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The rules for bicycles are different depending on where you are on the island. No riding on the sidewalk in downtown Honolulu or Waikiki last I looked. No helmets necessary, last I looked, either. However, what you WILL NEED is a VERY BIG LOCK. ALWAYS lock your bike. Attach it to something that can not be moved or the bike can not be lifted off of. Attach the lock so both tires and the frame are secured. Adding some decorative bits of duct tape or something else to make it look somewhat derelict and broken doesn't hurt, either. Frequently you'll see bicycle frames locked to something and no bicycle wheels in sight. I've known folks who have had their moped stolen by folks that have lifted it off of the parking meter it was locked to. Thefts of bicycles and mopeds is very common.
Rice is fairly inexpensive, almost always less than $20 for a 25 pound of rice, usually just a little over $10 when it's on sale. Foodland & Don Quiote are probably about the least expensive major grocery stores. There are a lot of Filipino and Asian markets which can have really reasonably priced produce. Chinatown is not only interesting to shop at, but has great produce prices. You can buy chicken feet there, should you feel the need for chicken feet. Soup broth, I guess, I've never done much with the feet.
Rice cookers can be found inexpensively at either yard sales or Goodwill. Yard sales are great in Hawaii, folks are always moving back to the mainland and leaving all their stuff or they get another whatever and their apartment is now too small so they sell the old one. Almost anything you need you can find at yard sales. Go to an affluent section of town on Saturday morning and look for signs on the corners. You can do the same in a less affluent section of town, but the stuff from fancy houses is usually better stuff. Kahala is a good starting point and around seven to seven thirty in the morning is good. If you're there too early, they won't have put the signs out yet. Kailua and Kaneohe aren't too bad. We didn't yard sale too much on the North Shore side of the island but there should be some good areas over there, too.
Dunno what the price of chicken is, here's a link to Foodland's weekly specials: Foodland Weekly Ad | Foodland We live on the Big Island and folks bring us young unwanted roosters so it's been ages since we actually bought any chicken to eat.
Probably the easiest way to get urban protein would be with a pigeon coop. Bunnies would be good if there was a place for a hutch since they can eat vegetation such as weeds which can be found year round. (Although you have to be sure to get weeds that don't have herbicide on them.) They are pretty efficient about turning unwanted weeds into protein and they are quiet about it which isn't true for chickens. Fishing also works, but the catches have been getting smaller and smaller over the years. Depending on your exact location on the island, some foraging might be possible, but there's such a population pressure on Oahu these days that foraging is getting to be less and less.
Using a tax calculator I found, I would bring home about $1700 a month. If I paid 1k for rent and it included electric, and had no car payments and insurance, I would actually have a better standard of living in HI, in terms of monthly money left over after my bills are paid.
One possible hitch that I can see... rental properties that are professionally managed typically have minimum income requirements. It can vary, but 3X rent seems to be a common formula. So an apartment with $1,000/mo rent with a 3X multiplier would require a minimum take home of $3,000/mo to qualify. In other words, $1,700 wouldn't cut it, no matter how willing you might be to live that way.
Working that back the other way, if the multiplier is 3X, your $1,700 paycheck would qualify you for a rent of not over $566/mo. I don't know how much you'll be able to find in that price range.
That isn't to say you can't find a place that doesn't check your income, but I doubt they're very common.
One possible hitch that I can see... rental properties that are professionally managed typically have minimum income requirements. It can vary, but 3X rent seems to be a common formula. So an apartment with $1,000/mo rent with a 3X multiplier would require a minimum take home of $3,000/mo to qualify. In other words, $1,700 wouldn't cut it, no matter how willing you might be to live that way.
Working that back the other way, if the multiplier is 3X, your $1,700 paycheck would qualify you for a rent of not over $566/mo. I don't know how much you'll be able to find in that price range.
That isn't to say you can't find a place that doesn't check your income, but I doubt they're very common.
Always good to keep this in mind. I think a lot of people look at their budget, write down X amount in all the different columns, and decide on how much rent they can afford that way. Landlords don't look at an applicants budget, just their income. Here in Utah, my mortgage broker told me a good rule of them for figuring out how big of a mortgage payment you could qualify for is to take 40% of your gross income. I follow the same guideline when looking at rental applicants for my property. 33% isn't too far off from that.
