Naive Question about Student Debt Forum

[August Wilson]

Currently living on ~29k a year in nyc pretty comfortably. I have roommates in bk but still pay more than 1k/month and a gf that I spend a good bit on, but I've found there are definitely ways to cut back. Salary is a little over 70K but I'm saving 2k a month for to help pay for wanting to learn the lawls. Currently work 50-55 hours/week.

I will admit though if I were making ~98k after taxes and working 60+ hours a week, I'd probably spend more. From everything I've read here it seems like 30K-40k is probably the max you could contribute to your loans yearly while maintaining a pretty good lifestyle in NYC and it gets less good the closer you get to 40K.

[LsatDork]

I don't know how you grocery shop. I go once a week or so and pay about $40-50. Now and again it's like $70 because I had to buy laundry detergent and dish-washing liquid and sponges and a new shower curtain and salt and olive oil and who knows what.
Here is what I bought this week, I'm so bored, might as well show you: 2lb of pasta ($1.98), 1lb of rice ($1.39), a box of eggs ($2.49), bread ($1.49), a box of cereal ($4.50), 2 quarts of milk ($2.98), frozen mandarin chicken ($4.99), meatballs ($2.99), French green beans ($1.99), peas and carrots ($1.98), paper towels ($2.99), then Haagen-Dazs ice cream ($4.50) because I was under-budget and it was $1.49 off. It was a little over $37 with taxes. I am still under-budget which means that if I want to go out to eat this weekend to cheap Chinese or Shake Shack or somewhere cute and low-key in BK for $15, I could. But I will save.
Maybe I sound stupid, but some people here sound very very entitled. What sort of food are you eating that costs $100 a week per person?

I also work for my trips. I had to fly out for interviews, and flying out again to a summer job soon, so I babysat a bunch to pay for my tickets. Right now I'm working 12-hour days (office assistant during day, sitter at night) to save for summer expenses, not being subsidized my parents since I already graduated. I don't feel miserable at all working shit hours and living within my means. It's actually it's nice after a long day at work to come home to roommates and friends I can hang out with and have a cold beer ($10 six pack from the Deli!) and I get to read on the subway.

Average 4bd in the area comes to $3000-3500 (to divide by four). I have so many friends living around here, those are the prices. Once again, if you look it up on trulia, you see places on the market now. The way to find the best places for the best price here is to jump on an existing lease because rents raise less when people renew leases year after year, vs. when they go back on the market, so one could be paying a couple hundred less for a similar place (and also not pay a broker fee) by joining current tenants on an old lease.

[jbagelboy]

Maybe I sound stupid, but some people here sound very very entitled. What sort of food are you eating that costs $100 a week per person?

(clearly hasn't heard of bottomless bloody mary brunch)

eta: (or ahi tuna steak)

[DELG]

If it's entitled to eat better than $4 of canned vegetables and no fruit, and some processed frozen meat for the week okay, I'm entitled as fuck.

[jbagelboy]

If it's entitled to eat better than $4 of canned vegetables and no fruit, and some processed frozen meat for the week okay, I'm entitled as fuck.

yea same. I guess I lose on the food count. I shop cheap, but OP is a true fucking ascetic.

[dresden doll]

I'd like to know where in Brooklyn you can find places in the 600-700s for as long as you're willing to have a roommate (I take that to mean a single roommate and I presume you wouldn't be bedroom-sharing either; lmk if my assumptions are inaccurate). For real, I'm looking to leave Manhattan; I'd love it if boyfriend and I could score a two bedroom in Brooklyn for no more than 1500k a month.

[dresden doll]

If it's entitled to eat better than $4 of canned vegetables and no fruit, and some processed frozen meat for the week okay, I'm entitled as fuck.

Also, yuck at the frozen mandarin chicken.

