Back

Finally, things have settled down for me. I'm fully moved into my apartment, I have furniture, I have cable, and work hasn't been as hectic since quarter close.

Since then, I know I've skipped a lot of opportunities to blog, and I really need to get back into the swing things.

One of the biggest financial differences (other than paying rent) I have noticed is that I am spending way too much on food. I never really tried to quantify how much it costs to buy and cook food, but considering by typical $10 lunches and $15 dinners, that's adding up way past what I had originally budgeted for food, $400 a month.

I have to seriously reconsider by eating habits, and definitely start cooking for myself again. Although back in grad school, I did cook for myself, my time constraints were a bit different. For one, I wasn't actually exhausted at the end of the day. Second, I didn't have to worry about having enough time to both cook and eat.

This increased expense has me worried. For now, I tell myself it's a temporary increase in expenses, but I need to start clamping down on that by next week.

Also, it's getting to the end of the month, ever closer to updating my networth, and frankly, I'm a bit scared to do it.

Moved in, but without internet...

For the last few days, I have been in the process of moving into my apartment. It was a bit rough, as I had to deal with the world's slowest elevator and intermittent shutdowns of the elevator for maintenance and other people's move-ins.

On top of that, my desktop computer did not survive 3 months in my basement, forcing me to go out and buy a new one. That was a fun $900 unplanned expense.

Yesterday, I also waited about 7 hours for the cable guy to show. They promised me they would show up between 2-5, and ended showing at 9:15. The guy played around with the cables for an hour and told me that he couldn't get cable to work, so no tv or internet.

Great.

So I can look forward to wasting more time another day.

In the mean time, I think I'm stealing wireless internet from my concierge's unsecured router.

Continued good news on furniture

Turns out, the sales people were in a huge rush last night, and when they audited their orders this morning, they realized that I had created a bundle package, and so were able to give me $105 off my price!

That's just amazing customer service. So to the sales reps of Bob's Discount Furniture, well done!

Also, I officially signed my lease documents, cut the checks, and received my apartment keys.

I'm all set for my Friday morning move in.

I own furniture!

Or at the very least, I've paid for furniture. Yesterday, I posted about my furniture budget of about $1100. Unfortunately, I was a bit naive and didn't include tax and delivery charges, of about $150. On top of that, I left out a $100 box spring I need with mattresses, which equal out to about a $1380 purchase today for:

Queen Headboard, Mattress, and Frame
Nightstand
Dresser and Mirror

Also, if you were paying attention, you'll notice that doesn't include a desk. One, I didn't like of the matching desk sets, and more importantly, I went with something a little more expensive but that were solid wood. I figure, spend a little more now, and I can keep using the furniture for a while.

Rising Costs of Living

As I prepare to move out, I realized that I have a large chunk of fixed costs involved in moving into my apartment. I currently don't own any furniture, or even a bed, so I have to go out and buy a mattress, bed frame, and matching bedroom furniture. I'm also going to need a desk.

Here is what I'm thinking of spending:

Mattress - $400, I want to get a nice one. Probably the most important purchase
Bed Frame - $250
Nightstand - $40
Dresser and Mirror - $250
Desk - $125

All told, that's about $1100, on top of which I have to pay first month rent and two months security deposit. Theses big cash outs almost empties my bank account until my next paycheck.

I think it's an ironic twist that with all the education and pay I'm receiving, I'll still be living paycheck to paycheck. Of course, things will improve next month, since I'd obviously won't need to buy furniture or pay security deposits again.

Moving out soon

Can't wait. I've found a brilliant 3BR apartment, 1500 sq. ft. today, that I'll be sharing with two other 23-year olds. It is about a 10-minute walk from work, and for the price of $1275 a month, I am getting the master bedroom with two closest, one of which is a walk-in, and it also comes with my own bathroom.

There is also a concierge service and a small gym. The entire development is newly built.

