Cost of Living in YOUR city.

[iDumb]

We have members here from all over the world. So I figure let's name your city and mention our monthly expense here. No need to mention income, obviously income would be less (for most, not for all) in places where cost of living is less and thus making you richer.

I will go first.

NYC: Per month (family of 2)
1 bedroom apartment: 1500
Credit Card bill/month: averaging ~2500/month (this includes all shopping, bills, grocery, gasoline, car insurance money, metro card)
Car payment: 400/month
Student Loans repayment: 750/month
Miscellaneous cash spending: 300/month (ie hair cut, street food, vending machine, lottery tickets)
helping out parents with their bills/rent: 1000/month

This is the expense of a guy who keeps everything bare minimum.
- no expensive restaurants
- no fancy kajer bua
- No smoke, drugs, alcohol.
- No vacation (got no money left).
- do not own house.

I just don't get how people survive here. Add a kid or two and it's no longer sustainable.

Man I probably will have all that I have now with 500 usd/month in BD.

[Zunaid]

Just plug in a COLA calculator.

I've lived in NYC. Comparing that to my current city.

Cost of Living Comparison Between Singapore and New York, NY

You would need around 5,880.11$ in New York, NY to maintain
the same standard of life that you can have with 6,400.00$ in Singapore
(assuming you rent in both cities).
This calculation uses our Consumer Prices Including Rent Index.

Indexes Difference
Consumer Prices in New York, NY are 10.02% lower than in Singapore
Consumer Prices Including Rent in New York, NY are 8.12% lower than in Singapore
Rent Prices in New York, NY are 6.05% lower than in Singapore
Restaurant Prices in New York, NY are 51.93% higher than in Singapore
Groceries Prices in New York, NY are 1.19% lower than in Singapore
Local Purchasing Power in New York, NY is 72.13% higher than in Singapore

Currency: EUR USD --- AED AFN ALL AMD ANG AOA ARS AUD AWG AZN BAM BBD BDT BGN BHD BIF BMD BND BOB BRL BSD BTN BWP BYR BZD CAD CDF CHF CLF CLP CNH CNY COP CRC CUP CVE CZK DJF DKK DOP DZD EGP ETB EUR FJD FKP GBP GEL GHS GIP GMD GNF GTQ GYD HKD HNL HRK HTG HUF IDR IEP ILS INR IQD IRR ISK JMD JOD JPY KES KGS KHR KMF KPW KRW KWD KZT LAK LBP LKR LRD LSL LTL LVL LYD MAD MDL MGA MKD MMK MNT MOP MRO MUR MVR MWK MXN MYR MZN NAD NGN NIO NOK NPR NZD OMR PAB PEN PGK PHP PKR PLN PYG QAR RON RSD RUB RWF SAR SBD SCR SDG SEK SGD SHP SLL SOS SRD STD SVC SYP SZL THB TJS TMT TND TOP TRY TTD TWD TZS UAH UGX USD UYU UZS VEF VND VUV WST XAF XCD XDR XOF XPF YER ZAR ZMK ZWL Settings

[Zunaid]

PS: Stop whining.

[Zeeshan]

Why do you buy lottery tickets? Bad investment. Aar tumi j ektu konjush prokritir ta ami agei bujjhilam. I highly suggest you start saving some and living.

You can start by taking a fancy kajer bua to an expensive restaurant for a champagne and candlelit dinner in your Mauii house for a getaway.

LIVEl. iDumb. LIVE! Be here now.

[iDumb]

Originally Posted by Zeeshan
Why do you buy lottery tickets? Bad investment. Aar tumi j ektu konjush prokritir ta ami agei bujjhilam. I highly suggest you start saving some and living.

I think lottery tickets should be part of every investment portfolio. I personally don't think it's a bad investment. What are you saving? 50 bucks a year? over your life time? 3000? boohoo.

And u dont "live" by saving. I think u misunderstood my post. There is no extravagant expense yet just the necessities of life needs that much money. I dont' know what kinda goo hole you live in California.

In fact how the hell do you live in california? it's supposed to be an expensive place too... we all know even munia makes more money than you.

I guess it's possible if you can get all government funding.. section 8 housing, food stamp, child care etc - free money amount to almost 50K yearly income. I refuse to stoop down to that level.

[iDumb]

Originally Posted by Zunaid
PS: Stop whining.

My wife read your post, she said this is the best response and told me to get a life.

ajkal kaar maiyara shob beyadop...

[Zunaid]

Originally Posted by iDumb
My wife read your post, she said this is the best response and told me to get a life.

ajkal kaar maiyara shob beyadop...

Yeah. I hear the same from my other half. The operative phrase is this: suck it up.

