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Cost Estimates & Breakdowns

Cost Estimates & Breakdowns, Moving

Should I ship or sell all of my stuff when moving abroad?

One of the big questions for moving abroad that has been plaguing me for a couple months now is: What should we do with all of our stuff? Should we sell it all and start fresh in Germany? Or should we try to ship it over?

I’ve been trying to make this decision from a couple of lenses:

  • Cost
  • Effort
  • Logistics

There are different levels of options: we can sell most things, we can bring most things, or we could find some happy medium. First, let’s start with what amount of stuff we’re even talking about.

What We’d Bring (or Sell)

We currently live in a 750 sq ft 1 bedroom apartment. We have a small storage unit down the hall from our apartment and also keep a number of items stored at Richard’s parents’ house. I like to think that we don’t have too much stuff, but things can really add up when you start to investigate what is in all of your drawers and nooks and crannies. A few months back, I did a sweep of our stuff after reading the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. We got rid of a lot of things, but there are still many items that probably could go.

What we won’t bring

There are a number of items that we know right off the bat that we will not bring with us when moving abroad, due to various reasons:

  • Electronics with plugs – Germany and the U.S. have electrical systems that run on different voltages. That’s why you need converters and adapters when you go over to Europe on vacation. Our TV (which is super old anyways), kitchen electronics, scanner, hair dryer, straightener, air purifiers, printer and lamps will not be coming with us. We will sell most, but store a couple of items like our KitchenAid mixer, CrockPot, and wine fridge.
  • Cars & motorcycle – Each of us had one car plus Richard has a motorcycle. We won’t be bringing any of these. We’ve already sold one car and plan to sell the other two vehicles before we leave. We figure that it is not worth the hassle or cost to bring them over. Plus, we are moving to a city that has excellent public transportation. We’ll be living the car free life for a while.
  • Couch – We have a fairly compact couch that we purchased from IKEA when we moved to Virginia a few years ago. We like it, but we have no idea what our new apartment is going to look like. We don’t want to risk moving a fairly inexpensive couch that we might not be able to fit into our new place.
  • Childhood mementos and most photo albums – I’ve been lugging a few boxes around with me that include childhood momentos. Richard is working on whiddling his down to a couple boxes as well. These will be safe and sound at Richard’s parents house while we are exploring Europe.
  • Plants, flammables, and other restricted items – There are a number of things that you aren’t allowed to bring with you to a new country. Plants and flammables are the most relevant to us. Firearms and porn are also on the list of prohibited items, but those don’t really apply to our situation.
  • Consumables, personal care items and cleaning supplies – We don’t need to bring toilet paper, cleaning supplies or things like shampoo with us.

What we will definitely bring

  • Original university degrees, transcripts, birth certificates, marriage certificates and other documents – Germans are big on actually seeing your flesh and blood documents. We’ll bring these with us.
  • Pet – Zeke will be coming with us to Germany! Unfortunately, Stella has a terminal illness, so she won’t be making the trek with us. Now let me go cry a million tears…
  • Plates, flatware, and glasses – We just received some new kitchenware as wedding gifts and we have quite a collection of wine glasses. We’re planning to bring these along with us since they are rather compact and mean a lot to us.
  • Clothes – We’ll probably trim down to the necessities, but we have no plans to trash what we’ve got and start over. We’ll slowly assimilate to dressing like Germans as we buy new items there.
  • Computers and small battery- or USB-based electronics – We’ll be able to bring our computers and a number of small electronics like our cell phones, electric toothbrushes, and a few other items.

What we’re still deciding on

So we have a number of things that will come and a number that won’t, but we also have a number of things that we’re not sure about yet. We couuuuuld bring them, but we could not bring them.

  • Dressers and other small furniture
  • Picture frames and other decor
  • Bookshelves
  • Office chair and desks
  • Bicycles
  • Extra mattress and bedframe
  • Books, DVDs, and other media
  • Wine
  • Mattress, bedframe and bed linens
  • Dining table

Our Moving Options

So that’s all of the stuff we’re talking about. We basically have a few options for moving things:

  • Move stuff by sea in a 20 ft container
  • Move stuff by sea in a small cube (200-300 cu sq ft)
  • Pack everything in suitcases and bring as excess baggage on the plane
  • Ship items in one off boxes through USPS, FedEx or UPS

These options vary in terms of their cost, ease of coordinating here vs. there, and timing that we would receive our options. Let’s take a closer look at each option.