I think I'm ready to get out from under the parent's free room and board, and finally get out there entirely on my own.

It does hurt my networth growth though. My monthly increases are going to slow to probably no more than $400.

Flip-Flop-Flap...

Man, I have never flip-flopped between ideas like this, but I just can't decide between renting and buying.

This week made me realize that with a job taking between 10-12 hours a day on average, it would be pretty difficult to deal with say, a broken toilet, or get a cheap place that required a lot of fixing up.

What I really needed was some place that would cater to a) my social needs as a young single professional, b) my living needs that include have a place I didn't have to worry about and c) my health needs that had fitness facilities in the building.

Right now, apartments considered "luxury" fall under this category. Some of these places can be pretty expensive, but a few 1 bedrooms actually fall into my price range. I am looking at places for the next week, and my June, I think I will have decided on a place.

Renting Revisited

In my last post, I talked about the wonders of Craigslist. Now, I would like to say the opposite. Clearly, I had forgotten the rule that you get what you pay for. The much cheaper apartments had a few general issues:

1. Very old
2. In a bad neighborhood
3. No parking for my car

Those 3 are pretty much deal breakers on their own, but together, they formed the ultimate trifecta for saying no.

I am now refocused at looking at more expensive rents, and also back to buying a condo.

Renting

Today, while I was pondering how I can afford buying an apartment as summer approaches (I expect housing prices to increase with demand from graduating college students), I thought about going back to renting.

What if there were cheaper places to rent, but only the expensive places had their own websites? Do I really want to subsidize flashy websites by paying high rents?

So I thought about how people can post information for free, and still sell things reliably. Then it came to me: Craigslist!

At the risk of losing out on some of the places I'm looking at, there are some great apartments listed on Craigslist, with some almost 25% off the fancy websites.

Vegas Results

Vegas was a blast, but unfortunately, I still had to return to the grind of office life. Maybe next time, I can spin the wheel and get a $1 million, but until then, I'm still a tool of corporate America.

Now, upon returning home, I had an interesting comment from a poster, who wrote:

"Maybe you can live in your $40,000 car!

Sorry, but if you own a 40k BMW and still live with your parents, your priorities need readjusting..."

I wrote a quick reply, and I just wanted to reiterate, moving out is on the top of my priorities. However, buying/renting an apartment is a much harder choice than getting a car. Consider even though the car was $40K, an apartment is $250K.

With a 6 times price difference, a reasonable person would think it would require 6 times as much research and thinking. It took me 3 weeks to get a car. How long do you think it would take to properly research an apartment?

This sort of comment is both welcome, but also annoying because it is clear that someone is just angry at life and wanted to blow off some steam. While I have thick skin, all I ask is that anyone who wants to post should at least read the post that they comment in.

Rent vs. Buy

As I settle into my work schedule, I have to get off of the free ride I'm getting from my parents. Right now, I am living at home, and the free room and board is hard to find elsewhere.

But I know I need to get out of there. Not that its not great to have a warm meal waiting, or people to talk to after work, but rather I'm losing my independence and its terrible for my social life. However, finding a place to live isn't that easy.

Where work is, the average monthly cost of a 1 bedroom apartment is about $1600 / month. This is steep, and so I have been pondering buying instead of renting. This same amount per month equates to about $250,000 I could get through a mortgage loan.

Now if it was that easy, I wouldn't be blogging about it.

Unfortunately, $250K buying power assumes I have at least 10% to put down, which of course I don't have. In order to make up for the down payment, I can obtain either piggyback loans or private mortgage insurance, both of which add to the monthly payment amount, decreasing my buying power to about $220K.

That $30K is a big difference in the area I'm looking, so I'm have a tough choice between shelling out money for a place that's not mine, but which will be very nice, or something that is mine, but will require additional work to become very nice.

Stay tuned for updates.

Of course, no updates for the weekend, as I will be in Vegas. However, if I do a networth update on Monday, you'll know it went well for me :-)