Hello, I am currently contemplating a move to Oahu. Actually, I've decided to move to Oahu, and I want to hear your warnings. I am setting up a skype interview with a place as a tour guide, where I would earn about 25k/year plus tips and have mediacal and dental insurance.
Now I am in my 30s, single, and I live on the east coast. I am sick of cold winters, it suuuuuuuuucks. Im not scraping ice off my car ever again. I live pretty modestly, in the sense I dont have many possessions or really anything tying me here that I cant walk away from.
Here in NY I make like 20k and the cost of living is pretty high. I only have health insurance because im poor. I think I will have basically a similar lifestyle, but with much nicer scenery. Everything in my soul is telling me to go, here is your chance to tell me why im stupid....go!
Well, you got a job lined up. It doesn't pay well, but if you know how to live on 20K in NY, you'll manage on 25K in Hawaii.
Plenty of people will say 'no, you need way more money than that'. But, in my experience, people come from all different kinds of backgrounds. Some people can't live on less than 60K a year, and others by necessesity have lived on 20K a year, for a very long time.
On the plus side, you are also single and have very few belongings. I'd say, as long as you can afford a one-year roundtrip airfare ticket, why not? You'll probably have to get in on a roommate situation, but mostly likely you would have had to in NY as well. Just be sure you've secured the job first.
Well, you got a job lined up. It doesn't pay well, but if you know how to live on 20K in NY, you'll manage on 25K in Hawaii.
Plenty of people will say 'no, you need way more money than that'. But, in my experience, people come from all different kinds of backgrounds. Some people can't live on less than 60K a year, and others by necessesity have lived on 20K a year, for a very long time.
Given the fact that you're not on the Islands, I don't think you're in a good position to be saying that $25K is sufficient.
Except for milk, I pay those exact same prices at Tops here in the city in upstate NY.
OpenD, good call, and I had considered that too, and obviously, if I find a room/house share, Im sure that wont be as much of an issue. Just from personal experience here in NY, money talks. If youve got the cash to cover first month and a security deposit, a lot of landlords say "Good enough" and let you move in. From what I have seen in Hawaii rentals, most landlords look like they would be happy to get a 6 month lease signed, so Im feeling good about that.
TigerBeer,
I think everyone talking about how high priced it is to live in Oahu may not have ever lived in NY...taxes are outrageous, 8.25% sales tax (but no tax on food, difference from HI), rent for a single small studio in a nice area runs from $650+ month, usually heat and electricity not included. Wages are depressed in the area, the infrastructure is crumbling, the state is broke, and most businesses and citizens are moving away...everything here is high priced, most people are rude and selfish, crime is out of control. I think I can make it on Oahu.
Given the fact that you're not on the Islands, I don't think you're in a good position to be saying that $25K is sufficient.
Very true. I'm sure it's not. But I'm also sure that 20K isn't sufficient for New York.
My main point is that people who know how to live on 20K year, probably have some pretty serious 'get by' skills.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eastboundNdown
TigerBeer,
I think everyone talking about how high priced it is to live in Oahu may not have ever lived in NY...taxes are outrageous, 8.25% sales tax (but no tax on food, difference from HI), rent for a single small studio in a nice area runs from $650+ month, usually heat and electricity not included. Wages are depressed in the area, the infrastructure is crumbling, the state is broke, and most businesses and citizens are moving away...everything here is high priced, most people are rude and selfish, crime is out of control. I think I can make it on Oahu.
This is actually a bad sign though. I was thinking you lived in an expensive part of NY. If a small studio in a nice area runs $650+...you'll have to easily double your rent for Oahu, and not in a good area.
Last edited by Tiger Beer; 02-28-2014 at 10:50 AM..
Yes, the cops do give out tickets for bicycles/skateboards riding on the sidewalk in waikiki and downtown. No helmet law for any two wheel vehicle.
If you plan on making a trip back once a year, you might add saving for the ticket to your budget. Tickets a couple months out are about $950 right now.
As others have mentioned I do recall being asked if the rent I was looking at was 40% or less than my gross income. Both times I was working with professional property management companies. Big picture is know your rights.
eastboundNdown,
Go for it, why wait if move works for you ? Next time your vacation should in the Pacific rim, not back to NY, as you have been to NZ.
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