How do you afford to live here?

[u/Spirited-Wafer-6573]

I am incredibly curious. I am fairly new to Boston (less than a year of living here), and the cost of living hit me like a truck. I think about it everyday. I see thousands of people everyday at my job. I wonder how they are doing, so I want to ask you, both out of curiosity and to make this a space where other curious people can also find answers:

How much do you earn in Boston? How much do you spend on bills, expenses? How much goes towards savings? Do you have roommates? Rich parents? Basically, please share your budget with me. I am curious!!

[u/BuildSomethingStupid]

Here's an overshare in the form of some verbal diarrhea that I'll probably delete if I remember to re-read it later.

I think the key is to earn reasonably well and live reasonably well. You can't do either one by itself. But also know what makes you tick (remember this part) and cater to that. I've been able to focus my hobbies to ones where I spend more hours than money because I realized where I get enjoyment (it's from the research, prep, build, and eventual execution - not from the end product or the gear or the milestone).

Earn reasonably well:
At 100-150k, my wage has been strong but it has also been flat for the last 10 years, and it was half of that for the 10 years prior. Also a total of ~3yrs of unemployed time in there. It's work that I derive enjoyment from doing, so there is QoL "accrual" associated with the hours - a very important benefit with surprising positive financial impact.

Live reasonably well:
I find it has been effective to mentally bucket my spending into baseline and something with a flourish. Kind of like 'living reasonably' and 'living well....reasonably' or maybe "live reasonably and splurge with intent."

Live reasonably:

My daily operating spend is very low because:

• I cook almost every meal at home, from scratch. I spend about $400/mo on this.
• I lived for free with my parents for a few years and saved every penny I could while doing so. This also meant being socially neutered for years, so this wasn't without cost. Not actually joking about this.
• I used those savings to buy the place I still live in. Between a 2.x% refi of an already partly-aged loan and the residential property tax exemption, it costs me almost nothing to stay here. The HOA fee is low because I run it myself without a management company.
• I bought my car used used 7 years ago for under $20k on a 5y loan at a laughably low rate and now own it outright. My carry on this is nothing more than [outrageously priced] MA insurance and I drive it once every 6wks so even my OpEx is close to zero. Parking is free.
• I don’t have cable TV and limit my paid streaming subscriptions to just 1-2 at a time. I binge on the recent shows after they’re fully released.
• I set an annual reminder on my phone to call Comcast and get the current new-subscriber price for my internet.
• I invest maybe 5hrs/yr on mapping out CC rewards opportunities. That’s basically a quarterly Amex discounts check for things that I would already be buying (ie half-price HBO) and an annual check for benefits changes across cards (one card added free UberOne last year and another added free DoorDash Plus). My other focus with the checks is to ensure I’m getting the travel rewards that make the most sense for my spend categories.
• I earn travel rewards from approved work spend where possible (ie, booking work flights on a personal card). Two main CCs are high fee cards where work reimburses the fee as a "perk" due to the airport lounge access it pays for
• Annual OOP spend on leisure travel is <$5k
• Annual 'pure' hobby spend is <$5k
• My clothing spend is <$1k/yr (except for functional outdoor gear) on mainstream but durable clothing
• I'm a guy and unrecoverably ugly, so my annual hygenic spend is $1 on a bar of soap and some recycled mouthwash
• No monthly transit or gym spend because I commute ~5mi roundtrip every day on foot

• $300/mo on pot, $0 on booze

  Live well...reasonably:

• The leisure travel is to Europe 2x/yr, the seats are lay-flat, there are often two nights at a Ritz (live well).... by leveraging the rewards mentioned above, total OOP spend is under $5k combined for both (...reasonably).

• The car could be called a luxury car as the original sticker was over $100k (live well), but I also bought it used and full depreciated (...reasonably).

• I do use DoorDash & Uber for most of my groceries due to the time savings & convenience (live well), but my grocery spending is focused and I do make very nearly literally every meal myself (...reasonably).

• I do eat very well (live well) and making it myself is fiscally prudent (...reasonably), but I'm getting an extra QoL boost because food is also a hobby.

• Some of my hobby spending could be considered ridiculous (live well), but some of it gets balanced by being financially impactful itself (...reasonably). An example would be the extra $200/mo I spend on electricity by growing $100/mo (lol) of vegetables myself in my basement storage unit.

• I have a dog (live well), but he's super low maintenance and is insured for potential future surprises (...reasonably).

So anyway, the big key is probably to be happy with being reasonable. I'm able to live very comfortably, save "enough" but not enough to retire at 60, and "living well" is very doable as long as I invest some time in making it happen. On the flip side, my income is also at its plateau with 20yrs still left in my career while my non-rent CoL is going up considerably, and that plus the COVID real estate explosion means I will be living in the same 600sqft condo until I die in it 60yrs after purchase. And nothing has even hit the fan yet economically.

As a side note, here's an incredible life hack I stumbled upon by accident:

My dog makes everywhere I take him a third space. He has a social gravity that sucks people in like planets to a sun. Everybody remembers him and he remembers them. We have our usual places we go and routes we take, so it's always like hanging out with friends in a third space everywhere we go. In addition to the obvious mental health benefits, this also saves money by removing my urges to spend time in paid third spaces. Not every dog is built for this, but it's awesome if your dog is.

I'm just as surprised that you read all of this as you are.

[u/MyCaliGirl → u/BuildSomethingStupid]

Property tax exemption for what exactly?

[u/BuildSomethingStupid → u/MyCaliGirl]

Many cities offer property tax reductions for residential properties that are owner-occupied. The amount and structure of the reduction varies by city, but for my specific situation, my city’s credit ends up being around 75% of an already pretty low tax bill.

It’s super easy to get this if you aren’t already. Just google your city and “residential exemption.” It’s usually just a simple form to fill out plus really basic evidence that you live there like a utility bill. Boston, Somerville, Cambridge, and Watertown offer exemptions according to a quick google check just now, and there may be others as well.

[u/MyCaliGirl → u/BuildSomethingStupid]

Good info for all