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- below $100K Mid America and particularly the South
- Over $100K to $200K East coast
- Over $200K pick any large city
- Over $300K California
This is completely unrealistic. So if I ever wanted to move to Cali (which, I don't), you recommend that I bring in $300,000 a year first?!
I will say I DO appreciate that you are pushing financial responsibility and I do think your intention is good. Really. Money IS important. But I'm not moving to the middle of no where for the sake of getting the most bang for my buck. Maybe that would work for you, but me and you are two totally different people.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pine to Vine
This is the rub. It is hard to know what "living comfortably" means to you. You are currently in Houston. To give you a perspective, we owned a house in Montrose for 15 years. When it came time to move to Philly, we had a nice sum of money from our the sale of house. Even with this, we found we had to dedicate 2-1/2 times what we sold our Montrose house for in order to live in a manner we consider "comfortable." This didn't just happen. We dedicated ourselves to saving those 26 years in Houston. I was with one of the big energy companies and my DH works for and engineering firm, we had the luxury of saving more than most other people.
I am not saying you should stay in Houston until you are old. My advice is to prepare a budget on your $45K that takes into account groceries which are higher here (e.g., the going price for bananas is 79 cents), car insurance (also higher here), car maintenance (which may include monthly parking which starts at $200/month in CC), taxes (roughly 7% v 0% in Houston) plus any other essential expenses you might have. The remainder is what you will have to spend on housing. Anything left after tells you how much will be left over for fun.
With this figure, you can consider how much money you need to dedicate for housing, and folks here can better steer you to the right part of the metro. Hope you can make your dream come true.
This is a fantastic idea and would be the smartest way to go about things. Really get an idea about my income, what I have going out, and factoring in the difference in living between Philly and Houston. I don't think food would cause an issue since its just me and I don't have a family, but housing definitely might since thats a huge chunk out of income, so that is my biggest worry. I have some debt but its not terrible by any means and aside from my car, I could get rid of it within a year and a half if I was smart and frugal. Fortunately I don't and won't have any student loans thanks to the military and that is a huge help.
For $45K I won't be living large by any means and at this point in my life, I don't need to be. But hopefully I'll not only be making more than that, but it will be enough to live off of and I'll have room to grow.
Sure, I can move to somewhere like Nebraska or Oklahoma or Kansas and REALLY save and secure "financial stability" until I'm older... but I would be absolutely miserable. Money is important, but so is my sanity! I've been to Oklahoma, I cannot imagine living there!
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,684,299 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by TXNgal
This is completely unrealistic. So if I ever wanted to move to Cali (which, I don't), you recommend that I bring in $300,000 a year first?!
I will say I DO appreciate that you are pushing financial responsibility and I do think your intention is good. Really. Money IS important. But I'm not moving to the middle of no where for the sake of getting the most bang for my buck. Maybe that would work for you, but me and you are two totally different people.
This is a fantastic idea and would be the smartest way to go about things. Really get an idea about my income, what I have going out, and factoring in the difference in living between Philly and Houston. I don't think food would cause an issue since its just me and I don't have a family, but housing definitely might since thats a huge chunk out of income, so that is my biggest worry. I have some debt but its not terrible by any means and aside from my car, I could get rid of it within a year and a half if I was smart and frugal. Fortunately I don't and won't have any student loans thanks to the military and that is a huge help.
For $45K I won't be living large by any means and at this point in my life, I don't need to be. But hopefully I'll not only be making more than that, but it will be enough to live off of and I'll have room to grow.
Sure, I can move to somewhere like Nebraska or Oklahoma or Kansas and REALLY save and secure "financial stability" until I'm older... but I would be absolutely miserable. Money is important, but so is my sanity! I've been to Oklahoma, I cannot imagine living there!
Food expenditures vary by individual. You can follow grocery store sales online. There are chains that will be the same stores but the prices may vary regionally. Milk varies by state.
I don't have the statistics but I'm willing to bet there are just as many unhappy and miserable folks in Philly as anywhere else. In fact, just based on how crappy traffic is here (some interstate highways have tolls and they are 2 lane highways!) and commutes are much longer) I think the level of misery is higher.
I've been to Tulsa, OK which is really in the middle of nowhere about 8 times to visit family and I thought it was a good place to live. What don't you like about OK? Or what makes you think Philly is better than Tulsa? Is it because you stayed in a military base? Was living in a military base a bad experience?
Quote:
Originally Posted by TXNgal
Sure, I can move to somewhere like Nebraska or Oklahoma or Kansas and REALLY save and secure "financial stability" until I'm older... but I would be absolutely miserable. Money is important, but so is my sanity! I've been to Oklahoma, I cannot imagine living there!
let's face it, if one is searching for food sales online, it means they can't afford to buy food!
Quote:
Originally Posted by southbound_295
Food expenditures vary by individual. You can follow grocery store sales online. There are chains that will be the same stores but the prices may vary regionally. Milk varies by state.
I don't have the statistics but I'm willing to bet there are just as many unhappy and miserable folks in Philly as anywhere else. In fact, just based on how crappy traffic is here (some interstate highways have tolls and they are 2 lane highways!) and commutes are much longer) I think the level of misery is higher.
I've been to Tulsa, OK which is really in the middle of nowhere about 8 times to visit family and I thought it was a good place to live. What don't you like about OK? Or what makes you think Philly is better than Tulsa? Is it because you stayed in a military base? Was living in a military base a bad experience?
Yes, there are indeed miserable people everywhere.
But people are miserable for different reasons as I'm sure you can imagine. Again, I am not you and you are not me. Neither of us represent everyone. I feel like you have a difficult time seeing other people's perspectives...
