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Old 10-18-2009, 12:36 PM
 
Location: Hell's Kitchen, NYC
2,271 posts, read 5,125,075 times
Reputation: 1613

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Quote:
Originally Posted by texas7 View Post
Well as I spent $209 on groceries this morning - and not serious groceries either - just staples, bread, milk, cereal, juices, soup sandwich fixings, garbage bags, etc. -- nothing to make a full-sized dinner -- yes it is fairly pricey to live here.
Psht...they take advantage of college students I spent more than a 4th of that on spices, fruit and cake stuffs here in Boston...at least you can make something. I'm pretty sure I spent at least $6 for NUTMEG.

 
Old 10-18-2009, 01:13 PM
 
Location: Clear Lake, Houston TX
8,376 posts, read 30,582,212 times
Reputation: 4718
Quote:
Originally Posted by crbcrbrgv View Post
Did you shop at Foodtown, Wal-Mart, Kroger or a big fancy HEB like the one in Bunker Hill? Houston has so many options for groceries I have found it's very cheap for that kind of stuff if you don't mind shopping with "regular folks".

What are "regular folks?" Customers who have food fights in the aisles? 17 year old mothers who drop F-bombs at their loud, 2 y.o. kids in front of 33 y.o. grandma? How about ''conquistador'' type employees who refuse to speak English to your gringo culo when you need help? In some ''regular folks'' stores, some people claim to feel the need to scrub themselves with a Tuffy after shopping. Surely you can save a lot of money if you prefer to deal with this type of Wal-Mart/Food Town/Fiesta environment, and we do it often (and as quickly as possible.) Otherwise you are right... Clear Lake Randalls, and other stores of that caliber (clean, cool, mood lights, no trapped birds, huge wine rack, etc) can definitely waste your $200 in short order.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 01:29 PM
 
Location: Hell's Kitchen, NYC
2,271 posts, read 5,125,075 times
Reputation: 1613
Quote:
Originally Posted by tstone View Post
What are "regular folks?" Customers who have food fights in the aisles? 17 year old mothers who drop F-bombs at their loud, 2 y.o. kids in front of 33 y.o. grandma? How about ''conquistador'' type employees who refuse to speak English to your gringo culo when you need help? In some ''regular folks'' stores, some people claim to feel the need to scrub themselves with a Tuffy after shopping. Surely you can save a lot of money if you prefer to deal with this type of Wal-Mart/Food Town/Fiesta environment, and we do it often (and as quickly as possible.) Otherwise you are right... Clear Lake Randalls, and other stores of that caliber (clean, cool, mood lights, no trapped birds, huge wine rack, etc) can definitely waste your $200 in short order.
Actually that does sound about right...those are "regular folks." (You must have never worked in customer service before. Working in a movie theater allowed me to realize that all of us "regular folks" can be a but a little disgusting sometimes.) In any case, consider yourself lucky, because "regular folks"
here bathe themselves in bleach and crap their pants on the T.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 02:53 PM
 
Location: Clear Lake, Houston TX
8,376 posts, read 30,582,212 times
Reputation: 4718
Quote:
Originally Posted by theSUBlime View Post
Actually that does sound about right...those are "regular folks." (You must have never worked in customer service before. Working in a movie theater allowed me to realize that all of us "regular folks" can be a but a little disgusting sometimes.) In any case, consider yourself lucky, because "regular folks"
here bathe themselves in bleach and crap their pants on the T.

I actually have worked in grocery + big-box service & auto shop mgmt and know all about those ''regular folks.'' Made me have little hope for humanity, and made me realize America is not as first-world as people think it is. Anyway, not trying to go off topic too far. Sounds like all cities have their bargain basements when it comes to grocery shopping.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 05:13 PM
 
Location: Beautiful New England
2,412 posts, read 7,157,828 times
Reputation: 3072
Quote:
Originally Posted by hsw View Post
And most would agree no comparison between driving self to office in own car vs sitting/standing on a smelly, hot train/bus very close to many hygienically-challenged "pals" and potential muggers...mass transit is nominally "cheap" for many reasons...
You have a lot to learn about mass transit throughout the U.S.

Here in the Boston area, you can take MBTA commuter rail trains from the 'burbs into downtown. These trains are not "smelly" or "hot" (they are air conditioned in the summer, heated in the winter) -- they are quite comfortable, actually. Their on time rate is 92%. And riding the train allows you to read the paper/a book, work on your laptop/go online, or even take a little snooze rather than face the distraction and stress of traffic (not to mention wear and tear on your car). For that reason, ridership on the commuter rail is high -- towns/neighborhoods close to MBTA stations are in higher demand because of desired access to the train.

