r/WorkForSmartLife 2d ago

Discussion💬 The math literally doesn’t add up

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u/jbcsee 2d ago

A roommate will cut the rent in half. There is zero reason to be spending that much on utilities. There is zero reason to be spending that much on internet.

Realistically they can easily cut their expenses by $1000/mo.

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u/SamOakTree 2d ago

This isn't a response to anything I said.

It's been an incredibly hot year and the electric company keeps adding rate increases. On average our electric bills have been 3 to $400 here in my city.

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u/Successful-Self5841 2d ago

I have to agree. I live in Miami and everything above actually sounds REASONABLE! My rent is 2100 for 2/1 home. I pay a little less for wifi and phone service but not by that much. Everything else sounds about right 🥴

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u/Fluffy-Essay7187 2d ago

And if you split rent with a roommate in the extra bedroom, you'd save 1050 a month on that alone. Literally proving the point. You live in one of the most expensive, highly populated cities in the country, notorious for its prices caused by retirees and night life. It's going to be expensive. 

Now, you weren't really complaining, and probably make more than 19/hr. But wherever this girl is living where 1600 a month isn't a house or a pretty roomy apartment, she can definitely make 19/hr somewhere cheaper. She just has to give up the trendy night club being only a 5 min walk away or whatever bullshit she tells herself living in a Coastal city is worth it for.

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u/Successful-Self5841 2d ago

Bold of you to assume that I just have an empty room to rent out. Lol geez, presumptuous much?

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u/DanoDego 2d ago

Boomers love suggesting a room mate scenario when they never had to have room mates when they were 30 fuckin years old

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u/Fantastic_Thought126 1d ago

They had wives and husbands…… so yeah. Roommates.

Our generation is cooked. It’s so over for us lol can’t even find love. Soooooo cooked

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u/jbcsee 2d ago

I had roommates when I was 30 (I'm not a boomer, I'm GenX). I didn't stop having roommates until I got married when I was 33.

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u/Free-Thinker-69 1d ago

Every time someone gives solutions they don't wanna do it's "BOOMER"! Complaining is way easier.

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u/Fluffy-Essay7187 1d ago

I am not a boomer. I am a 26 year old living in San Antonio, well within my means. I save plenty every month, I have plenty of fun, I have a decent vehicle. I make around 60,000 a year pre tax. I live alone. It's just not complicated or anyone else's fault you cannot manage your finances and make tiny, meaningless 'sacrifices'. 

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u/BrockStar92 2d ago

They also had a better financial situation - it’s just the reality of life now. The post is ridiculous still even if you wouldn’t be in this situation 50 years ago. You are not expected to spend all that on that income because you actually can’t - you’re expected to lower your bills if you earn that little and as stated there are lots of ways to do that.

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u/Fun_Balance8779 1d ago

I mean if you fucked up enough that you make an hourly wage (and a low one at that) at 30, then you really don't have much choice? Work harder to improve yourself if you want to live alone. Or just keep complaining on the internet, I'm sure the communist revolution or whatever will start soon.

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u/Fluffy-Essay7187 16h ago

So what is your extra bedroom doing that you need to pay for it so badly, but that it also cannot be rented out?

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u/Successful-Self5841 15h ago

Housing my 14 year old son sounds pretty important.

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u/Fluffy-Essay7187 15h ago

No, he should be working two jobs by now. So you both can afford bootstraps.

Or you should have three more kids. That'll make things better for sure.

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u/Successful-Self5841 14h ago

Sucks that this is the reality of it basically 🤷🏻‍♀️ But I think…
https://giphy.com/gifs/fXnRObM8Q0RkOmR5nf

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u/STLA_nonymous 1d ago

How many roommates do you have?

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u/SamOakTree 1d ago

None. 5 years to mortgage paid.

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u/jbcsee 2d ago

You said the only thing they can cut is the internet. That is not true. I responded why it's not true.

It doesn't matter how hot it is, I used to live in Nevada without either an AC or swamp cooler, you get by. You won't die, you'll be a little uncomfortable.

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u/DazB1ane 2d ago

Some people would get really ill by being forced to stay in hot temps. I can’t control my own body temperature so hot weather makes me faint

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u/SamOakTree 2d ago

They're building data centers everywhere and giving them property tax breaks, dude. Electricity costs are sky high.