My misery would come from my surroundings. Is the weather nice, or at least tolerable? Are there things to do in the city? Are people kind and open? Is it diverse? Can I have a good social life and wide variety of friends? Can I live in a safe area and survive? It doesn't have to be fancy, but I need to be comfortable. If these things can be fulfilled, then I'm happy.
I live in Houston and deal with bad traffic, although I'm not sure how Philly's traffic compares. Traffic doesn't make me unhappy, its just apart of day to day life. At least in Philly it sounds like there's better public transport. No traffic would make me REAL happy, but it is just life at this point.
I've been to OK both in the military and out. Ft. Sill then Oklahoma City. I didn't like the weather. I didn't like the environment. I found it dull and uneventful (no offense to anyone from OK. It just wasn't my cup of tea). I like the big city feel and it just didn't give me that feeling.
I do love Houston but think the NE suits me better. Obviously I cannot afford the more expensive cities such as DC, but Philly sounds very reachable... to me at least! I know you think otherwise.
For a young person, Philly is a really fun city to live in. But guess what. You're probably going to get stuck in the rat race for the rest of your life buying lottery tickets and hoping to get out of the rat race.
I sorta sympathize with your overall point (especially since people here often exaggerate how affordable Philadelphia is) - although it's been the opposite for me. I've lived in big cities for much of my life. It's as I've gotten a little older (I'm not quite 30 yet - not sure if I can accuse myself of getting old yet or not) I've wondered about whether it makes sense to continue to do so or not, part of that being the financial aspect. Like getting tired of paying rent, and understanding what our pretty decent household income (which is still much less than what you consider good) combined with our decent savings (especially for people our age, especially starting out with pretty big student loan debt) would actually get us, not only in Philadelphia, but in any big city really.
But you also seem to be really out of touch with what the average person earns and what life is like for most people - which makes it hard to listen to the few good points you make. You know? The main thing being that most people anywhere in America would consider 45k something from a respectable to a great income - especially so in Philadelphia where the majority of people make substantially less (myself as an individual, not taking into account my spouse, included).
Also no, you don't need a car in Philadelphia (nor in a lot of big cities) and the question is largely how big of a hassle will it be to not have a car. And there are plenty of other options if it will be a slight hassle - like car sharing. It's probably the major way living in a city can save you money - it's been working for me for over 10 years now, and one of the main things that has kept me in big cities so far.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,684,299 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by 1ondoner
let's face it, if one is searching for food sales online, it means they can't afford to buy food!
I think that you have a rotten attitude. Grocery stores post their weekly flyers online. A thinking person can look at sale prices & compare them to sale prices where they live, thereby figuring out how the food prices compare.
One thing I have found out is that most people are poor listeners and prefer to hear that which they agree with. It's the same when it comes to what they watch or read. On the flip side there many people who don't know what they are saying. so I not only try to listen to what they are saying but also figure out if they know what they are saying.
I can assure you I'm not out of touch with what an average person earns. The other week, I went for a run with a group of blind runners in Philly. I know the office cleaners and security staff at work on a first name basis. Yesterday evening after work, I spent 10 minutes chatting with the security guy in the parking lot. On Sunday, I hosted a truck driver for lunch whom I previously met in church. At a social level, I interact with people from all spectrums of life. I call my tenants to find out how they are doing and I've had tea at their houses. Before I moved to Philly, I used to volunteer to drive sick Vets to the VA hospital or buy their groceries. I've spent hours with a Vet while he waited for the doctor to see him and then I took him back home.
When I say I wouldn't live on $45K in Philly, I damn well know what I'm talking about. But there's people out there who think one can even raise a family on minimum wage.
Everyday when we wake up we have to make choices. Some people make good choices, some don't. C'est la vie.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FamousBlueRaincoat
I sorta sympathize with your overall point (especially since people here often exaggerate how affordable Philadelphia is) - although it's been the opposite for me. I've lived in big cities for much of my life. It's as I've gotten a little older (I'm not quite 30 yet - not sure if I can accuse myself of getting old yet or not) I've wondered about whether it makes sense to continue to do so or not, part of that being the financial aspect. Like getting tired of paying rent, and understanding what our pretty decent household income (which is still much less than what you consider good) combined with our decent savings (especially for people our age, especially starting out with pretty big student loan debt) would actually get us, not only in Philadelphia, but in any big city really.
But you also seem to be really out of touch with what the average person earns and what life is like for most people - which makes it hard to listen to the few good points you make. You know? The main thing being that most people anywhere in America would consider 45k something from a respectable to a great income - especially so in Philadelphia where the majority of people make substantially less (myself as an individual, not taking into account my spouse, included).
Also no, you don't need a car in Philadelphia (nor in a lot of big cities) and the question is largely how big of a hassle will it be to not have a car. And there are plenty of other options if it will be a slight hassle - like car sharing. It's probably the major way living in a city can save you money - it's been working for me for over 10 years now, and one of the main things that has kept me in big cities so far.
When I say I wouldn't live on $45K in Philly, I damn well know what I'm talking about. But there's people out there who think one can even raise a family on minimum wage.
Yet the city wouldn't even exist if everyone took your advice. What you're basically saying is that you don't understand how people can live without being (at least sort of) wealthy.
We all know smoking causes cancer but there are millions of smokers out there. Why don't they take the Surgeon's General advice?
Is it because they don't care about their health? Or they are just dumb?
Quote:
Originally Posted by FamousBlueRaincoat
Yet the city wouldn't even exist if everyone took your advice. What you're basically saying is that you don't understand how people can live without being (at least sort of) wealthy.
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