[LsatDork]

Haha "ascetic." The mandarin chicken is so good. So are the green beans. And it's Trader Joe's, probably the healthiest besides Whole Foods. But anyways, if I had the time and wanted to personally cook and cut those veggies and meat, I would get them from Fairways or Westside and pay the same. Now and again I stop at Westside on my way home to get zucchini and tomatoes instead of getting the beans and peas and carrots, doesn't change anything in my $40-50 budget. I could also have replaced the ice cream with fruits and yogurt. Could get real meat and cook it instead of frozen stuff. Doesn't double the price range. It's not entitled to eat healthy, but to think that jobless students ought to spend $100 a week on food really is, and it seems very hypocritical to pretend like it's to avoid eating processed food. The only people I know who spend this much on food eat things like Deluxe burgers, Chipotle, pizza with multiple greasy toppings, boneless ribs, buffalo wings, Frapuccinos, etc...

I'm talking about 4 bedrooms, not 2 bedrooms. This price would get you a small studio or 1BR in Inwood though. Pretty safe area, quick commute in the A, and those can have really beautiful views if they face the GW bridge.

[ManoftheHour]

I actually believe OP on the food situation. I don't live in NYC, but I live in a very expensive part of SoCal. Groceries cost me about $50 a week. Get all my groceries from Trader Joe's. I drink a kale-spinach-banana and berry smoothie every morning for breakfast before work. For my other meals, I'd cook a large batch for dinner (enough for 2 or 3 meals) and I pack them for lunch for the week. I eat pretty healthily. Usually it's pasta/rice with chicken, eggs (eggs are like $1.49 a dozen!), and some fresh veggies. It's really doable and it's really not as bad as you guys think it is. Granted, I have a very chill job right now.

[AllTheLawz]

I don't know how you grocery shop. I go once a week or so and pay about $40-50. Now and again it's like $70 because I had to buy laundry detergent and dish-washing liquid and sponges and a new shower curtain and salt and olive oil and who knows what.
Here is what I bought this week, I'm so bored, might as well show you: 2lb of pasta ($1.98), 1lb of rice ($1.39), a box of eggs ($2.49), bread ($1.49), a box of cereal ($4.50), 2 quarts of milk ($2.98), frozen mandarin chicken ($4.99), meatballs ($2.99), French green beans ($1.99), peas and carrots ($1.98), paper towels ($2.99), then Haagen-Dazs ice cream ($4.50) because I was under-budget and it was $1.49 off. It was a little over $37 with taxes. I am still under-budget which means that if I want to go out to eat this weekend to cheap Chinese or Shake Shack or somewhere cute and low-key in BK for $15, I could. But I will save.
Maybe I sound stupid, but some people here sound very very entitled. What sort of food are you eating that costs $100 a week per person?

I also work for my trips. I had to fly out for interviews, and flying out again to a summer job soon, so I babysat a bunch to pay for my tickets. Right now I'm working 12-hour days (office assistant during day, sitter at night) to save for summer expenses, not being subsidized my parents since I already graduated. I don't feel miserable at all working shit hours and living within my means. It's actually it's nice after a long day at work to come home to roommates and friends I can hang out with and have a cold beer ($10 six pack from the Deli!) and I get to read on the subway.

Average 4bd in the area comes to $3000-3500 (to divide by four). I have so many friends living around here, those are the prices. Once again, if you look it up on trulia, you see places on the market now. The way to find the best places for the best price here is to jump on an existing lease because rents raise less when people renew leases year after year, vs. when they go back on the market, so one could be paying a couple hundred less for a similar place (and also not pay a broker fee) by joining current tenants on an old lease.

