147 Outer Drive Express : doubts for time of journey

[aragx6]

If you get rid of your car and can spend more of your budget on the apartment, you'll be more likely to find something closer that you can afford.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by aragx6

If you get rid of your car and can spend more of your budget on the apartment, you'll be more likely to find something closer that you can afford.

This.

I don't have a car. I've lived in Chicago for 13 years now without a car, and my housing budget is 3-4 times as high as yours so, no, I'm not carless out of poverty.

If you live somewhere you can park on the street and the car is already paid for, then you might as well keep it, but if you have to pay for parking, and ESPECIALLY if you have payments on it, you should really just strongly consider selling it (assuming you're not upside down on the payments). For less than $125/month you could join ZipCar or iGo and rent a Honda from them for 2 hours every weekend, and that would include insurance and gas. And splurge on a BMW for a couple hours every few weeks, too.

If you're looking to live cheaply with a car but still have some access to city live, then along the Blue Line north of the Western stop, or near UIC are probably your best bets. You can probably find street parking without too much trouble in those areas, and you can find inexpensive housing with a little effort. They're not quite as lively as the areas closer to the lake, but they're still fairly urban.