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The monthly take home on $36k in NY would be $2,250 [1]. So after rent you'd have $550 for groceries etc. Sure, it wouldn't be a comfortable life, but definitel

The monthly take home on $36k in NY would be $2,250 [1]. So after rent you'd have $550 for groceries etc. Sure, it wouldn't be a comfortable life, but definitely doable, especially without a car. I agree with you on the commute though. I'm paying almost $1,800 for a one bedroom in Silicon Valley just to be able to ride my bicycle to work. [1] http://www.adp.com/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-tools/payroll-calculators/salary-paycheck-calculator.aspx http://www.adp.com/tools-and-resources/calculators-and-tools...

zzzeek 14y ago
paying $1700 a month in rent on $36K would be total insanity. The general rule is that rent should be no more than 25% of your income. On $550 a month after taxes and rent you'd not just have to pay for food (which can easily hit a few hundred a month if you aren't eating catfood), there is also: - utilities - clothing (employers appreciate this) - transportation (the NYC subway is now $2.25 (going to $2.50?) a ride, or a monthly unlimited is currently $104, so there's 1/5th of that 550) - phone bill (likely a very low end cellphone with limited use) - laundry (coin op machines can run up $20-$30 a month), if you have dry clean clothes then this is quite a bit more - medical ? does that $36K have health insurance as well? On a low-end insurance policy, the copay for a PCP visit is about $50, and if there's any kind of meds you need to take that can easily cost $50-100 a month. - renters insurance ? in case your apt. burns down, it's a good idea - any kind of occasional expenses that go over what's left, probably go on the credit card. So it's very likely there's 18-20% interest payments on a few thousand dollars going on at any given time as well. $550 a month after rent is really not workable for an active, functioning adult.
- smartician 14y ago
  I'm not advocating the decision to spend this much on rent on such a small salary, I was just correcting the claim that $36k wouldn't even be enough to pay for a $1,700 apartment. Millions of people survive on less than $550 per month. Sure, you won't have your daily Starbucks, no cable TV, and your cell phone plan will most likely come from a low cost provider like Virgin Mobile. In a $36k job, you can probably get away with clothes from Kohl's or even the thrift store, and your apartment is probably not filled with expensive stuff so renter's insurance isn't that much of an issue.
  - HeyLaughingBoy 14y ago
    you can probably get away with clothes from Kohl's Jeez! Where do you shop? My entire family's clothes comes from Target and Tractor Supply. Kohl's would probably be an upgrade.
- jlgreco 14y ago
  At $20-$30 a month on coin-op laundry you are probably better off looking for full-service laundry that charges by the pound. Before I moved into a place with a washer/dryer of my own I was spending ~$10-$15 every two weeks (50 cents per pound) to drop a laundry basket full of cloths in the morning and pick it up perfectly folded later that day (took about 4 hours, but I would pick up in the evening).
  - zzzeek 14y ago
    full service laundry in new york city is always at least 40% more money than doing it yourself - which is logical since it's the price of the machines plus the service. I believe you might be comparing two different areas. edit: some googling reveals 85 cents a pound is the cheapest and most are 90c-$1: http://centzy.com/nyc/laundry-10024 http://centzy.com/nyc/laundry-10024 so about $20-$30 for your size of load, guess our loads are bigger.
    - jlgreco 14y ago
      Hmm, the cost of doing it myself (at the same place that did it for me) with coins, plus the cost of detergent, worked out to about the same price as having them do all of it. I assumed that cost of full-service and cost of machine-time and detergent would more or less scale together.
- cbr 14y ago
  $550/month after rent is totally doable. That's a good bit more than what my wife and I live on (per-person). This is possible, in that we do it, so how? March through February of last year my wife and I were living with another couple (who we met via craigslist, both couples hoping to save money) in a three bedroom apartment in Somerville MA. Food was communal, and we took turns cooking. All numbers I'm giving are per person per month. utilities+food+household goods: $110. This included heat, hot water, internet, electricity. AC only in one room, and only on a few very hot days. By cooking our own food and not eating out we saved a lot of money. clothing+other optionals: $150. My wife and I each give ourselves an 'allowance' for discretionary spending. Clothing, eating out, cell phones, entertainment. Clothing we mostly buy at the local thrift store. They have good clothing quite cheap. I'd go down once a month or so to look through things for an hour maybe. My phone now is $30/month and has unlimited texts and data (via t-mobile) but at the time I didn't have a phone (preferred to spend the money on other things). transportation: $60. Unlimited public transit pass. (This is now $70.) laundry: We did our laundry with a hand-crank machine at the apartment. Not worth it; too much work. When we used to use a coin-op washer that was about $20/month for two people ($2/load, 2 loads a week) so $10. We would hang clothes to dry, which also makes them last longer. renters insurance: not worth it. Better to have savings. If our apartment had burned down we wouldn't have lost much of replacement value anyway. credit card: if we couldn't afford it we didn't get it. Credit cards are a trap. medical: paid for by my work. If we were buying it on our own that would cost about $150. This comes to $480 (counting the health insurance costs and laundry). (We're still spending a similar amount, somewhat less now, but I don't have the data as well organized.) Why are we living so frugally? So we have more money to donate to effective charities.
  - zzzeek 14y ago
    > medical: paid for by my work. If we were buying it on our own that would cost about $150. where on earth would you get health insurance for $150, and you have no copays of any kind for doctors or medication? or you're fortunate enough to have no medical issues ? Also I'm kind of talking about NYC here still.
    - lifeguard 14y ago