[Zeeshan]

LOL, you have more chance of being hit by a lightening than win some Lotto. Don't delude yourself. And also most ppl who win lottery end up p.poor as before in months.

Check this out if not only for the Lotto simulator :P

http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/20...ery-simulator/

[Kabir]

I can use some of the info here. I currently have two options given by my company to either relocate to NYC or Chicago. I haven't lived in a US city before (been to many for long vacations). Just beginning to research and which of the two should I consider, if at all.

[iDumb]

Kabir bhai move to NYC man. I think u will like it.

[HereWeGo]

NY is expensive.....
Personally if I ever lived in NY, I would never buy a car irrespective of my wealth ..... north american people should really learn to use public transport more....

[zman]

I've lived in both cities and liked both for their own reasons. If you're inclined to spending more time with desis, and like attending desi gatherings/festivals, then NYC is the place for you. I'm not much into that, but I still feel there's something really cool about this city. It's truly a melting pot of all imaginable cultures, and although most parts of the city is old, run down, and overcrowded, the inhabitants have a strong sense of pride and appreciation of culture and history.

I feel the quality of life is better in Chicago. It's more laid back and the city is really beautiful. It's got lots of nice tourist attractions and landmarks, also there's lots of fun things to do. It's slightly less expensive compared to NYC. However only negative thing in my view is the temperature. It's about 5-10 degrees F cooler than NYC, and the wind chill really gets to your bones.

[One World]

As a dweller of many cities in the world the city I most hated was NYC although it was when the crime rate was almost zero due to some mayoral magic and I most loved was Nashville although it was positioned third at that time in most dangerous cities of the U.S. Anyway in neither city I was ever attacked/ransomed or experienced any other bad thing.

Why Nashville?

Why not the cities of Texas or North Dakota or even Santa Fe, New Mexico.
You will never know unless you live there for a whole year.

[Navo]

I live in Dhaka now but my parents live in Berlin (for the time being). The cost of living there is quite low for a European capital and is especially so for students.

Idumb speaks of having a one-bedroom flat for $1500 dollars/month in NYC. A good friend of mine in Berlin rented a one-bedroom studio apartment with a HUGE kitchen for 210 Euros/month (excluding bills)located a half-hour away from his University, when he was a student. His University was not only one of the best in the country, but it charged no tuition and instead provided him with a free Berlin travel pass. The price of food obviously varies but the basics are very cheap. The price of vegetables/fruits vacillate with the seasons - as they should - but I was gobsmacked when I was able to buy a 10 kg bag of potatoes for 1 euro last year.

I've lived in NYC and while Berlin doesn't have the same dynamism, it really is a great city to live in. Love the greenery and the cultural scene. As you can probably tell, I'm looking forward to visiting my parents soon

That is corroborated by the same website used by Boss:

You would need around 5,974.57$ in New York, NY to maintain
the same standard of life that you can have with 3,400.00$ in Berlin
(assuming you rent in both cities).

This calculation uses our Consumer Prices Including Rent Index.

Indexes Difference
Consumer Prices in New York, NY are 18.08% higher than in Berlin
Consumer Prices Including Rent in New York, NY are 75.72% higher than in Berlin
Rent Prices in New York, NY are 259.71% higher than in Berlin
Restaurant Prices in New York, NY are 44.14% higher than in Berlin
Groceries Prices in New York, NY are 26.91% higher than in Berlin
Local Purchasing Power in New York, NY is 17.76% lower than in Berlin

Source: http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living...ayCurrency=USD

[Nocturnal]

I live in Calgary, AB.
Pretty expensive city
Just to give you an idea -

""Calgary maintains its dubious title as Canada's priciest city to park with an average median parking rate of US$439.93, second only to New York (US$562 Midtown, US$533 Downtown) and higher than other large North American cities such as Boston (US$405) and San Francisco (US$375)" ...

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/10...n_1933087.html

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1045...-international

[BrianLara7]

Lotteries do make people rich.. but unfortunately for 99.99 percent of people who buy them, the ones getting rich are those who sell them.

[shuziburo]

Originally Posted by iDumb
I think lottery tickets should be part of every investment portfolio. I personally don't think it's a bad investment. What are you saving? 50 bucks a year? over your life time? 3000? boohoo.

And u dont "live" by saving. I think u misunderstood my post. There is no extravagant expense yet just the necessities of life needs that much money. I dont' know what kinda goo hole you live in California.

In fact how the hell do you live in california? it's supposed to be an expensive place too... we all know even munia makes more money than you.

I guess it's possible if you can get all government funding.. section 8 housing, food stamp, child care etc - free money amount to almost 50K yearly income. I refuse to stoop down to that level.

Lottery tickets as investment? I thought I have heard everything, but apparently not. The odds of winning powerball or mega millions jackpot can be as low as 1 in 200M. In contrast, there is a 1 in 700k chance of being struck by a meteor during the average lifetime. Odds of being struck by lightening is 1 in 10,456.

