Originally Posted by
sonatine
the only other perspective on nyc ive had that youve taken exception with is the assertion that one can live like a grownup there on $20 an hour pre-tax, if i recall correctly. and the core of my argument was there was absolutely no acceptable life for an adult to live in NY on $20 an hour, and you, like so many other people who seem to have a big percent of their personality branded around "I KNOW SO MUCH ABOUT NEW YORK", responded with some smarmy lecture about how anyone can make $20 an hour happen in new york as long as youre willing to set up shop in someones hall closet and eat nothing you didnt buy at an asian supermarket etc etc.
i consider my advice sound on that spot, im sorry but i just do. and in this case obviously i misread the amtrak.com page which showed the 90 minutes to PHL transfer, while i clearly missed the second leg to AC. anyone not looking to be a prick would have simply pointed that out, n'est pas?
in the early 80s i was wandering around soho pissing into art gallery door mail slots so its aggravating to be lectured about 'the real ny' by someone whom i strongly suspect wasnt even born by the time the first starbucks went up in alphabet city.
if you want to call bullshit on my definition of 'adult life', thats open season, all day. but telling me my advice is not sound beyond that is nothing but needling, from where im sitting.
I do agree with Sonatine on being able to live on $20 a month in New York City. Maybe if you are a college student packed into a room with 5 others, that might have some charm because you are young and don't know any better. But anything over the age of 25, living with multiple dudes in an efficiency sharing one bathroom has to be akin to sharing a prison cell.
But lets analyze this a little further. Lets say you are making $20 a hour, which is $800 week or $3,200 a month. You would not being paying federal taxes, but you probably would be paying some type of local and state taxes. So lets say your take home is $750 which is now $3,000 a month. Let's say you are willing to live in Brooklyn or Queens with 2 other dudes in a two bedroom. I am being generous here, but lets say your monthly nut (rent, heat, internet, trash and cable) is $1,200. Now you have $1,800 a month to live on, or $450 a week. Forget AC in the summer on that type of budget you are opening windows.
Transportation is going to run $100 a week. Then you have food/life supplies is going to be $100 a week. You are going to have to allocate $50 a week for clothes (new clothes, laundry, dry cleaning, shoes, etc...).
So basically you have $200 a week to enjoy life in New York City. So technically this could be done, but you would have no life. One night out would eat up the $200, so going out would be a monthly event, not a weekly event. Forget dating on that type of budget, impossible. Every time you stopped anywhere for lunch, coffee, a couple beers you are eating into the $200. If you were not careful you would mow through your $200 by Tuesday and that would be three long days until payday.This assumes nothing unplanned every happens in your life which requires a few hundred bucks.
I believe going home every night to basically watch TV with two other dudes would drive anyone to insanity. Alcohol (cheap alcohol) would be an escape. Fights would inevitably break out and in a few months somebody in the apartment would just walk out making the place not affordable. You'd be forced to break your lease which would severely impact your ability to rent elsewhere. Homelessness is a real possibility, or living in a weekly motel in Jersey City.
So while technically you could live on $20 per hour in NYC, it would be incredibly stressful and it would be a miserable experience watching everyone around you having a good time and you are home every night with three dudes fighting over the remote control. Bad idea to take a risk like that over the age of 25.