Good luck with that... Just because something is sold at TJs/Whole Foods doesn't make it automatically healthy. The Fresh/non-processed food that allows you to stay in reasonable shape/health as a working professional cost wayyy more than that. Just off whats in my kitchen right now (I shop pretty cheap at TJs and local shops):

1.5 lbs of chicken = $7.50
Pkg of Salad tomatoes = $3.50
Fresh Lettuce = $3
100% Orange juice = $5
Fresh Snap peas = $4
Cereal = $5
Week worth of yogurt = $5
Pint of Strawberries = $5
Half gallon of Milk = $2
Half pound of sandwich meat (deli cut) = $4.50
Half pound of sandwich cheese (deli cut) = $4
Sandwich Bread =$3 (on sale I think)
Frozen Pizza = $6
Cucumbers, Carrots, Bell Peppers (salad stuff) = $6
Pickles and sandwich tomatoes = $5
Eggs = $2.50

We are already at about $70 of just basic stuff before we even get to the possibility of beans, rice and a variety of stuff one might need for slightly more complex meals than an omelet, a sandwich, a salad or a frozen pizza.

[moneybagsphd]

Haha "ascetic." The mandarin chicken is so good. So are the green beans. And it's Trader Joe's, probably the healthiest besides Whole Foods. But anyways, if I had the time and wanted to personally cook and cut those veggies and meat, I would get them from Fairways or Westside and pay the same. Now and again I stop at Westside on my way home to get zucchini and tomatoes instead of getting the beans and peas and carrots, doesn't change anything in my $40-50 budget. I could also have replaced the ice cream with fruits and yogurt. Could get real meat and cook it instead of frozen stuff. Doesn't double the price range. It's not entitled to eat healthy, but to think that jobless students ought to spend $100 a week on food really is, and it seems very hypocritical to pretend like it's to avoid eating processed food. The only people I know who spend this much on food eat things like Deluxe burgers, Chipotle, pizza with multiple greasy toppings, boneless ribs, buffalo wings, Frapuccinos, etc...

I'm talking about 4 bedrooms, not 2 bedrooms. This price would get you a small studio or 1BR in Inwood though. Pretty safe area, quick commute in the A, and those can have really beautiful views if they face the GW bridge.

Everything about you is just the worst.

[dresden doll]

I'm talking about 4 bedrooms, not 2 bedrooms. This price would get you a small studio or 1BR in Inwood though. Pretty safe area, quick commute in the A, and those can have really beautiful views if they face the GW bridge.

You talked about places in the 600-700s that are available if you're willing to have a roommate. A roommate implies a single person, not three of them.

$1500 for a studio/small bedroom doesn't work for me, but thanks for responding.

[LsatDork]

I said word for word " if you are willing to have roommates." There are definitely ways to get a 2BR for 1500 in Manhattan and outside Harlem. If the 1BR you find has a big living room, you could split it into 2 and have an interior wall installed (if the building owner was comfortable with this and removal of the interior wall didn't damage the original walls). I know a couple acquaintances that have done that (or management did it for them). Some people also feel comfortable with simply using the living area as another room, especially is the kitchen is setup in way that it wouldn't be awkward or unsanitary to do so (like the counter-top already separates the eating/communal area), and the lighting situation is favorable. I probably wouldn't do that, but there are definitely many legit resources on the internet about turning a one-bedroom into a two and generally thinking outside the box to find the place you want for the price you can pay.

1.5 lbs of chicken = $7.50
Pkg of Salad tomatoes = $3.50
Fresh Lettuce = $3
100% Orange juice = $5
Fresh Snap peas = $4
Cereal = $5
Week worth of yogurt = $5
Pint of Strawberries = $5
Half gallon of Milk = $2
Half pound of sandwich meat = $4.50
Half pound of sandwich cheese = $4
Sandwich Bread =$3 (on sale I think)
Frozen Pizza = $6
Cucumbers, Carrots, Bell Peppers (salad stuff) = $6
Pickles and sandwich tomatoes = $5
Eggs = $2.50

I literally have no idea how you can finish all this. I already know I won't finish my groceries because I was silly and bought both milk+cereal an toast+eggs which is twice as much breakfast food as I need. Maybe it's a male/female difference.