Moving Stuff by Sea

The first two options involve putting all of our belongings onto a ship and sending them over to Germany by sea. The initial quotes that I’ve received have been anywhere from $2,000 – $6,000. The final cost depends on how much you send, what services are included, and various port and agent charges. Logistically, there are some important things to consider:

  • Timing – It can take a long time to ship items by sea. We would need to go a period of time before we leave and after we arrive without the items that we ship. This may not be a big deal for some items that we ship that we don’t use everyday. However, for an item like a bed, that would mean we would have to figure out where to sleep for 6 to 8 weeks. The time estimates are also not guaranteed. Your stuff could arrive earlier than expected, but it could also arrive later than expected.
  • Packing – Packing and inventorying of our items is included in the price. If we ship our stuff, we want to leave the packing up to the professionals. There are a lot of rules and regulations of how you need to document your items for customs officials, so it will be infinitely easier and more efficient for someone else to handle that dirty work.
  • Flexibility for Volume – You have a lot of options when it comes to how much you can ship. We can ship a few of our items or we can ship a larger load in our own 20 ft container. This gives us some flexibility around choosing the most cost efficient option for us.
  • Cost – $6,000 is a lot of money! Plus, if you lug it there with you, you will eventually need to bring it back to the U.S. Do we really think the things we’re planning to ship are worth the $12,000 it would cost to bring them there and back? For the most part, we’re still in the IKEA phase of our furniture lives, so this is a very legitimate question. There can also be fees that spring up when the items get to the new country with customs and the port.
  • Finding a Vendor We Can Trust – If you’ve ever googled an international moving company, you’ll understand that these websites are like the wild west. It’s impossible to get a straightforward quote. No one has positive reviews. It’s confusing. I’m really nervous about picking a mover and then having it turn out poorly because I didn’t think to ask the right question or I just got unlucky.

Bringing Excess Baggage by Air

If we want to completely get around finding an international mover and dealing with all of that, we could try to bring our stuff with us on the plane as excess baggage. Like sea, there are important things to consider with this method of moving:

  • Timing – Our stuff would be with us, so we wouldn’t have to worry about not having the items to use while they are in transit.
  • Cost – Excess baggage can be expensive, but depending on how much we bring with us, it could still be less than the cost of shipping things by sea.
  • Lugging our stuff – Our plan is to fly into Frankfurt and take a day to settle down. Then we will take the train from Frankfurt to Hamburg. We are doing this because we will have Zeke with us and we figured that they will want a break from travel before we make it to our final destination. If we bring our items on the plane with us, we will need to lug them on the train with us. This may prove to be rather difficult, because I do not think any of the trains in Germany have baggage cars.
  • Flexibility for Future Trips – We have the option of bringing a few luggage items with us and then having visitors bring additional ones for us at a later time. This will possibly be a good option for the items that we are fine living without for a few months, such as decor items and other nice to haves.
  • Safety of stuff – A major risk with bringing stuff with us on the plane is that baggage handlers aren’t exactly known for their light hand with handling luggage. If we bring fragile items, we are at the mercy of the baggage handlers who may or may not be throwing our luggage around while we’re not looking. Do we want to take the risk of trying to pack our silverware, plates, and wine glasses in our luggage or just trust them on the open sea?

Cost Analysis

I mentioned that we want to make a decision about what to do based on cost, logistics and sustainability. Cost is easily going to be the biggest predictor of what we do. So how do we measure the final cost? Well, that’s what is a little unclear, but I think I can figure it out. First, let’s start with our known and set costs.

Things We Know We’ll Need to Buy

There are things that we won’t bring with us, so there are things we know we’re going to need to purchase when we get to Germany. Here are some high level estimates to get us started. Most of the prices came from IKEA and Amazon.de.

  • TV – ~$1,000 depending on what model we want to get
  • TV Stand – $100
  • Couch – $600 gets us a similar IKEA couch to what we have now
  • Toaster Oven – $75
  • Hair Dryer – $35
  • Air Purifier – $400
  • Lamps – $200
  • Consumables & cleaning supplies – $200
  • Bathroom accessories & toiletries – $100
  • Laundry basket & rack – $40
  • Clothes hangers (wood & plastic) – $50
  • Trash cans – $50
  • Wall & alarm clocks – $20
  • Side tables – $60
  • Wardrobe – $600 Apparently a lot of apartments in Germany do not have a closet. We may need to purchase ourselves a wardrobe. Hopefully we won’t need one of these, but it’s on here just in case.
  • Coffee maker & grinder – $100
  • Drinking glasses – $20

