What are your housing expenses?

[classical_hero]

I pay about $980 Canadian ($760 US or so) for my mortgage, for a duplex with 3 bedrooms, 3 stories, a finished basement, attached garage, and decently sized backyard, not including any bills or property taxes. in 2.5 years my payments are going to drop by $200 or $300, so that is going to be sweet.

Why don't you pay off your home loan faster instead of getting the extra money now? That way in the long term you get more money by paying off you mortgage off faster.

 

[Farm Boy]

Anyway, this is getting off topic and I apologize for bringing this up in the first place. I didn't think anyone would jump on it.

Bwahaha. I check threads every now and then!

But mostly I think you're just conflating a specific sample of employees in a particularly depressing, undervalued, undercompensated, and regularly degrading environment, that of interstate fast food joints, with the "Midwest." I mean, you'd get a different sort of manners if you were to visit the largest housing development in Pontiac as well, but it again would fail to be representative.

 

[Wrymouth3]

I pay about $950 a month with utilities included for a one bedroom/one bathroom apartment, 590 square feet. Thank goodness I make enough money to afford a 1-2 luxuries a month. One thing I have done to make extra spending money is go on my days off to buy many things in bulk from Big Lots or Goodwill and then sell it on eBay to make a profit.

 

[thecrazyscot]

I pay about $950 a month with utilities included for a one bedroom/one bathroom apartment, 590 square feet. Thank goodness I make enough money to afford a 1-2 luxuries a month.

Which ones?

Whales are my favorite, although Dyes are cool too.

I would love to find a place with utilities included, but they seem few and far between.

 

[Terxpahseyton]

I think we're all essentially in agreement here, with some perhaps minor disagreements semantically-wise.

I suppose you are right

 

[Borachio]

Why don't you pay off your home loan faster instead of getting the extra money now? That way in the long term you get more money by paying off you mortgage off faster.

Doing that wouldn't make much sense when interest rates are at the astonishingly low levels they are. It would be my first instinct normally, though.

 

[warpus]

Why don't you pay off your home loan faster instead of getting the extra money now? That way in the long term you get more money by paying off you mortgage off faster.

I considered it, weighed the pros & cons of both scenarios, and went with "I'd like $200 more a month for the next 5 years please"

 

[nc-1701]

$1,005 on rent, about $60 on electricity/gas heat. Almost exactly 25% of my income, so no complaints I guess. But I'm thinking about moving in the fall when my lease is up to a place that's maybe in the $900 range if I can.

It's a 1 bed 1 bath 3rd floor apartment, pretty nice but nothing special. It does come with underground parking which is really nice, location is kind of too suburban though

 

[classical_hero]

I considered it, weighed the pros & cons of both scenarios, and went with "I'd like $200 more a month for the next 5 years please"

Fair enough.

 

[CKS]

My mortgage payment is $1100/month for 4 big bedrooms, 3 large baths, and a giant garage, in a nice suburban neighborhood two blocks from where I work, with easy access to light rail and bike trails. My bedroom closet in this house is larger than the small bedroom in my last house. It would be cheaper, except we bought at the height of the market.

When we moved here, I also had interviews in Seattle and Long Island. Both jobs would have paid essentially the same as the job I got, but I'd have been dirt poor either of those places instead of pretty rich.

 

[dutchfire]

What do you need 3 bathrooms for?

 

[Borachio]

Oh everyone wants their own bathroom. Each bedroom should have its own en-suite.

Well, such is today's aspiration.

 

[Steph]

What do you need 3 bathrooms for?

One to wash your head, one for the upper body, and one for the lower body

 

[Narz]

Just out of curiosity as I know zilch about your situation, is that high of a percentage sustainable for you?

Not really, my plan is to air b&b it much of the summer & give it up in October.

 

[Narz]

Least I ever paid for rent was 75/MO

 

[Camikaze]

When I lived in Munich I was paying about €320 a month (including utilities) for my own 1Br/1Ba. Total living expenses are hard to estimate, as it was too temporary to worry about a strict budget, but I'd say it ended up being what then was the equivalent of A$150/week, which then was the equivalent of US$150. A similar arrangement in Sydney would probably set me back about A$500-600/week, obviously a little less for a room in a sharehouse. Though that's now the equivalent of US$380-460. As a student, $25k a year is a little too much, so I moved back in with my parents and take advantage of their gradually diminishing patience, reducing my expenses pretty much just to commuting at about A$25/week.

 

[thecrazyscot]

Not really, my plan is to air b&b it much of the summer & give it up in October.

I've never tried air b&b...hope it works out for you!

 

[Narz]

Lot of people in NYC do it. And thanks.

 

[Borachio]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbnb

Oh. I see what it is now.

I thought it might be a plan for sleeping rough during the summer!