so about that moving thing...
oh hai.
so, now that i've gotten a lot of things out of the way in seattle, moving is again back on the table. i'm looking at spring, when my lease is up (you might remember my previous 'the rent is way too high in seattle' post. well, that's not getting much better, i just managed to 1- room with someone for a while to save a little and 2- find a 6 month lease after that.)
i've been poking around and looking at cost of living in relation to seattle; realistically, almost every damn city in the country is cheaper. but if you fine people could provide some kind of numbers, that'd be great. i'm also figuring that car insurance might be kind of high, and that flood insurance is something i would need that also might get pricey. any light you can shed on that is great.
so, in seattle, living in a very desirable neighborhood (so desirable i had to leave it), the numbers looked like this:
-rent for a 350-400 sq foot studio apartment: $835 per month (the same building raised this to 1100). outlying areas of seattle are becoming just as expensive as the city itself but might be marginally cheaper.
-car insurance: $64 (this is minimum coverage only. it's what i had to have by law to drive the car. and since i moved out of that neighborhood it's lower, but not by much.)
- utilities: water, sewer and gas are generally included in many seattle rents. electric ran me about $30 every two months due to the small apartment size. internet: $60-70 each month.
- groceries (me and a cat, one week): approx. $50 (give or take. less some weeks, but covering bases)
- a decent beer at a bar that isn't a dive: $6-7 (i consider a dive bar one where i'd feel unsafe or uncomfortable as a woman alone)
- a good, non-fast food american meal out (ie, not mc donald's, but possibly still a burger or sandwich served with a waitress involved): $8-12 (the eight bucks is if you get a water instead of any kind of drink, and it's lowballing).
- renewing tabs/registration stickers on your car: $120 (please tell me this is lower)
- paying a parking ticket: $47
- parking your car somewhere for about three hours/parking garage/street parking: $2 per hour via pay-to-park kiosk; garages/lots are higher
- bus fare: approx. $2 depending on length of ride and time of day
- seeing a movie: $12.50-15 (the lower price is the matinee)
- a cup of coffee (somewhere other than a starbucks or chain): $2 plus a free refill (hey, this is seattle. we had to get something right.)
- a gallon of gas: last i checked, it was $3.80 for regular. it's been up to $4 in the not so distant past.*
anything else you can think of to share in the cost of living regard is appreciated. i'll be dealing with fees and insurance based on my profession, so i really want to make sure i know what i'm in for before i get too far into this.
thanks for any help!
*gas is cheaper outside the city, but i don't really get outside the city much. and since i'd be moving to another city, i want to compare prices that way. i've seen it as much as thirty cents cheaper, depending on the day, on the other side of lake washington. (not that far, but far enough because of traffic that i'm not going to go over there to run errands).
so, now that i've gotten a lot of things out of the way in seattle, moving is again back on the table. i'm looking at spring, when my lease is up (you might remember my previous 'the rent is way too high in seattle' post. well, that's not getting much better, i just managed to 1- room with someone for a while to save a little and 2- find a 6 month lease after that.)
i've been poking around and looking at cost of living in relation to seattle; realistically, almost every damn city in the country is cheaper. but if you fine people could provide some kind of numbers, that'd be great. i'm also figuring that car insurance might be kind of high, and that flood insurance is something i would need that also might get pricey. any light you can shed on that is great.
so, in seattle, living in a very desirable neighborhood (so desirable i had to leave it), the numbers looked like this:
-rent for a 350-400 sq foot studio apartment: $835 per month (the same building raised this to 1100). outlying areas of seattle are becoming just as expensive as the city itself but might be marginally cheaper.
-car insurance: $64 (this is minimum coverage only. it's what i had to have by law to drive the car. and since i moved out of that neighborhood it's lower, but not by much.)
- utilities: water, sewer and gas are generally included in many seattle rents. electric ran me about $30 every two months due to the small apartment size. internet: $60-70 each month.
- groceries (me and a cat, one week): approx. $50 (give or take. less some weeks, but covering bases)
- a decent beer at a bar that isn't a dive: $6-7 (i consider a dive bar one where i'd feel unsafe or uncomfortable as a woman alone)
- a good, non-fast food american meal out (ie, not mc donald's, but possibly still a burger or sandwich served with a waitress involved): $8-12 (the eight bucks is if you get a water instead of any kind of drink, and it's lowballing).
- renewing tabs/registration stickers on your car: $120 (please tell me this is lower)
- paying a parking ticket: $47
- parking your car somewhere for about three hours/parking garage/street parking: $2 per hour via pay-to-park kiosk; garages/lots are higher
- bus fare: approx. $2 depending on length of ride and time of day
- seeing a movie: $12.50-15 (the lower price is the matinee)
- a cup of coffee (somewhere other than a starbucks or chain): $2 plus a free refill (hey, this is seattle. we had to get something right.)
- a gallon of gas: last i checked, it was $3.80 for regular. it's been up to $4 in the not so distant past.*
anything else you can think of to share in the cost of living regard is appreciated. i'll be dealing with fees and insurance based on my profession, so i really want to make sure i know what i'm in for before i get too far into this.
thanks for any help!
*gas is cheaper outside the city, but i don't really get outside the city much. and since i'd be moving to another city, i want to compare prices that way. i've seen it as much as thirty cents cheaper, depending on the day, on the other side of lake washington. (not that far, but far enough because of traffic that i'm not going to go over there to run errands).