Total: ~$4,000 (I rounded up because I tend to underestimate these types of lists)

Things We Might Need to Buy

  • Dressers – $500 will get us a nice set of Hemnes if we decide we don’t want the bottom of the barrel IKEA options.
  • Desk & Chair – $300 will get us a nice desk chair and a simple IKEA desk
  • Litter box unit – $200 to replace the cat litter station I built for Zeke when we moved to Virginia
  • Bookshelf – $100
  • Night stand – $40
  • Dining table – $200
  • Dining chairs – $200
  • Mattress & bedframe – $2000 for a comparable mattress and bedframe if we decided to just start over
  • Bicycles – $300 assuming we can get some decent secondhand bicycles
  • Rug – $50
  • Decor and other items – $200 to get us started
  • Pots & pans – $300
  • Towels & other linens – $200

Total: ~$4,500

So, what’s the best way of estimating this? I’m not actually sure to be honest. It’s not a clear 1-to-1 on what we will bring vs. not bring and what we will need to buy vs. not buy. We have the option to sell some of our items here in the U.S., which will affect our overall net cost. We also are not planning to replace every item that we sell or leave behind in Germany.

Scenario 1: Ship ~200 cu ft of items

Let’s assume we decide to ship the following:

  • Mattress, bedframe, bed linens
  • Dining table
  • Plates & flatware
  • Wine glasses
  • Pots & pans
  • Winter items
  • Extra pet items
  • Some decor
  • Physics books
  • Computer
  • Speakers

Total cost of shipping: $5,000 (excluding insurance)

We would bring the following with us on the plane:

  • Clothing
  • Toiletries
  • Pet items
  • Living essentials

Let’s assume all of these items fit into two large and 1 small checked bag, 1 carry-on, 1 pet carrier, and 2 bookbags.

Total baggage fees: $100 (our first 2 checked bags are free)

With with both scenarios, we know we’ll likely be buying up to $4,000 worth of items, regardless if we ship a lot or a little. Additionally, we would need to purchase dressers, desk, computer chair, litter box unit, bookshelf, night stand, dining chairs, bicycles, rug, and additional decor. This will likely run us another $2,000.

In total, shipping, luggage fees, things we’ll buy regardless, and things we’ll buy because we won’t ship them will be about $11,100.

Scenario 2: Checked luggage and boxes

Let’s assume we aren’t shipping anything by sea. That means we’ll need to bring everything in checked bags. On the way to Germany, let’s assume we bring 1 carry-on, 2 bookbags, 1 pet carrier, and 2 large checked bags, 1 medium checked bag, and 1 small checked bag.

We’d be able to bring the following.

Large checked bag 1

  • Household items

Large checked bag 2

  • Richard clothing
  • Sports stuff
  • Pet food, litter and supplies

Medium checked bag 3

  • Nicole clothing
  • Toiletries
  • Towels

Small checked bag

  • Household items

Carry-on 2

  • Flatware

Bookbags 1 & 2

  • Laptop
  • Chromebook
  • iPad
  • Critical documents
  • Other electronics
  • Travel pillows
  • Kindles

Boxes to Ship

  • Computer
  • Speakers
  • Wine glasses
  • Physics books

To bring four checked bags, we will spend $200. The cheapest shipping seems to be with USPS. We can ship 50lb boxes to Hamburg for $150 each. Let’s assume we need to ship 5 boxes. That’s puts us at $750.

When we arrive in Germany, we would have a lot of things we would need to buy. We’d need to buy all of the things that we know we need to purchase regardless, which will be $4,000. Additionally, we’d need to buy all of the things in the “we might need to get these” category, which is around $4,500. That puts us at $9,450 to bring what we can in checked luggage, ship a couple of boxes and buy the rest when we arrive in Germany.

Next Steps

We’ve decided to move forward with Scenario 2. We’re going to load up as much as we can in our luggage and then ship a couple of boxes with the rest of our stuff. The cost is cheaper and we have more flexibility to keep the price low (and possibly lower than what I estimated above). Logistically, it will also be easier, because we’ll have our stuff with us and we can bring it through customs rather than having to deal with a port and all of the logistics that come with that. From an effort standpoint, we probably have a little more work since we’ll have to back our shipping boxes ourselves and really make sure we are able to sell, store or donate everything that doesn’t fit in our luggage plus a couple of boxes.

