Originally Posted By: Spazdog
It's a lot easier when you are able to split the bills. Problem is finding someone reliable enough to split them with you. That's the tricky part.
My first wife racked up a lot of debt then dumped me sticking me with the bulk of it.
My best friend had just signed on with the IBEW and apprentice salary was fairly pitiful then. Especially when you factor in all the associated costs of becoming an electrician. (tools etc...)
We got the most comically small apartment EVER. He got the master bedroom. All 10X10 of it. My room was slightly smaller at about 8X8 with a window that looked out at the back of a stairwell. The living room was also 10X10. The kitchenette was hilarious. It was a half size stovetop and a single sink. We had to put the microwave in the living room. I'm convinced they had taken a 3 bedroom apartment and made it into an efficiency and a 2 bedroom and made our kitchenette out of a closet. IIRC, It was 350 sq ft. The efficiency behind us had a regular size front room regular size kitchen and a half bath with a tiny shower stall stuffed in it. Just looked like they had drywalled off the hall between the two apartments to make more money from more renters.
But it was cheap.
And it was funny. He used to refer to me as "the troll in the closet under the stairs" because of the view from my tiny room's window. You'd be surprised how many women will actually want to come home with us just to see it for themselves.
I slept on a futon, drove a hooptie Suzuki Swift that I bought wrecked and put a Geo Metro front clip on, watched TV on a 13" color Zenith Space Command TV (that still works!!!) and ate bologna sandwiches and Ramen noodles frequently.
We got by.
We got by earlier in life when I was working at Western Auto and he was working at Pizza Hut. Neither one of us had a car. Just our motorcycles. Got a little bit easier when he moved his girlfriend in. She had an old LTD. We could carry a lot more groceries and get around when weather was bad without getting soaked or icy.( when we could get the VV carb to start and run the car in the cold) I got along with her too. We had a nicer, bigger apartment then. Easier to split the bills two ways and have the girlfriend buy groceries. Also nice to come home to hot cooked meals (she only worked about 20-24 hrs a week)
Your story reminds me of how I live in college, we have a run down, huge apartment (by college standard) of 2 bedroom and 1 bathroom, with 1 car port. The living room is huge so we partition it out as a "room" for one of our roommate at a discount rate rent. Our common area is where the dinning table is at next to the kitchen.
In 1998-2001, we end up paying a rent of $250 for our own room and $200 for the living room (vs the going rate of $400-500). Our friends living next door let us split his DSL so we have 5 college students splitting a $50 DSL bill and $30 phone line, all done the old fashion way of throwing a coax cable for 10Base2 (not 10BaseT) wire out the window with a hole in the screen, until one day Comcast came and though we steal cable and cut it. We raise [censored] and demand the guy to buy us a new cable as a replacement (he originally offer to splice it back but we say no).
We though about sharing kitchens and fridges between the 2 apartments (and rent out 1 of our kitchen for additional income) too, but that gets too crowded so our frugality stops there. Later on DSL bandwidth is also rationed and downloading is not allowed before 1am.
It's a lot easier when you are able to split the bills. Problem is finding someone reliable enough to split them with you. That's the tricky part.
My first wife racked up a lot of debt then dumped me sticking me with the bulk of it.
My best friend had just signed on with the IBEW and apprentice salary was fairly pitiful then. Especially when you factor in all the associated costs of becoming an electrician. (tools etc...)
We got the most comically small apartment EVER. He got the master bedroom. All 10X10 of it. My room was slightly smaller at about 8X8 with a window that looked out at the back of a stairwell. The living room was also 10X10. The kitchenette was hilarious. It was a half size stovetop and a single sink. We had to put the microwave in the living room. I'm convinced they had taken a 3 bedroom apartment and made it into an efficiency and a 2 bedroom and made our kitchenette out of a closet. IIRC, It was 350 sq ft. The efficiency behind us had a regular size front room regular size kitchen and a half bath with a tiny shower stall stuffed in it. Just looked like they had drywalled off the hall between the two apartments to make more money from more renters.
But it was cheap.
And it was funny. He used to refer to me as "the troll in the closet under the stairs" because of the view from my tiny room's window. You'd be surprised how many women will actually want to come home with us just to see it for themselves.
I slept on a futon, drove a hooptie Suzuki Swift that I bought wrecked and put a Geo Metro front clip on, watched TV on a 13" color Zenith Space Command TV (that still works!!!) and ate bologna sandwiches and Ramen noodles frequently.
We got by.
We got by earlier in life when I was working at Western Auto and he was working at Pizza Hut. Neither one of us had a car. Just our motorcycles. Got a little bit easier when he moved his girlfriend in. She had an old LTD. We could carry a lot more groceries and get around when weather was bad without getting soaked or icy.( when we could get the VV carb to start and run the car in the cold) I got along with her too. We had a nicer, bigger apartment then. Easier to split the bills two ways and have the girlfriend buy groceries. Also nice to come home to hot cooked meals (she only worked about 20-24 hrs a week)
Your story reminds me of how I live in college, we have a run down, huge apartment (by college standard) of 2 bedroom and 1 bathroom, with 1 car port. The living room is huge so we partition it out as a "room" for one of our roommate at a discount rate rent. Our common area is where the dinning table is at next to the kitchen.
In 1998-2001, we end up paying a rent of $250 for our own room and $200 for the living room (vs the going rate of $400-500). Our friends living next door let us split his DSL so we have 5 college students splitting a $50 DSL bill and $30 phone line, all done the old fashion way of throwing a coax cable for 10Base2 (not 10BaseT) wire out the window with a hole in the screen, until one day Comcast came and though we steal cable and cut it. We raise [censored] and demand the guy to buy us a new cable as a replacement (he originally offer to splice it back but we say no).
We though about sharing kitchens and fridges between the 2 apartments (and rent out 1 of our kitchen for additional income) too, but that gets too crowded so our frugality stops there. Later on DSL bandwidth is also rationed and downloading is not allowed before 1am.
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