[anyriotgirl]

I'm talking about 4 bedrooms, not 2 bedrooms. This price would get you a small studio or 1BR in Inwood though. Pretty safe area, quick commute in the A, and those can have really beautiful views if they face the GW bridge.

You talked about places in the 600-700s that are available if you're willing to have a roommate. A roommate implies a single person, not three of them.

$1500 for a studio/small bedroom doesn't work for me, but thanks for responding.

dres you can pull that off in Sunnyside/Astoria if you don't mind living in Queens

[dresden doll]

I'm talking about 4 bedrooms, not 2 bedrooms. This price would get you a small studio or 1BR in Inwood though. Pretty safe area, quick commute in the A, and those can have really beautiful views if they face the GW bridge.

You talked about places in the 600-700s that are available if you're willing to have a roommate. A roommate implies a single person, not three of them.

$1500 for a studio/small bedroom doesn't work for me, but thanks for responding.

dres you can pull that off in Sunnyside/Astoria if you don't mind living in Queens

To my knowledge, you can pull off $2,000 in Astoria for a two bedroom. Not really seeing anything cheaper than that (at least, that wouldn't be ridiculously cut off from the nearest subway).

And I call bullshit for a $1500 per month apt in MFH that feasibly be used as a two bedroom (and that's not super north of West 125th Street). If you link me to at least one of those places, I'll retract my words.

[anyriotgirl]

I'm talking about 4 bedrooms, not 2 bedrooms. This price would get you a small studio or 1BR in Inwood though. Pretty safe area, quick commute in the A, and those can have really beautiful views if they face the GW bridge.

You talked about places in the 600-700s that are available if you're willing to have a roommate. A roommate implies a single person, not three of them.

$1500 for a studio/small bedroom doesn't work for me, but thanks for responding.

dres you can pull that off in Sunnyside/Astoria if you don't mind living in Queens

To my knowledge, you can pull off $2,000 in Astoria for a two bedroom. Not really seeing anything cheaper than that (at least, that wouldn't be ridiculously cut off from the nearest subway).

And I call bullshit for a $1500 per month apt in MFH that feasibly be used as a two bedroom (and that's not super north of West 125th Street). If you link me to at least one of those places, I'll retract my words.

Whoops I read that too fast thought you were requesting $1500/month 1 brs

[rayiner]

My typical day of food:

$3.50 - Starbucks iced latte
$5.00 - Chicken and rice or fish and rice from the halal cart
$4.00 - 6-8 oz of salmon or steelhead trout
$1.00 - Mushrooms or green beans
$1.00 - Evening snack (cheese, frozen waffles, w/e)

[anyriotgirl]

searching under $1500 2 brs on street easy and lolsobbing

[dresden doll]

Whoops I read that too fast thought you were requesting $1500/month 1 brs

Nah, I know you can do $1500 a month 1 bedroom in Queens if you look hard enough and don't mind doing a walkup building.

It just blows my mind that there would be $1500 bedrooms available in MFH outside of super north parts, let alone $1500 one bedrooms big enough to be converted into 2 bedrooms.

[anyriotgirl]

Whoops I read that too fast thought you were requesting $1500/month 1 brs

Nah, I know you can do $1500 a month 1 bedroom in Queens if you look hard enough and don't mind doing a walkup building.

It just blows my mind that there would be $1500 bedrooms available in MFH outside of super north parts, let alone $1500 one bedrooms big enough to be converted into 2 bedrooms.

there aren't. i don't believe that for one second. I know some guys who live 4 to a 1 br/home office and the guy with the actual bedroom pays more than $1500. the lowest I've ever heard for a studio in MFN is about $2100.

[dresden doll]

Whoops I read that too fast thought you were requesting $1500/month 1 brs

Nah, I know you can do $1500 a month 1 bedroom in Queens if you look hard enough and don't mind doing a walkup building.

