3 ms·

If you insist on like-for-like, yes, so when I lived in NYC I just completely punted this question and didn't even try to live in anything like the kind of apar

If you insist on like-for-like, yes, so when I lived in NYC I just completely punted this question and didn't even try to live in anything like the kind of apartment I would have rented in basically any other city. I took a tiny, shitty studio in Hell's Kitchen for far less than I could afford and never worried about it. Cost of living calculators assume you're trying to live in the same kind of housing in HCOL-city-A as you would have in LCOL-city-B, but there's no reason to accept this assumption. I rationalized it this way: there is no amount of money in LCOL-city-B that could buy me the feeling of living in HCOL-city-A, so I'm going to treat the housing in HCOL-city-A the same way (i.e. mentally assume it's not available and consider that the tradeoff for getting the thing that isn't available in the lower-cost-of-living city).

likeabbas 3y ago
This is a great mindset. I was forced to move from NYC to the bumfuck Midwest because of my girlfriend’s job, and I hate it here. Yes I own a house with a yard, but I’d trade it for my apartment in Manhattan any day of the week. Density makes life worth living
- theGnuMe 3y ago
  In reality you made a choice to move with your girlfriend.
  - likeabbas 3y ago
    [flagged]
- dionidium 3y ago
  A lot of advice basically takes the form, "people should be more like me," but at risk of that in this case: I'd just try to find ways to maximize the benefits of homeownership. Try to take advantage of the things you can't do (easily) in NYC. I'm in Providence now and I miss NYC all the time, but I also have a garden and I put a little workshop in my garage and I'm trying to learn woodworking and I like to take on DIY projects and I play my guitar louder than I would in an apartment etc, etc. This is the flipside of living in a tiny studio in Hell's Kitchen and pretending nicer apts don't exist. It's just a matter of making the most of it, in either case.

likeabbas 3y ago

This is a great mindset. I was forced to move from NYC to the bumfuck Midwest because of my girlfriend’s job, and I hate it here. Yes I own a house with a yard, but I’d trade it for my apartment in Manhattan any day of the week. Density makes life worth living

theGnuMe 3y ago
In reality you made a choice to move with your girlfriend.
- likeabbas 3y ago
  [flagged]
dionidium 3y ago
A lot of advice basically takes the form, "people should be more like me," but at risk of that in this case: I'd just try to find ways to maximize the benefits of homeownership. Try to take advantage of the things you can't do (easily) in NYC. I'm in Providence now and I miss NYC all the time, but I also have a garden and I put a little workshop in my garage and I'm trying to learn woodworking and I like to take on DIY projects and I play my guitar louder than I would in an apartment etc, etc. This is the flipside of living in a tiny studio in Hell's Kitchen and pretending nicer apts don't exist. It's just a matter of making the most of it, in either case.