Moving abroad is going to be quite the adventure!

 

Costs of Moving Locally
Cost Estimates & Breakdowns, Life, Money, Moving

The Cost of Moving Locally

I’ve been in Arlington for what seems like not that long, but has actually been a while! It’s almost time to resign my lease, so I figured it would be a good time to see what the cost of moving locally might be. I really don’t want to move, because I like my current apartment a lot, but I could potentially be convinced to move if it worked out well in my favor financially AND my new place has all of the same pros as what I currently have.

Expenses Involved in Moving Locally

First, I want to see what the costs of moving locally will be. Then, I’ll look at how those map up with the pros and cons of my current apartment. Here are the major costs that I foresee coming along with a local move:

  • Move Out & In Fees: Most of the buildings in this area charge a move in/out fee to reserve the elevator and loading dock, which generally is in the $400 to $500 range. That means I’m going to have to pay $1,000 to move somewhere. If I were to move apartments this year, I would need to pay this fee twice: once to move out of my current apartment and once to move into my new apartment.
  • 1 Day of PTO & Time: In addition to paying a fee to move out or in, I would need to take a whole day off of work in order to do so. Many apartment buildings have restrictions on when you can move in. Spoiler alert: it’s usually on a weekday, hence needing to take a day off from work. Packing and unpacking is also a huge time suck. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too difficult this time around, but these things always take so MUCH time!
  • Security Deposit: Knock on wood, I should get all or most of my security deposit back when I move out of my current apartment. However, you don’t generally get your security deposit back until after you move out and you need to provide one for the new apartment before you can move in. That means that I’ll need to front some additional cash until I get back my current security deposit. My next security deposit could be anywhere between $2000 and $3000, depending on the cost of our new apartment.
  • Pet Deposit: In addition to a security deposit, I’ll also need to provide money for a pet deposit and/or fee. Some places have a non-refundable pet fee while others have a refundable pet deposit. Either way, this will be another $300-$500.
  • Movers: I’ll be damned if I have to move myself again, despite it not being the most frugal move one could make. After such a rough move last year, I’ve sworn to myself that I won’t be doing it on my own again. Renting movers for an afternoon would likely cost somewhere around $500-800.
  • Moving Supplies: We don’t have any boxes or moving supplies left after our last move, so we would need to do that whole shebang again. We were able to save money by picking up free boxes from our local liquor store and would try to do that again, but it’s likely we could spend around $100 on other moving supplies. Things we might spend money on are wrappers for the furniture, bubble wrap, and packing tape.

So, when all is said and done, it could cost anywhere between $1,900 and $2,400 to move locally. On top of that, I could need to front $2000 to $3000 for the new deposit depending on how much my new apartment costs.

Weighing the Pros & Cons of Moving Locally

It will be a big chunk of change to move, that’s for sure. However, could it be worth it? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of my current apartment.

Pros

  • Easy Commute for Nicole & Richard: On the best days, I’m only 20 minutes from work. I have the option to take the Metro which is less than 3 blocks away or I can ride my bike to work in about 15 minutes. Richard drives to work, but he’s typically able to do so in about 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic.
  • Pet-friendly: We have two pets and do not pay extra for them on a monthly basis. I did need to pay a pet deposit.
  • Easy Access to I-395/I-95: We are only a couple of minutes’ drive from the highway, which means Richard can easily get to work, we can easily drive to Richard’s parents’ house, we can easily drive to the nearest Wegman’s, and we’re able to easily get to our rock climbing gym.
  • Reserved parking: We have a reserved parking spot that is included in our rent and Richard is able to rent an additional space to park his motorcycle.
  • Building amenities: We have excellent building staff, an ample gym, and a rooftop pool. The gym is a huge benefit, because Richard doesn’t need to have a gym membership anywhere else.
  • In-unit laundry: We have in-unit laundry, which is really convenient.
  • 1st floor unit: It wouldn’t be the end of the world to be on a higher floor, but being on the first floor is really convenient for taking out our dog. It saves a few minutes each day, which is nice.

Cons

  • No private outdoor space: In a perfect world, I would like to have a balcony attached to our apartment.
  • Not 100% hardwood: With two pets, we’d prefer to rent an apartment with 100% hardwood. Our bedroom is carpeted, which isn’t too bad.
  • No den or second bedroom: We make do with 1 bedroom and only 750 sq ft, but it would be so much better to have just a little bit more room for a den or second bedroom.
  • Only 1 bathroom: In the same vein as above, we are in a tight space, so we only have 1 bathroom. In a perfect world, we would have at least 1.5!