Yeah, it is a good idea to buy lottery tickets as an investment! BTW, for the religious only, every major religion forbids gambling.

[iDumb]

Originally Posted by shuziburo
Lottery tickets as investment? I thought I have heard everything, but apparently not. The odds of winning powerball or mega millions jackpot can be as low as 1 in 200M. In contrast, there is a 1 in 700k chance of being struck by a meteor during the average lifetime. Odds of being struck by lightening is 1 in 10,456.

Yeah, it is a good idea to buy lottery tickets as an investment! BTW, for the religious only, every major religion forbids gambling.

Man! I know what I said. And I stand by it. You can bring all the stats or all the probability bullshit... it's not swaying me simply because i know what I am talking about and it makes sense to me.. thus it's right.

Probability of winning the jackpot maybe 1 in 200M but probabiilty of simply winning, ie getting 2 dollars for 1 dollar ticket is 1/4. That's a pretty high odd. 25% chance of of doubling your money and a whole lot of DREAMS of riches... (you know the fantasy you buy - called movie tickets)

Please don't argue with me, same goes for zeeshan.. bringing out all the cliched argument without own spare of thought...

I am gonna say again zeesha, most jackpot winners DO NOT lose their money. Stop bringing out bullshit data please.... just think.... common sense is powerful.

[Kabir]

Cost of living in Canadian cities like Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton - these are "huda kaam e" expensive. There's no shortage of land in Canada, and the cities are huge with no shortage either. For example, Burlington (about 50 km from downtown Toronto) has a TON of land - but the house prices are 500k+!!! And then, the houses are built almost adjacent to one another with a backyard that's more of a joke (literally no more than 15-20'. So from the perspective of real estate prices, Canadian cities are less affordable than they should be.

I don't consider food related expenses to be a huge issue for any city. Other expenses that are quite high for Toronto and its surrounding areas is car insurance (I pay ~230/month), car lease, gas price, etc. Clothing used to be much more expensive, but due to proximity to border the retailers are offering more competitive pricing now.

Monthly cost breakdown for my city (Mississauga) for a family of two:
Rent (1 bed +1den) - 1400
Utilities - 50
Car expenses (lease, insurance, gas) - 1000
Grocery: 1000 (depending on the type of food you like, such as organic, fresh fruits/frozen, etc)
Phone/internet/cell/cable - >270
Eating out (min 50 x 5-6 times a month) - >350
Transit expenses - 150
Gifts & other expenses (roop chorcha, habijabi)- >500

Total per month: ~4000

And that's just the basic needs. I don't do as much clubbing as Orphy, and don't drink. Anything beyond the above expenses are extra - namely, charity, special events (there's always something or the other).

[Jadukor]

Compared to Canada and US, Bangkok is cheap!
In Bangkok you would find a whole range of accommodation options depending on how much you want to pay. Rentals for one bed room apartments vary from $600/month (in decent neighborhoods) to $2000/month which is really luxurious apartments.

There is a whole range of options in terms of food as well... the street food is really good and I have not experienced any health issues from it. There is also an unlimited choice of restaurants from many countries. Bangladeshi and Indian restaurants however, are unnecessarily expensive here.
If you go super local you could get a meal for less than $3 in Bangkok. Decent Restaurants would cost you anywhere between $15-$30.

Public Transport system is also great here. You have the option of SkyTrain (monorail), Subway, Government Run Buses, Motorcycle taxi's (that navigate through the various sois) and conventational Taxi cabs. Subway or Monorail cover all the popular places in the city and would cost you $1-$2 depending on where you are going.

[Kabir]

What most people arent highlighting is what type of area these cost estimates are for. For example, downtown NYC will be significantly pricier than midtown. Downtown TO is more expensive than Mississauga...may be by a good 2-3 hundred a month in terms of rent.

[Crisis]

Per month , assuming 1 month = 4 weeks

Travel cost - £140
Lunch cost = £80
Weekend shopping cost = £80
Mobile bill = £10
Broadband and landline bill = £20
Gas bill = £30
Electricity bill = £25
Water bill = £12
Council tax = £100
TV License = £12
Meetups with friend where we alternate paying every 2 weeks = £40
Mortgage = £600

Total expenditure/m = £1150 = $1850

[Navo]

^ Your mobile bill is just 10 quid?? Wow, I thought I had a good deal with Orange at 15 quid/month.

Also, you mentioned lunch. What about breakfast, dinner etc.?

[mufi_02]

^^ That's it, I am coming to UK crisis bhai

[Kabir]

Originally Posted by Crisis
Total expenditure/m = £1150 = $1850

Useless without the city.