It just blows my mind that there would be $1500 bedrooms available in MFH outside of super north parts, let alone $1500 one bedrooms big enough to be converted into 2 bedrooms.

there aren't. i don't believe that for one second. I know some guys who live 4 to a 1 br/home office and the guy with the actual bedroom pays more than $1500. the lowest I've ever heard for a studio in MFN is about $2100.

That coheres with my knowledge of the rental market.

I'll give OP a pass on food, but only because I know how much law school can subsidize on that front.

[LsatDork]

This getting so pointless. By MFH do you mean Manhattan? You twist my words a lot, first the single roommate (I said roommates), and $1500 for a 1BR that can fit 2 south of 125th when I said Manhattan except Harlem (so south of 125th and north of 125th), then $1500 for a 2 bedroom (which I never said was possible).

Anyways, here is one: http://www.trulia.com/rental/3146699371 ... 27#photo-3

See how there is already half a wall between the kitchen area and the living room? And the kitchen has a separate window already. It's an example of a one bedroom that could be made into 2 in Morningside Heights for 1569, I would think if you went more up or more east there would be bigger and/or cheaper options. Not that I would ever want to do this/advise someone else to, as I said earlier. But if I had to make it into a 2 bedroom, I would add the rest of the wall and a door to the kitchen to living area half-wall (door opening inside living area). It actually could be OK because even though temporary interior walls are not usually sound-proof, the only audio isolation that really matters would be there (real wall between the two bedrooms). It would be a situation where one has to walk through the other's room to get around, but I know people with actual 2 or 3 bedrooms that still have this problem. One of my acquaintances got this done in NYC for $150 (and paid again to have it taken down a little before the end of the lease when prospective tenants started visiting).

[dresden doll]

This getting so pointless. By MFH do you mean Manhattan? You twist my words a lot, first the single roommate (I said roommates), and $1500 for a 1BR that can fit 2 south of 125th when I said Manhattan except Harlem (so south of 125th and north of 125th), then $1500 for a 2 bedroom (which I never said was possible).

I looked back and discovered that I did misread your sentence in re: going down to 600s and 700s. With that said, I've been very clear with my goalposts, so I don't understand why you're suddenly claiming that I inserted words in your mouth. I said I was skeptical that a $1500 1 bedroom could be found south of West 125th and I also made it clear that I was talking about $1500 apartments large enough to be converted into 2 bedrooms. I would certainly hope no one is so delusional as to even think that a $1500 place that's a straight up two bedroom can be found in MFH.

It just blows my mind that there would be $1500 bedrooms available in MFH outside of super north parts, let alone $1500 one bedrooms big enough to be converted into 2 bedrooms.

And I call bullshit for a $1500 per month apt in MFH that feasibly be used as a two bedroom (and that's not super north of West 125th Street). If you link me to at least one of those places, I'll retract my words.

I think it's more than clear from both posts that I was talking about (1) 1 bedroom apts that are (2) available somewhere not north of West 125th street and would (3) cost $1500 and are (4) large enough to be feasibly converted into two bedrooms.

By the way, how much money does your hypothetical tenant sink into installing a whole new wall (not to mention uninstalling it at the end of the lease)?

[LsatDork]

You might not have seen since I edited: One of my acquaintances got this done in NYC for $150 (and paid again to have it taken down a little before the end of the lease when prospective tenants started visiting).

I think they paid about the same price to get it removed, maybe a tiny bit less. It was a bit of hassle though I think, because for this price, the guy was a little flaky with when he would show up to work on the wall, and they had a hard time getting him to finish it for the initially agreed price.

[dresden doll]

Anyways, here is one: http://www.trulia.com/rental/3146699371 ... 27#photo-3

This is a good location, but just looking at the pictures, the place seems too small to be converted into a two bedroom.

By the way, I'm definitely more invested in finding excellent rental options than being right on the internet so I'll be more than happy if you (or anyone else) can prove me egregiously wrong.