Neutrals

  • Neighborhood: We live in Clarendon, which is a pretty upscale neighborhood in Arlington. We are VERY close to lots of restaurants, bars, and shopping. We even are really close to some of the doctors and dentists that we’ve acquired since moving here. We really enjoy living in Clarendon, but it would be nice to check out other neighborhoods now that we’ve been here for a bit. We could look in Ballston, Virginia Square or Rosslyn if we wanted to stay in VA, but have (potentially) cheaper rent without going too far away from my work or Richard’s work. Alternatively, we could try looking in DC proper as well, but I’m unsure if we would be able to find something in our desired price point that would be as convenient for our commutes.

What would it take for me to move?

Right now, you can see that the pros of my apartment far outweigh the cons. Looking briefly at what’s out there, I’m pretty sure it would be difficult to beat our current situation. We currently pay $2,075 per month in rent and Richard pays an additional $75 for his motorcycle parking. Our rent cost includes a reserved parking spot as well as our 2 pets. There are three situations that I could see us deciding to move:

  • Extreme rent increase: After doing the math, I know that it could cost up to $2,400 to move locally. That means that any rent increase below $200 could end up being the same as it would be to move locally, if we were to find an apartment with the same rent that we pay now. If our landlord increases our rent by MORE than $200 per month, that is when I will likely start looking at other options.
  • Super deal: I have my eye out at some of the apartment listings just to be aware of what’s going on. If I find a super deal that is either $200 less than what we pay per month or $100 less (assuming rent goes up by $100), it might be worth considering to move as well.
  • No choice: Lastly, a reason I might choose to move is if we don’t really have a choice. We rent from a landlord who owns a condo unit. I think it’s unlikely, but she could always choose to stop renting our her unit.

Fingers crossed that none of the three situations above happen! I’m rooting to stay in the same apartment for another year!

Have you moved locally recently? How much did it end up costing? Why did you decide to take the plunge?

Cost Estimates & Breakdowns, Fitness, Life

Race & Budget Report: Tar Heel 10 Miler

I’ve talked about the Tar Heel 10 Miler a number of times around here. I was on the fence about going when I wrote up what I thought things would cost to participate. Then I committed! And I was able to actually train to the point where I felt like I was ready physically.

And then, of course, because this is how these types of things happen, I came down with a nasty case of food poisoning five days before the race! It was a dark couple of days and I wasn’t sure I was going to feel up to driving down to Chapel Hill, let alone running in a 10 mile race. Spoiler alert: I was able to fully rebound and I completed all 10 miles on race day!

So, I decided to write up a race report (kind of like how I did when I ran the Color Run in Philadelphia a couple of years ago). This time, the write up comes with a twist of budget breadown!

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Cost of the Tar Heel 10 Miler
Cost Estimates & Breakdowns, Fitness

Cost Estimate Breakdown: Training & Running in the Tar Heel 10 Miler

I’m currently thinking about running a 10 mile road race in April. Specifically, I’m thinking of running in the Tar Heel 10 Miler in Chapel Hill, NC. As I mentioned in my goals for 2015, I want to get back into the swing of exercising. In particular, I want to get back into the swing of running.

The cold weather of late isn’t making me too inclined to lace up my shoes and get out there. While I figure it out, I figure there was no better time than now to plan out how much this decision might cost me.

Tar Heel 10 Miler Cost Estimates

Overall, I estimate that I would rack up costs for food, gear, cross-training, the race itself and travel.

Food – approx. $10 – $30

It almost sounds silly to add a food expense to the cost of running in a race, but training for a long(er) distance race means fueling oneself properly. Generally, I like to use something like CLIF Shot Blocks, GU Chomps or GU Energy Gel when I am training for a longer race. Since it’s only a 10 miler, I would probably only end up needing to use about 3 or 4 packages total for training and the race.

If I end up buying energy supplements at my local running store a la carte, I expect that I would spend under $10. If I were to go the Amazon route and order by the case, I’d probably spend around $30, but would have supplements left over for the next race I decide to tackle.

Cross-training – $0

I currently have a membership to my local rock climbing gym. This membership gives me access to the gym for 3 months and cost me $210. I was tempted to add this as a cost of running in the race, but decided to not include it because I will be paying this membership regardless or whether I run in the race or not.

