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If no car payment and no car insurance and can walk to work, can a single person live off of $19 an hour? Just how expensive is cost of living in Hawaii? Groceries? Dry Cleaning? Cable? Electric?
If no car payment and no car insurance and can walk to work, can a single person live off of $19 an hour? Just how expensive is cost of living in Hawaii? Groceries? Dry Cleaning? Cable? Electric?
Thanks
Dry Cleaning? Seriously, you'd net about $30,000. You'd spent $18,000 ($1500 a month) for a studio/one bedroom that would include basic cable and electricity. That leaves you $1000 a month for food and fun. If you don't have any medical/dental payments you'd do OK but you won't be living large or saving much for the future.
Studio and one bedrooms are considerably less than $1500/mo. More like $900-1100 for something decent. You're lookin at an electric bill of approx $100 if you have your own W/D and don't use AC.
If no car payment and no car insurance and can walk to work, can a single person live off of $19 an hour? Just how expensive is cost of living in Hawaii? Groceries? Dry Cleaning? Cable? Electric?
Thanks
You can do it, people make it on less, it just depends how important material possessions, eating well, going out, visiting home, saving money, etc... are to you.
So if you are making $19 an hour, that is roughly $3000 a month before taxes and stuff. You are bumming it in Hawaii so you probably don't fund your 401k or Roth. Say you bring home about $2200 a month after taxes and health insurance.
$1000 rent
$ 75 electric (no AC)
$ 400 food (if you are disciplined maybe a little less)
$ 50 cell phone (I am assuming you at least need a phone)
$ 60 monthly bus pass (you gotta get around somehow)
$ 80 cable and internet (I am assuming you want internet access)
______
$1665
So if nothing ever goes wrong, you never go out, you are very disciplined, and you don't buy anything frivolous you can have about $500 a month left over. Keep in mind apartments on Oahu usually require 1st and last months rent when you move in so that is $2000 up front plus it takes a couple weeks before you actually get a paycheck. So you need to come with at least $3k (minimum).
It definitely can be done. Just don't expect to travel much, eat out a lot, have nice things, save for a rainy day/retirement or EVER own property. If you are OK with it, you can also get a roommate and free up a little more cash. I have friends that make $75k out there and still have roommates. The good things about Hawaii are all outside, not inside a crappy roach infested, hot, cinder block apartment (which is what you will get in your price range), so many try to keep the housing costs as low as possible so they have time/money to enjoy the outdoors.
Studio and one bedrooms are considerably less than $1500/mo. More like $900-1100 for something decent. You're lookin at an electric bill of approx $100 if you have your own W/D and don't use AC.
I assumed that if he's planning to walk to work then he's near town or Waikiki. Although there are rentals in the range you suggest (check Craigslist) most are less than 250 sq. ft. and not furnished. Usually the kitchen situation is a dorm fridge with a hotplate.
My smallest rental, a 225 sf furnished studio in Waikiki with no parking rents for over $1,000. My one bedroom goes for over $1500. With the over 70% increase in electric costs I'm seeing bills well over $100 without A/C. My one bedroom has parking that you could rent out for about $100 so if you take the $1500+ minus $100 parking minus $100 electric minus $100 furnished you're still in the $1300+ neighborhood for 625sf.
If no car payment and no car insurance and can walk to work, can a single person live off of $19 an hour? Just how expensive is cost of living in Hawaii? Groceries? Dry Cleaning? Cable? Electric?
Thanks
I think we need more info - where are you coming from? What kind of lifestyle do you lead? Do you want to date? Do you want to do activities? Do you drink (that adds up if you go out)?
Of course many people "make do" on that salary in Honolulu - but as many mentioned, you don't have much left to do anything. I've always suggested you want to be at least at $50K salary when coming from the mainland.
Your salary is comparable to another poster, Winkosmosis. He's single on Maui. He has a general theme along the lines of "I'm broke" - perhaps he'll chime in.
You can live on $19 an hour in Honolulu, however, you will be living differently than what you may be used to on the mainland.
Renting a room in a house instead of an entire separate apartment might save you money as well as give you some local guides on how to do things. Since you inquired about dry cleaning, I'm suspecting there will be a large learning curve for you, but what else are we here for except to learn?
Since you asked about dry cleaning - I'll give you a data point. Dry cleaning or even laundry at the cleaners is very expensive compared to the mainland. I've been led to believe a lot of the expense is the disposal of chemicals that is unique to Hawaii.
With a coupon from Al Phillips - laundry is 6 shirts for $19.99 (or $3.33/shirt) so that can be triple what you are used to. Dry cleaning is 7 pieces at 40% off - if I remember correctly, 7 pieces is around $45 with the coupon.
Al Phillips in Oregon charges 5 pieces of laundry for $5.99 or $1.20/shirt.
Your salary is comparable to another poster, Winkosmosis. He's single on Maui. He has a general theme along the lines of "I'm broke" - perhaps he'll chime in.
I might be wrong, but didn't Wink also bring over a lot of debt and I think he keeps adding to it.
So, my question to the OP would be, how much debt are you bringing with you?
I don't know if Wink is "broke", I think of him more as "it can happen to you!"
I think he is a case of the gap between true reality of living on maui versus thinking that based on X dollars I can live if I do this or that and not this or that. Its what I warn people that they must first fix your budget and see what it cost instead of altering beyond what you really will alter just for the sake of beliving you can make it on the money. But you also have the issue with the unexpected delay in gettuing opaid and the changing work force.
The changing work force is by and far the biggest killer of peoples dreams because if they are skating on thin fiancial ice already, a furlough or cut back in hours can be a anvil smashing down on the thin ice.
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Seriously, you'd net about $30,000. You'd spent $18,000 ($1500 a month) for a studio/one bedroom that would include basic cable and electricity. That leaves you $1000 a month for food and fun. If you don't have any medical/dental payments you'd do OK but you won't be living large or saving much for the future.