And crime on the commuter rail is virtually nil. My two neighbors who take the train to work daily -- one is an investment banker and the other is a lawyer -- have never been mugged on the train and I would bet that neither of them has ever mugged anyone. The MBTA commuter rail serves 140,000 commuters DAILY, and there was a grand total of 7 robberies, 8 incidents of pickpocketing, and 42 assaults FOR THE YEAR on the commuter rail in 2007.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 05:39 PM
 
Location: Willowbrook, Houston
1,442 posts, read 1,547,266 times
Reputation: 2086
They probably took into account Houston's elite areas like River Oaks, Houston Heights and many expensive parts of NW Houston, Northside, etc. Generally, Houston is affordable than a lot of major cities. I know some parts of NW Houston are more expensive than River Oaks.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 06:03 PM
 
Location: Inner Loop
789 posts, read 1,520,201 times
Reputation: 353
I personally don't know first hand how expensive it is to live in other cities. But I do talk to a lot of people all the time. And they say that Houston is cheaper to live in than from where they came. Theses people were from NY, Chicago, LA, and Miami. I'm sure they took into account a lot of the more expensive places to live in Houston. But, the people I have talked to where not the richest people in the world(no 400k houses here). So from the average persons opinion, Houston is a breath of fresh air. They often say things like, "I have extra money to spend". I think that says it all.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 06:11 PM
 
Location: Fondren SW Yo
2,783 posts, read 6,653,091 times
Reputation: 2224
Quote:
Originally Posted by zdg View Post
Good to know. I'll be sure to ask you before I decide what kind of lifestyle we're living and whether or not my 1040 this year says dollar for dollar what it did last year when we were living in Houston.

When we netted out the variable expense difference between our life in Houston and our life in Manhattan, Manhattan costs 6.2% more. That is not "many, many more times" of anything, no matter how bad you are at math.
Comparing cost of living is irrelevant unless you are comparing apples to apples. It is certainly conceivable that one could have a similar cost of living on the UWS as Houston, but one won't get the same size of house or apartment for the cost. It also depends on what one is spending their money on. My wife and I drive cars that we paid $15k each new for and will drive them for ten years unless the wheels fall off first. We live in a modest SW Houston neighborhood where 2400 sf homes go for $150k.

For our lifestyle, it is a no brainer to live here in terms of saving money from Los Angeles where I am from, or NYC where my wife is from. But if one has to have an expensive car (if they own one) and needs to be in a hip, pricey neighborhood, I can see how expenses would not differ all that much between Houston and NYC depending on the size of the apartment one lives in. Keep in mind there is no judgement there of how folks live their lives and spend their money. It's only a point of reference as to comparing COL in any given pair of cities.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 06:16 PM
 
Location: Fondren SW Yo
2,783 posts, read 6,653,091 times
Reputation: 2224
Quote:
Originally Posted by professorsenator View Post
You have a lot to learn about mass transit throughout the U.S.

Here in the Boston area, you can take MBTA commuter rail trains from the 'burbs into downtown. These trains are not "smelly" or "hot" (they are air conditioned in the summer, heated in the winter) -- they are quite comfortable, actually. Their on time rate is 92%. And riding the train allows you to read the paper/a book, work on your laptop/go online, or even take a little snooze rather than face the distraction and stress of traffic (not to mention wear and tear on your car). For that reason, ridership on the commuter rail is high -- towns/neighborhoods close to MBTA stations are in higher demand because of desired access to the train.

And crime on the commuter rail is virtually nil. My two neighbors who take the train to work daily -- one is an investment banker and the other is a lawyer -- have never been mugged on the train and I would bet that neither of them has ever mugged anyone. The MBTA commuter rail serves 140,000 commuters DAILY, and there was a grand total of 7 robberies, 8 incidents of pickpocketing, and 42 assaults FOR THE YEAR on the commuter rail in 2007.
During my last sting in Washington, DC (I lived in suburban Maryland and worked in Downtown DC) I enjoyed the lack of driving stress and the ability to replace my drive time with productivity time (I miss getting to read so many books just for pleasure). But at the end of the day the hassle factor of getting to and from the Metro stations was worse than the annoyance of driving. But for those who live close to a station, I agree with professorsenator that subway commuting in DC, Boston, etc. can be very pleasant.
 
Old 10-18-2009, 06:17 PM
 
Location: #
9,598 posts, read 16,504,322 times
Reputation: 6323
Well I think it's pretty obvious then. If you are trying to live the keep up with the Jones's drive 2 German cars and live in a 750,000+ house, it doesn't really matter where you live. And as for "regular folks" let's not forget the average household income in Houston is about 45,000. I bet most of us in Houston live in households that make around 3 times more. We aren't regular folks on here, and that includes my nappy liberal ass.
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