Does anyone here spend half their income on rent?

otnemem · #1 09-10-2007, 04:46 PM

Long story short: Broke up with live-in girlfriend. We split a 1-bed, but she doesn't want to stay there. For Hoboken, it's a steal, so I want to keep it. Only problem is I'd be spending exactly half of my take-home income on rent with heat/hw. I have to pay electric, cable etc myself.

I'm pretty sure this is more common in the NY-Metro area than elsewhere. So does anyone fork over this much of their income on rent? Bad idea?

Claunchy · #2 09-10-2007, 04:50 PM

If you don't have a car payment, and you don't spend much money on stuff like restaurants/drugs/alcohol, you can probably pull it off. I lived like this through much of college.

But if you have any other viable options, I would definitely try to pursue those because being super-broke all the time sucks ass.

otnemem · #3 09-10-2007, 04:53 PM

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If you don't have a car payment, and you don't spend much money on stuff like restaurants/drugs/alcohol, you can probably pull it off. I lived like this through much of college.

But if you have any other viable options, I would definitely try to pursue those because being super-broke all the time sucks ass.

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No car payments, very little outstanding credit. I don't do drugs, but I do like going out to eat/drink. That would be my biggest problem I think. The thing is, there are only really two places I could live where the commute to my office is tolerable (and I know people). So I'm thinking for that reason it might be worth it to eat it.

Sykes · #4 09-10-2007, 04:54 PM

new york is such a [censored] joke. same with Tokyo

DonkeyKongSr · #5 09-10-2007, 04:59 PM

I'm at 36% of take home pay right now. After car payment and utilities, I'm around 50%. I have no idea how I'm ever going to be able to buy a place around here when I'm already at half my income from shelter and transportation as a renter. It's this math that keeps making me think I need to figure something else out for income if I want to own anything in the next 5 years. It's not like I'm not making much money, it's just that it's so expensive in SoCal.

J-Mac · #6 09-10-2007, 06:58 PM

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new york is such a [censored] joke. same with Tokyo

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The only thing that's more of a joke than New York is not living in New York.

NicksDad1970 · #7 09-11-2007, 07:41 AM

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new york is such a [censored] joke. same with Tokyo

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Well, I don't like to reduce us to just being part of the "Seattle Sound." I'd like to think of us as expanding more. Like, we're huge in Europe right now. I mean, we've got records... uh, a big record just broke in Belgium.

Now, a song like "Touch Me, I'm Dik" is about... what?

Well, I think "Touch Me, I'm Dik," in essence, speaks for itself, you know. I think that, you know, that's basically what the song is, um... about... is about, you know... I-I think a lot of people might think it's actually about, you know,"My name is Dik, and, you know, you can touch me," but, I think, you know, it can be seen either way.

mason55 · #8 09-10-2007, 04:54 PM

when i was living in the DC suburbs i was spending 1/2 my take home on rent. it wasn't awful, i never felt like a broke ass, but i didn't really save anything either. but i spent way too much.

also, it depends on your take home, if you're bringing home $6k/mo and spend 1/2 on rent you still ahve a lot of money to live with. Not so if you're spending half of your $1500 monthly take home on rent.

z28dreams · #9 09-10-2007, 05:38 PM

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when i was living in the DC suburbs i was spending 1/2 my take home on rent. it wasn't awful, i never felt like a broke ass, but i didn't really save anything either. but i spent way too much.

also, it depends on your take home, if you're bringing home $6k/mo and spend 1/2 on rent you still ahve a lot of money to live with. Not so if you're spending half of your $1500 monthly take home on rent.

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How's SD's rental market compared to DC...any better?

IggyWH · #10 09-10-2007, 05:46 PM

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when i was living in the DC suburbs i was spending 1/2 my take home on rent. it wasn't awful, i never felt like a broke ass, but i didn't really save anything either. but i spent way too much.

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This is my exact situation here in San Diego. About half my take home goes to rent. I could definitely live off of what I'm paid, but I've been spending way too much money. I've tapped way too much of my savings as is and that needs to stop, because if I don't and [censored] happens, I'm screwed.