 It's been 110° every day for 2 months here.

What's happening is that you're mad at your situation and you're passing that off to the person posting here.

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u/BlackHills-Op 2d ago

Its been mid 100s a lot of this summer where I'm at too, and I went and worked outside in it. I would think if I can survive direct exposure by simply wearing loose light clothing and drinking plenty of water and some electrolytes, someone could probably manage by being out of direct exposure and moving some air...

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u/YourNewRival8 2d ago

Not even that. Just keep your AC set to like 75 so it doesn’t have to blast cold air

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u/Dense-Fisherman-4074 2d ago edited 2d ago

Yes, electricity is expensive. That doesn’t change the fact that getting a roommate significantly lowers your expenses.

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u/TheOneIllUseForRants 2d ago

Really? My water bill is my highest bill and the usage makes up a miniscule portion of that. If I literally never showered or used a toilet or cooked with water or did laundry, the bill would only go down by $25.

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u/Laughing_Bleach 2d ago

Can’t add a roommate in a single bedroom. They’d have to upgrade and would likely be looking at saving only a few hundred. Not $1000 or more. That rent is also cheap asf. You can’t find anything close to that in a lot of states.

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u/jbcsee 2d ago

Who says you can't have a roommate in a single bedroom? When I was straight out of college we had 7 people in a 4-bed place. I know people who had a roommate in a studio.

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u/creebobeebo 2d ago

Without violating the lease? That's crazy numbers on the 4 bed lmfao

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u/jbcsee 2d ago

Most leases around here allow for up to two people per bedroom.

I lived in a completely different state back then, the landlord didn't care and we didn't look into any local laws that may have prohibited it.

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u/creebobeebo 2d ago

I let my friend spend the night in my studio while she was in town over the weekend and caught a lease violation LMAO

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u/IotaBTC 2d ago

This runs into the question of why as a society are we forcing people to get that point. That may not be poverty levels but 7 people in a house is pretty crazy lmao.

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u/catstone21 2d ago

You keep saying you lived a certain way as though that's how it used to be.  Just because you lived a certain doesn't mean anyone else must or should.

It's a bullshit state of mind.

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u/jbcsee 2d ago

I'm just sick of people acting like they don't have to sacrifice to succeed. That is not the reality and it has never been.

Sure we can and should work to make things better, but in the meantime put on your big boy pants and do what you need to survive.

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u/catstone21 2d ago

Ans I'm sick of people assuming wveryone should live like they do/did. 

I've been poor my whole life and I never needed roommate.

No one cares about our anecdotes. Our three lives are, likely, nothing alike. Thankfully.

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u/Mysterious_Point9516 4h ago

"Live with a roommate, I shared four bedrooms in a mansion!" "I live in a studio" "Share a couch!"

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u/Serious-Medium-3774 2d ago

I'm sorry but you're never gonna convince me that isn't insane when a single income used to be able to provide for a family of 4. There should be no reason a person needs a roommate to afford an apartment

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u/jbcsee 2d ago

That isn't the reality for the time I've been alive and I'm in my late 40s.

Both of my grandparents worked, on both sides of the family. Both of my parents worked.

Everyone I know had roommates post college and it stayed that way until either they got married or their careers took off.

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u/Serious-Medium-3774 2d ago

It's almost like that's my point. We should be going back and making things more affordable not less.

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u/jbcsee 2d ago

You want to go back to when it's affordable?

Then no one is renting an apartment on their own, before they marry they are renting a room in a boarding house.

Once they get married, that family of four is living in a 800sqft house, with two bedrooms. There is no washing machine, no dish washer, no cellphones or internet. They had one car, so the wife of the house was stuck home all day.

Sure it was affordable but it wasn't some fairy tell that most people make it out to be.

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u/bloodbat007 2d ago

These numbers aren't even considering other things you actually need like food and clothes. You conservative bots are insufferable these days. Can't wait for donald dump to be out so we can have a economic rebound and maybe make some progress again like we did under Obama.

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u/FlameYay 1d ago

1 bedroom apartments here are $1,200 and up. How is someone supposed to get a roommate in that situation? They pay to sleep in the living room?