back home thats 5.50 every day it can get a bit pricey

i would just like to know if i can afford to live a good life with this money every year or am i better off locating a room closer to my job??

i will be working on beaver street
If you're making $33K a year I'm assuming you're making about $15 an hour which depending on your circumstances could be anywhere from $425-475 weekly clean. Let's say you make about $450/wk, that comes out to about $1800 monthly. If I was you, what I would do is create an expense list of everything (EVERYTHING) you spend money on and how much do you spend on it monthly.

Example:

Rent for Room -$600
Food - $200
Complete Insurance - $200
Metro card - $120
Triple play package (Recommended for someone whose doing it alone) - $120
Haircut - $20
Additional Expenses - $240
Total Monthly Expenses: $1500
Total Monthly Income (Clean): $1800
Monthly Savings: $300

Even taking into account additional expenses if your list would look something like this, you'd still have a little wiggle room for savings.

Do this and exaggerate your expenses slightly. This way, if you do go over what you truly think you'll be spending every now and then, you're still within your monthly budget. You'd be surprised what people can live on if they would simply learn how to budget their money properly. Best of luck.

My opinion on your situation, I think you can. Two pieces of advice, don't get conned into living in the hood in the Bronx. There are plenty of decent working class areas in the Bronx that aren't that expensive, especially considering what the rest of the city is charging for rents. Decent options include Bedford Park, Parkchester, Throggs Neck, Pelham Bay, to name a few examples. Second piece of advice, choose your roommate carefully. There's a lot of crazies out there, be wise about who you decide to share an apartment and potentially spend most of your time with.

Last edited by anon1; 09-25-2015 at 08:24 AM..
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Old 09-25-2015, 08:52 AM
 
Location: Bergen County, NJ
9,847 posts, read 25,156,211 times
Reputation: 3627
It's doable but it's a tough way to live. I'd recommend you look into getting roommates. Just for mental sanity. Living alone sucks. I did it for a few years, so I know. Living alone in a room is even worse.
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Old 09-25-2015, 08:53 AM
 
Location: Bergen County, NJ
9,847 posts, read 25,156,211 times
Reputation: 3627
Quote:
Originally Posted by anon1 View Post
If you're making $33K a year I'm assuming you're making about $15 an hour which depending on your circumstances could be anywhere from $425-475 weekly clean. Let's say you make about $450/wk, that comes out to about $1800 monthly. If I was you, what I would do is create an expense list of everything (EVERYTHING) you spend money on and how much do you spend on it monthly.

Example:

Rent for Room -$600
Food - $200
Complete Insurance - $200
Metro card - $120
Triple play package (Recommended for someone whose doing it alone) - $120
Haircut - $20
Additional Expenses - $240
Total Monthly Expenses: $1500
Total Monthly Income (Clean): $1800
Monthly Savings: $300

Even taking into account additional expenses if your list would look something like this, you'd still have a little wiggle room for savings.

Do this and exaggerate your expenses slightly. This way, if you do go over what you truly think you'll be spending every now and then, you're still within your monthly budget. You'd be surprised what people can live on if they would simply learn how to budget their money properly. Best of luck.

My opinion on your situation, I think you can. Two pieces of advice, don't get conned into living in the hood in the Bronx. There are plenty of decent working class areas in the Bronx that aren't that expensive, especially considering what the rest of the city is charging for rents. Decent options include Bedford Park, Parkchester, Throggs Neck, Pelham Bay, to name a few examples. Second piece of advice, choose your roommate carefully. There's a lot of crazies out there, be wise about who you decide to share an apartment and potentially spend most of your time with.
Good advice.
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Old 09-25-2015, 09:33 AM
 
Location: New Jersey and hating it
12,148 posts, read 7,118,132 times
Reputation: 17303
Quote:
Originally Posted by howlingtothemoon View Post
the reason i ask if this is enough is because i will be commuting everyday on the train to go to work and get back home thats 5.50 every day it can get a bit pricey
Get the monthly Metro card. If you are going to ride back and forth everyday, it comes out cheaper. With the monthly card, you can ride as many times as you want in that month.
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Old 09-25-2015, 09:35 AM
 
170 posts, read 314,513 times
Reputation: 43
I would say it's doable for a couple of years while if you're young, frugal, and have prospects for something better. That kind of lifestyle is not sustainable in the long run, though. You get all the expenses of living in the city without any of the pleasures that come along with having some discretionary income here. If I were you, I wouldn't go into it without a concrete plan for transitioning into a higher-wage job within the next three years or so.
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Old 09-25-2015, 09:40 AM
 
Location: Lower East Side, NYC
2,970 posts, read 2,592,090 times
Reputation: 2371
Doable, I estimate I only -need- about $40k to live where i do at absolute minimum and my rent is $1600. It'll be tough, but certainly doable to live on that much in the Bronx. I also think that living alone depends on the person. For instance, I'd love to live with an SO, but would rather live alone otherwise. Preference after having lived alone for 2+ years.
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Old 09-25-2015, 09:41 AM
 
Location: New York City
372 posts, read 395,943 times
Reputation: 253
Quote:
Originally Posted by Javawood View Post
Doable, I estimate I only -need- about $40k to live where i do at absolute minimum and my rent is $1600. It'll be tough, but certainly doable to live on that much in the Bronx. I also think that living alone depends on the person. For instance, I'd love to live with an SO, but would rather live alone otherwise. Preference after having lived alone for 2+ years.
You need at least $65k. No landlord in New York is going to rent a $1600 apartment to you on a $40k income.
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Old 09-25-2015, 09:52 AM
 
Location: Lower East Side, NYC
2,970 posts, read 2,592,090 times
Reputation: 2371
To rent it yeah, but now that I have it if I were to for some reason have my income drop to 40k, I could still live off of that.
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