Ever since college, my life has been stepping stones to where I am now. I was privileged enough that I didn’t come out of college with student loans and was also able to find a job 1 week out of school. My journey, aka my life, has been pretty by the book by most account. I want to give a macro view of my living situations and financial feelings.
- 21 years old – I spent the first 2 years living at home and saving money. I had no bills and saved an unbelievable amount of money with no idea how much I actually had.
- 23 – Next I lived at Summit Park for a year where my rent was $550 bucks a month that included everything. I invested a large amount at the height of the stock market, lost it, and this emotionally scarred me for life about the market
- 24-28 – I moved to Manayunk with 2 other roommates and our rent was $600 + utilities. The amount of money I was making was right in line with giving me financial freedom to drink at the bars as much as I wanted but I wasn’t able to save money like I was earlier in my life.
- 29 – I moved into Philadelphia, about 5 minutes from my work, and was paying about 1,000+ utilities. The utilities were quite cheap but the living condition was a loft which was not ideal for 2 people. My income vs living was close to even.
- 30- I purchased a home by putting a % of the homes value down and borrowing money. My mortgage payment, with 2 people living in the place, is a tad less than what I was paying before but once utilities are included, it is more expensive than the previous year. Not to mention all of the repairs and maintenance that are involved with owning a house. For me, owning a house isn’t the rosy picture that people make it seem. I won’t argue it isn’t better than renting,. but with how front loaded the mortgage is with interest, the buyer isn’t getting an amazing deal.
All that being said, living in Philly can get expensive. Last week I went out on a Wednesday and spent $90 bucks at the bar. I had a fine time but not 90 bucks worth. And this is a Wednesday! Obviously you can say, “well why did you let yourself spend that much,” which is a valid question. The city isn’t Manayunk or the suburbs where you can buy a beer for 2 bucks. The city involves cabbing to a place which costs 10 bucks every time, paying 5 bucks per drink, a buck for tip, and it adds up to numbers that spiral out of control. Combine that with added expenses to live in the city and here I am typing a blog titled that I’m staying in.
So I sit behind my keyboard, in my house, listening to Foreigner with the NBA game on in the background and ask myself, am I enjoying myself? The answer is undoubtedly yes but I’m not doing anything. It’s not that I don’t want to spend money to do something, I just can’t go out every night. But this isn’t life. This is called passing time. I’m not solving the world’s problems or doing something fulfilling, I’m just existing. Except that I’m existing better off than 90% (I made that figure up) than the rest of the world. Sometimes you have to take a step back and ask yourself, what direction am I going? The easiest answer is, I don’t know, does anyone?
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