whoreticultureIs it better to rent a cheap/shitty place, or rent something suitable that you struggle to afford?
My situation:
current place: ($1530) -1:15 drive from work
- small building, linear studio apartment shape, maybe 30x9 feet? small kitchen/bath
- rural, 20 min drive from city, hour walk to nearest town
- finished interior, but mice/rat problem
- landlord kinda weirdly tracking my movements, she doesn’t want me working from home too many ways a week
cheaper place: ($600) -50 min from work -standalone MIL in a shared house, bath/kitchen in main house, 9x9 feet
- more suburban, roads might be too dangerous to be walkable but if not, maybe 15 min walk to town -unfinished interior… no idea if there is a mice/rat problem but the kitchen area is separate.
- got along well with potential housemates
I make $3780/mo after taxes, budget now feels tight, but not sure if the extra $1000 a month would be worth a smaller/unfinished space. I feel it might be worth it because I could save/invest extra money, or use extra money to make the rental nicer.
pixeltreeLets say you sleep for 8 hours a night and work for 8 hours a day. You have 8 hours left. You spend 2:30 commuting. You have 5:30 left. Vs the cheaper place, you have 6:20 left. Almost 1/5th more time in your day. That alone would make me choose it.
Yeah, the commute is a lot. I can wfh 2 days a week, but really I need to be in person for most of my work (as a practical matter, not a requirement from my employer).