zzzeek 14y ago

paying $1700 a month in rent on $36K would be total insanity. The general rule is that rent should be no more than 25% of your income. On $550 a month after taxes and rent you'd not just have to pay for food (which can easily hit a few hundred a month if you aren't eating catfood), there is also: - utilities - clothing (employers appreciate this) - transportation (the NYC subway is now $2.25 (going to $2.50?) a ride, or a monthly unlimited is currently $104, so there's 1/5th of that 550) - phone bill (likely a very low end cellphone with limited use) - laundry (coin op machines can run up $20-$30 a month), if you have dry clean clothes then this is quite a bit more - medical ? does that $36K have health insurance as well? On a low-end insurance policy, the copay for a PCP visit is about $50, and if there's any kind of meds you need to take that can easily cost $50-100 a month. - renters insurance ? in case your apt. burns down, it's a good idea - any kind of occasional expenses that go over what's left, probably go on the credit card. So it's very likely there's 18-20% interest payments on a few thousand dollars going on at any given time as well. $550 a month after rent is really not workable for an active, functioning adult.

smartician 14y ago
I'm not advocating the decision to spend this much on rent on such a small salary, I was just correcting the claim that $36k wouldn't even be enough to pay for a $1,700 apartment. Millions of people survive on less than $550 per month. Sure, you won't have your daily Starbucks, no cable TV, and your cell phone plan will most likely come from a low cost provider like Virgin Mobile. In a $36k job, you can probably get away with clothes from Kohl's or even the thrift store, and your apartment is probably not filled with expensive stuff so renter's insurance isn't that much of an issue.
- HeyLaughingBoy 14y ago
  you can probably get away with clothes from Kohl's Jeez! Where do you shop? My entire family's clothes comes from Target and Tractor Supply. Kohl's would probably be an upgrade.
jlgreco 14y ago
At $20-$30 a month on coin-op laundry you are probably better off looking for full-service laundry that charges by the pound. Before I moved into a place with a washer/dryer of my own I was spending ~$10-$15 every two weeks (50 cents per pound) to drop a laundry basket full of cloths in the morning and pick it up perfectly folded later that day (took about 4 hours, but I would pick up in the evening).
- zzzeek 14y ago
  full service laundry in new york city is always at least 40% more money than doing it yourself - which is logical since it's the price of the machines plus the service. I believe you might be comparing two different areas. edit: some googling reveals 85 cents a pound is the cheapest and most are 90c-$1: http://centzy.com/nyc/laundry-10024 http://centzy.com/nyc/laundry-10024 so about $20-$30 for your size of load, guess our loads are bigger.
  - jlgreco 14y ago
    Hmm, the cost of doing it myself (at the same place that did it for me) with coins, plus the cost of detergent, worked out to about the same price as having them do all of it. I assumed that cost of full-service and cost of machine-time and detergent would more or less scale together.
cbr 14y ago
$550/month after rent is totally doable. That's a good bit more than what my wife and I live on (per-person). This is possible, in that we do it, so how? March through February of last year my wife and I were living with another couple (who we met via craigslist, both couples hoping to save money) in a three bedroom apartment in Somerville MA. Food was communal, and we took turns cooking. All numbers I'm giving are per person per month. utilities+food+household goods: $110. This included heat, hot water, internet, electricity. AC only in one room, and only on a few very hot days. By cooking our own food and not eating out we saved a lot of money. clothing+other optionals: $150. My wife and I each give ourselves an 'allowance' for discretionary spending. Clothing, eating out, cell phones, entertainment. Clothing we mostly buy at the local thrift store. They have good clothing quite cheap. I'd go down once a month or so to look through things for an hour maybe. My phone now is $30/month and has unlimited texts and data (via t-mobile) but at the time I didn't have a phone (preferred to spend the money on other things). transportation: $60. Unlimited public transit pass. (This is now $70.) laundry: We did our laundry with a hand-crank machine at the apartment. Not worth it; too much work. When we used to use a coin-op washer that was about $20/month for two people ($2/load, 2 loads a week) so $10. We would hang clothes to dry, which also makes them last longer. renters insurance: not worth it. Better to have savings. If our apartment had burned down we wouldn't have lost much of replacement value anyway. credit card: if we couldn't afford it we didn't get it. Credit cards are a trap. medical: paid for by my work. If we were buying it on our own that would cost about $150. This comes to $480 (counting the health insurance costs and laundry). (We're still spending a similar amount, somewhat less now, but I don't have the data as well organized.) Why are we living so frugally? So we have more money to donate to effective charities.
- zzzeek 14y ago
  > medical: paid for by my work. If we were buying it on our own that would cost about $150. where on earth would you get health insurance for $150, and you have no copays of any kind for doctors or medication? or you're fortunate enough to have no medical issues ? Also I'm kind of talking about NYC here still.
  - lifeguard 14y ago