How things change

[mtnbkr]

And then you pay what - another couple hundred a month for shared maintenance? 

Depends on the neighborhood, but I pay $80.  That also provides access to a nice pool facility and clubhouse (important to the kids, not so much for me).
Even with that $80 factored in, my monthly costs are lower than if I rented an apartment barely big enough to raise two girls.

I've seen a townhouse; Ladypine has a HS friend who lives in a townhouse.

It's not anything like the house with a lot that I grew up in.

It's nothing like the houses I grew up in either.  Considering I spent the first 8 years of my life in a singlewide mobile home and the following 5 years in a duplex, I won't say it's better or worse.

THs vary wildly.  I've seen some that were amazing, others not so much.

Things have changed, and mostly not for the better.

In terms of housing, I'd call it a wash.  My home isn't ideal, but it's better than renting.  It suits the purpose while I'm stuck in NoVA. 

Chris

[Tallpine]

It's nothing like the houses I grew up in either.  Considering I spent the first 8 years of my life in a singlewide mobile home and the following 5 years in a duplex, I won't say it's better or worse.

Single mom, and we still lived in a brand new 2 bedroom house, on a fair sized city lot.  Three blocks from school.

But that was in the 1960s - it's a barrio now 

[grislyatoms]

You can't get cheap places now. I haven't really seen any place down here that doesn't rent for at least $450 a month...not including utilities. Many figure around $8-10k for housing. At minimum wage, that's a little over 50 to 65 percent of your income.

Then you gotta get to work. Usually necessitates a vehicle around here, And a vehicle means you're going to be registering and insuring it. More money out of your pocket.

What's left to eat on, pay bills (and I'm not even talking about luxury bills like TV and phone, I'm talking about stuff like student loans that you have to pay on) and well, there just ain't a whole lot of stretch. You're living paycheck to paycheck and hope to god you can get a second job. My employer does not want people holding a second job so they rotate shifts to make that harder...when you have four people to cover 1st and 2nd there is no real reason you cannot make two of them 1st shift and two of them 2nd shift.

Get ruthless with your budget.
I just cut my grocery budget $200/month. Big pot of soup = a couple of dinners and lunches for the week. Fryer sized whole chicken runs about $5 here. Load the soup with cheap starch (potatoes, barley, rice, pasta) and a bag of frozen vegetables and you have meals for the week for about $10.

My breakfast most mornings (when i take the time to eat it) is two slices of toast, an egg, a strip of bacon and a smear of mayonnaise. Made into a sandwich. Costs me about $.60. Coffee from home in a thermos bottle. Lunch is leftovers or a cheap $1 frozen dinner or a can of soup (if I don't have some home-made ready to go).

I save a lot of money doing these things. Allows me to make extravagant dinners when kiddo and I are together and since I "went cheap" on the other two meals the cost really doesn't concern me.
FWIW.

  

[Monkeyleg]

My first apartment in 1971 I shared with two friends. It was a three bedroom, full kitchen, full bath, living room and full dining room flat. Rent was $120 a month, including heat. The neighborhood was run down, but not a slum. I wonder what the rent on that place is now?

[RevDisk]

I dunno how a young person could live today - not to mention you could rent cheap places back then and not fear for your life living there.

Not easily. Working very hard for more modest rewards.

I'm sure the old days had their own challenges. But yes, inflation plus wage stagnation is unpleasant.

[K Frame]

"Things have changed, and mostly not for the better."

Really?

We're not really all that far removed from this kind of widespread "apartment."



And that was one of the better ones that Jacob Riis photographed.

[Tallpine]

My first apartment in 1971 I shared with two friends. It was a three bedroom, full kitchen, full bath, living room and full dining room flat. Rent was $120 a month, including heat. The neighborhood was run down, but not a slum. I wonder what the rent on that place is now?

My first place was an off season kitchenette motel about 10 miles up into the mountains from the downtown city job that I had at the time.  I can't remember - it seems like $100/mo but it could have been less. (beautiful neighborhood; there was a midget living upstairs but he never set any fires   )

Then later I rented a crappy little trailer in a little college/tourist town for $100/mo while I worked at a gas station.  It wasn't all that great but okay for a single guy, and it wasn't a dangerous neighborhood.

Then I went to the sawmill/logging and had to buy my own RV trailer, and I never rented anything again for many years.  We had a 10x50 MH for a couple years but downsized to an 8-wide again because it was a pain to move even with my 2-ton truck.

Mostly we camped on the FS or private land timber sales.