A mini-discussion broke out in the COVID thread after cuse posted a breakdown of his monthly living expenses so I thought it might be interesting to have a separate thread where people can post their general monthly expenses, living situation (roommates, family, living in house in the burbs, apartment in the thick of things, safe/sketchy area, etc.), and finally location (can be general if you don’t want to get too specific). Hopefully we can get a decent mix of Euros and people living outside the USA to get a better idea of costs around the world.
I’ll start:
Region: Mexico City, Mexico Location: Upscale neighborhood w/a decent mix of foreigners, wealthy Mexicans, highly walkable w/great access to public transport, entertainment, eateries, landmarks, etc. Very safe neighborhood, no worries about walking around here at 2AM (I live a block from Paseo de la Reforma for those who know CDMX) Living Situation: Living alone in a medium sized 1 bedroom apartment. (girlfriend is moving in next week tho) Rent: $850 includes all bills and place was fully furnished when I moved in Food/Household Items: Grocery bill is generally around $80 for the week, restaurants range from insanely cheap to roughly American prices for American-style eateries. Health Insurance: $30 for travel insurance. Most stuff I just pay out of pocket. For example, I had an ear infection so I went for a consultation (cost $2.50) and the doc prescribed me some drops ($10 I think). I had to see an internal medicine doctor recently, specialist usually cost $20-40. Cable/Internet: Included in my rent, but I think maybe 25-30% of usual American prices. Cell Phone: $10 for a plan w/3 GB, I think it even works decently well in USA/Canada. Car Insurance/Gas: don’t own a car, Uber costs $1.50-$8 anywhere in the city, but mostly I can walk most places, sometimes use a bikeshare ($5/month unlimited access) or occasionally bus/metro (costs like 25 cents per use), probably $20-40/month total Entertainment: Pre-covid usually consisted of going to cafés, movies, museums, soccer matches, etc. Nice theaters cost $4-5/ticket, museums max. $5, sporting tickets $5-15, I’d say $60/month entertainment budget. Total: $1400
Despite living in San Diego, I am a little envious of @Fossilkid93 living in CDMX. Prior to covid, I was trying to convince my GF to get a 1-3 month rental there. Such an amazing city.
Region: San Diego, CA Location: Chill neighborhood with mostly students, young professionals, and some retirees. Walkable to 3 grocery stores, movie theater, and a couple dozen restaurants. One mile from the beach. Living Situation: Live with GF in a 1BR. We both WFH. Neither of us WFH when we moved in. Rent: $2000/mo split between two including utilities Food/Household Items: Groceries $400/mo Restaurant(take out): $200/mo(was double that pre covid) Health Insurance: $350/mo. Never go to the doctor though because it’s crappy insurance. Cable/Internet: $60/mo/2, just internet, no cable. Cell Phone: $30/mo Verizon unlimited on a friend’s family plan Car Insurance/Gas: I don’t own a car. I split the insurance on my GF’s and gas money: $100/mo. I haven’t ubered since before covid, but back then it was $120/mo Entertainment: Pre-covid $300/mo if you include drinks out. Now it’s all picnics in the park or hanging at the beach, so $50/mo Total: $2,160/mo during covid. $2,730/mo pre-covid.
Nice! SD isn’t quite as bad as I thought budget wise. If I had semi-baller money from poker then it would probably be my top option in the USA. Alas, when I did a quick search for rentals a few years back even for basic, tiny studios around Gaslamp my dreams were quickly crushed.
You should definitely make the trip out here post-covid if possible.
San Diego can be way pricier, I’m just relatively frugal. For example I my friend who lives with his GF downtown in a 2 BR pays $4000/mo spilt two ways. I live in what is probably the least expensive apartment in my neighborhood.
Talking my GF into a CDMX trip is an easy sell, so much culture and history. Plus roadtrip flights from TJ are under $100.
It costs $20 to use the CBX(purpose built border cross for the airport). From there it’s anywhere in MX for under $100, maybe $150 if you’re going to Cancun or Chiapas/Oaxaca.
Right now TJ to CDMX roundtrip $77
SD to CDMX $300
Since MC posted his, I will post as a bit of a comparison. Most of these are estimates because I don’t do the finances other than my poker BR, lol. All of this is post-COVID. Before COVID we traveled a lot, so it’s tough to put a number on how much that averaged out to monthly.
Region: San Diego county, CA Location: Ramona, an unicorporated town about 30 miles NE of San Diego proper. Area is a mix of rural/exurban, though I personally live in the San Diego Country Estates, which was one of the nation’s first “planned” communities. Within the estates is a golf course, a couple pools, a small convenient store and a couple small restaurants. Groceries are in Ramona; for malls, movies, or other shopping we have to drive 30 min+ to get to Escondido or Poway. Living Situation: me, my husband, and two big dogs in a ~2200 sq ft house with 1/3 acre yard Mortgage $1800/month (we bought at the bottom of the market, but housing out here tends to be much cheaper than in the city/suburbs) Health Insurance: ~$150/mo. through husband’s work plan. Cable/Internet: $75/month no cable, just internet. Cell Phone: $95/mo Car Insurance/Gas: We still have a payment on the Tesla and the Pierce Arrow, total those add up to ~$600/month. Gas is highly variable based on if we travel anywhere in the RV, so I will say $150/mo. Insurance is a bundle and about $100/mo through USAA. Entertainment: I’m going to put streaming services here, that’s probably a total of around $50/mo. Living in the boonies means we don’t get out much, and when we do, it’s to the dog beach or the mountains. Groceries/Food $400/mo. The dogs eat a lot. Total: $3420/month
We could definitely cut expenses by reducing subscriptions/entertainment/grocery costs. Living out here is a more affordable option for alot of people, which is why you’re also seeing this district turning purple as people who work in SD are moving out here.
You didn’t ask for income, but we are well within our means, especially during COVID. We’re about to pay off one of our car loans, and we are about to refi our house which will lower our mortgage more. We have credit cards but carry no debt on those.
Of note: our monthly expenses are about to jump about $1k per month because we are getting a big job done on our back yard/patio, but we have saved enough during COVID that we felt we could handle it. The job is much too big to do ourselves (usually we do smaller repairs on our own) and it really needs to get done before another rainy season.
Southern California. I pay $1100 for rent, cable, internet, utilities all in. 2 bedroom apartment $400 a month for groceries, two adults and a kid. I think like $100 for car insurance. Maybe $30 for gas (walk and bike a lot). Probably $100 on take out and maybe $50 on entertainment. Health insurance free through work. The occasional co-payment.
My partner bought it 8 years ago. We live in OKC. Can’t really think of a better metro for that price point. I worked in Wichita M-Tr for about a year a decade ago, and that’s comparable price wise
I’d love to live in San Diego. The AirBnB we stayed in last trip was 1K sqft, 2Br/1Ba in University Heights that sold for 600K. That’s fucking ridiculous and there’s so way we’d make 6x our salaries moving there.
3BR apartment in co-op building in Manhattan:
mortgage: $4,800
maintenance: $4,300 (this is property taxes, salaries for staff, and cost of building upkeep)
i would have to look up the rest
Region: Redondo Beach, LA Location: A mile from the beach, sleepier part of LA Living Situation: me Mortgage + HOA $1600 + $400/month Health Insurance: ~$150/mo. Cable/Internet: $140/month Cell Phone: $70/mo Car Insurance/Gas: $200/month with covid, $400/month normally Entertainment: Hell if I know. Very little now. Groceries/Food Same - $150/week? Total: $2600-ish/month
Reality: somehow something always comes up and I spend more like $6k/month