Cost of living In one bed 750 sq apartment (landlord, electric)

[Clevelandgal]

When we were renting a condo, water was paid by the owner We are landlords for a property in another state and we pay the water for our tenants usage so it is not out of the ordinary for landlord to oay water for a condo. we recently bought in SD and for 2 people the water bill was less than 70 for 2 months. My husband showers at the gym 4 days a week, i take all showers at home, and we have some garden plants to water and rinse off after swimming a few times a week,so it's not too bad. Our first electric /gas bills were under $35 ( hello coastal living), but then the last was $47 because we have been running the air at night. Not bad, but our house is very small. We got rid of our tv not long after we moved -partly because cable is a rip off and now mostly because it's nice not to have an idiot box. We have wireless through cox.

[earlyretirement]

These two links I thought were really interesting. Someone posted it on another forum where we were discussing water bills in San Diego and the area.

http://www.cbia.org/go/cbia/?LinkSer...92948EF86E49EA

http://www.calwater.ca.gov/Admin_Record/D-046947.pdf

Also, at least SDGE is consistent. We were gone this summer on vacation about 2.5 months. For the 2 full months when we weren't here the electricity/gas bills were almost exactly identical both months.

We had our water heater set on vacation mode and no one was in the house at all. We turned off the timers on the lights for all our outdoor lights except the front door and porch light which was only on from 8 PM until 10:30 PM. Of course we had everything plugged in our house like fridge/freezer, etc. Our monthly bill with no usage at all was $45 per month for everything so that was good to know that what we are paying just to have things plugged in.

[thepinksquid]

We pay for water at our rental and it's about $75 for the two of us (billed every 2 months).

[oddstray]

Originally Posted by earlyretirement

... But the water bill was quite an eye opener because we weren't here at all except for 5 days of the billing cycle. ....

One of my colleagues saw her water bill nearly double, all of a sudden. After a couple of months, she discovered that some outdoor water pipes were on the point of collapse. They'd apparently been leaking loads of water for those couple of months.

[shmoov_groovzsd]

Originally Posted by Clevelandgal

When we were renting a condo, water was paid by the owner We are landlords for a property in another state and we pay the water for our tenants usage so it is not out of the ordinary for landlord to oay water for a condo. we recently bought in SD and for 2 people the water bill was less than 70 for 2 months. My husband showers at the gym 4 days a week, i take all showers at home, and we have some garden plants to water and rinse off after swimming a few times a week,so it's not too bad. Our first electric /gas bills were under $35 ( hello coastal living), but then the last was $47 because we have been running the air at night. Not bad, but our house is very small. We got rid of our tv not long after we moved -partly because cable is a rip off and now mostly because it's nice not to have an idiot box. We have wireless through cox.

This ^^

We actually spend less now with a SFH than with the condo we had downtown.

The condo had central AC (900 sw ft condo) which had to be run every evening because our unit had all street facing windows and it would get loud at times. Our bill was easily between 90-120/mo. Electric washer and dryer too.

In the 1k sq ft house we have now, with the exception of this summer, our electric/gas bill has been a steady $40/mo. In the winter it may jump to $60 for using the furnace for a few days when its chilly.

[Bluefox]

I'm in a 2B/1BA, no A/C (which has totally sucked the past couple weeks and I can't get a window unit because the windows aren't made for one -sorry, mini rant), not sure the sq. ft. but it's definitely more than 750 and my SDG&E bill has hovered around $25-30 a month since May. Goes up in the winter months when I turn up the heat but I don't think I've ever paid more than $50.

[moved]

I have a 400sqft 1br/1ba cottage. My SD&G bill runs me $18-$20 during the summer, using two ceiling fans, and two box fans, and about $45-$50 in the winter, because I use a space heater.

[Jazzylove1]

Thank you everyone so much .. Bad news the apartment I really wanted didn't have a/c so my boyfriend didn't want it .. I'm looking to live in hillcrest or ocean beach pb area but none of those have a/c units !! Any ideas on where to look .. I was thinking mission valley since they are newer buildings

[moved]

You don't really need a/c here, because it's only hot enough for it for a couple of months. You may find it hard to find a place that has it.

[HelloGoodbye]

Originally Posted by moved

I've never lived in a place where I had to pay for my own water. There are no other units in my building. I lived in a stand-alone, detached cottage, so it's just me.

Most Large apartment complexes make you pay for water/sewer/trash. None of the ones I rented had separate meters either they do the "average" so if your neighbor uses a ton, you and everyone else pays for it.

I wont rent anymore places that do this after last place the bill would jump from $60 to $100 and when I called the company (the apts have a third party biller) they blamed it on fees for the trash like when the dumpster is overfilled or someone put a sofa in it.