$80 a month for Gas.
Man, I wish I paid less than ten times that. No fooling.
And housing IS very location dependent. My old farmhouse (3 bedrooms 1.5 baths) would go for over $400K now.
And God help you when you have kids.
Yeah, I’m living modestly on about $3000 a month. But then, an enormous chunk of that goes to payments on my student loans and my car, which I bought new. If I needed to live on less, I’d have bought a cheap used car, or a crappy apartment, or maybe shared costs with a roommate, which does help a great deal. There’s just no avoiding those student loans, though.
What I’d like to know is what value of effort was invested in education, particularly English and grammar, having read the posts of Wesley Clark. Is this a task too daunting? :dubious:
That’s probably a regional thing as much as anything. $3000 probably buys a lot more in NW Indiana than it would in NYC or LA, or, for that matter Chicago.
Take it to the pit dipshit.
true, i live in central indiana and an apartment in a medium town (70k people) is 500 for a 2 bedroom. in a small town (under 20k) a 2 bedroom is 320 or so.
However, aside from rent i assume virtually everything else is the same price (food, clothes, personal items, autos, insurance, etc) in a large eastern or western townn as it is in a small midwest town.
And you would be mistaken. Prices for EVERYTHING change for almost every market depending on many factors.
- Relative affluence of area
- Local taxation rates
- Cost to ship products to an area (fuel and such can change that dramatically)
- Others
I’m not kidding that relative affluence can change pricing. In an area with more loose cash (ie a higher income curve) many products will be priced higher simply because the market will bear more cost for the product.
I have lived in small eastern (Purcellville, VA) , large eastern (Washington, DC) , large midwestern (Chicago), medium midwestern (Iowa City), small southern (DeRidder, LA), and large western (Los Angeles) and have found prices to vary wildly by region and economic status.
Congratulations. You cancapitalize and punctuate.
Keep up the good work.
I pay less than half that 
(Kia Rio Manual, 2 miles to work.)
Insurance in particular is waaaaaay more expensive in large cities and on the Eastern seaboard (which from Boston to DC is pretty much one continuous city.)
When I got my first car, I lived in Williamsburg, VA which is a very small town. My father told me than insurance on my 5-year old car in 1996 was less than what he paid on his first car – a real beater – in NYC in 1962.
Cars get stolen a lot in big cities, and they get damaged a lot when you park on the street – which is where you park in cities unless you are quite well off.
When I worked for Shaws I spent time in different stores. Prices varied store to store depending on your ‘district.’ Also stores carried a different range of products depending on the area. Richer areas carried less store brands and more of the convenience items. Poorer areas carried more store brands and more bulk stuff.
Car insurance is insane. Depending on where you live and your age and what kind of car it is… Also if your state makes insurance mandatory. We pay 1800/year for two 1996 vehicles. That includes the multi car and the thanks for insuring your house with us discounts. And hubby and I are both step 9 drivers. I don’t want to know what the cost would be if we weren’t!
I’d love to leave this state but with parents who need us and kids who we’d like to know their grandparents that’s not really an option right now.
One other thing that makes working in the city expensive is parking. Before hubby started working out of the house it was 50/week in gas and 250/month in parking. Then he started taking the train so it was 10/month in gas 100/month train ticket 30/month train parking.
When I rented my first apartment in 1996 I paid 750/month for 3 rooms and a tiny kitchen. Last time I talked to someone from the building that same apartment was 1050/month. That was a few years ago and only included heat and hot water.
Gee, I feel positively broke now
House payment : $500
Car payment(2 cars) : $415
Car Insurance :$80
Gas and Electric : $100
Phone/Net: $100
Digital Cable : $50
Credit cards :$35 (min payments)
Food : $100
Pet care : $40
Misc(dvds, games, eating out) : about 50 a month
For a grand total of 1385 dollars a month, I can’t imagine what I would do if I made 3000 a month. Or even worse, having to pay more for the things I am already paying for!