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Hello all,
Next year I will be finishing my undergraduate degree at City College of New York. I have lived at home throughout my undergraduate career and would like to try living on my own for a couple of reasons. First off, I currently commute form Jamaica and it takes me an hour and change to get to school everyday, and it sucks. Second, I wanna be a little independent.
I currently have 4 k saved up and have a summer internship that will pay me 1.8k. I will also get 5k this summer (there was a delay in scholarship payments this spring). So by the time it's time to go to back to school (the fall) I'll have over 11k saved up. I've been looking at sites like craiglist and padmapper and there are alot of ads throughout campus that advertise rooms in the area (Harlem/Morninside) for 600 a month. I will receive 7k from scholarships next year that I can put towards living expenses. That means I'll have about 18k to get by on next year. I tutor part time and can expect 200-500 month from that during the school year.
I don't mind living in Harlem as I've grown up in housing projects all my life. But is 18k enough to live alone for a year? I budgeted for books, rent, utilities and phone, Food, Laundry, transportation (unlimited metro card), and miscellaneous expenses and it came to 14k, so I should have a decent buffer I think. I don't own a car and get health insurance through my parents.
Why not get a job first, with your newly establish, abilities first, then move out. The last thing you want to exprience is donating your money to any landlord superpower. The landlords are like vultures waiting for people to rent their rooms. That is all they care about. I can feel your need to have your freedom. But freedom comes at a price.
landlords, are grinding their teeth, when they see fresh meat. They love the feeling of raining money. They want somebody to move in, who can't pay the rent, so they can raise the price upwards. I assume you are going to travel portable. Just make sure you have a stable position, that is all I can say. Once the money is gone, it is gone.
I know you are impatient and want to live on your own but it's only one more year and that money can go to better places, like a savings account. If I had the chance to do it again, I would have stayed home until I earned my undergrad degree. One more year is not a lot to sacrifice though at the moment it may seem like it is.
Thank you all for your advice. To the people saying hold off on moving, I've thought of your concerns but ultimately I'm going to give it a shot. Just wanted to get people's opinions on if it was feasible, what to expect, etc...
You sound like you have a very solid head on your shoulders and have thought through this carefully- so I say go for it. However, I do second the opinion of getting a part time job once school starts. Something that wont be too demanding and cut into your studies but will allow from some extra cash "just in case".
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