However, it’s important to note that cross-training is important for properly training for a race. There are plenty of ways to cross-train, both for free (riding your bicycle, doing body weight exercises, etc.) and at a cost (gym memberships, classes, etc.).

Gear – $90 – $120

While I have plenty of exercise clothing, it’s almost time to invest in a new pair of running shoes. I’ve had my trusty Mizuno Wave Rider 16s (identical to the infamous pair worn by Wendy Davis’ filibuster) for a few years now. I’ve had them a long time, but haven’t replaced them yet, because my mileage in them hasn’t been that high.

If I commit to this race (and running more in general), I will likely invest in a new pair of running shoes sometime between now and race day, which adds another expense to the list.

Race Fees – $60 to $70

Depending on when I decide to register, my fee to run will change:

  • $60 before March 1
  • $65 before April 1
  • $70 until the race

What do you get with the race fee? Entry into the race and a t-shirt. I’m sure there will also be a few other goodies included when I pick up my packet, but those are the major things that the cost of entry gets you.

Travel to Race – approx. $175

I do not live in Chapel Hill, where the Tar Heel 10 Miler occurs, so that will add to the cost of my excursion.

Fuel: $50

Since Chapel Hill, NC is pretty close (especially compared to when I lived in Rochester!), I would plan to drive down for the trip. Google maps tells me that Chapel Hill is approximately 250 miles from where I live. With highway driving, I can often get up to 300 miles per tank. Let’s round up and say that I will need two tanks of gas throughout my trip. With gas prices hovering near $2.00/gal. right now and an average tank (for me) costing $23, let’s assume that my fuel costs will be about $50.

Lodging: $0

If I go to this race, my plan would be to stay with one of my friends for two nights. If I were just going to a race like this by myself, I could easily spend $100 to $300 depending on what hotel I stayed at and whether I stayed for one or two nights.

Food & Entertainment – $125

Part of the point (and fun) of doing this race would be to visit friends at the same time. A twofer, if you will. I expect that I would incur the following expenses:

  • Friday night food on the road: $20
  • Post-run breakfast/lunch: $25
  • Dinner & drinks out: $60
  • Sunday food on the road: $20

 The Verdict

If I choose to run in the Tar Heel 10 Miler, I would likely spend somewhere between $335 and $395.  I’m feeling a little sticker shock as I read that number, but I’m trying to keep in mind a few things:

  • A majority of the costs will be for travel ($175) and I’ve been wanting to go down to Chapel Hill anyways
  • These expenses are split across two months
  • I’d be getting new running shoes in the next couple of months anyways ($90 – $120)

When put that way, it seems a bit less scary. After all, the race itself costs $60 and the cost for the energy gels is not high either.

At this point, the only thing that is keeping me back is the training itself. I technically haven’t started to formally train, so there is some chance that I wouldn’t be able to properly train in time.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you click on them, I receive a small commission for referring you. As always, all of my opinions are my own!

Cost Estimates & Breakdowns, Life, Money, Moving

Cost of Living Comparison: Greater New York vs. Rochester

 

As you might remember, last summer I moved from Hoboken, NJ to Rochester, NY to close the gap in my long distance relationship. I was able to work out a remote work situation with my employer, so I’ve been doing the whole work from home thing for 9 months now.

Now that it’s been a while, I figured it was as good time to do a cost of living comparison and look at how my expenses have changed since moving from a high cost of living area to a relatively low cost of living area.

Of course, as with everything, not all of the differences that I found were cut and dry. My lifestyle in the last 9 months has changed, which makes the overall cost of living of the two locations only a portion of the picture. Lifestyle changes that have impacted my expenses include:

  • I work remotely in Rochester; I commuted from Hoboken to New York while living in Hoboken
  • I lived by myself in a small one bedroom apartment in Hoboken; now I live in a two bedroom house with a roommate (Richard)
  • In general, I have been cooking at home more and reducing my restaurant outings since moving to Rochester
  • I did not own a car while living in Hoboken; I purchased a car after about three months of living in Rochester

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Running Shoes
Cost Estimates & Breakdowns, Fitness, Money

The Cost of Running

Running is often seen as an inexpensive alternative to having an expensive monthly gym membership. However, what many people tend to forget is that running isn’t just about buying a pair of shoes and venturing out into the great outdoors. In actuality, it’s a hobby that can vary greatly in terms of expenses.

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