I graduated from college in 2005 with a degree in Political Science. A newly minted graduate, I was excited to enter the workforce and begin living like an “adult”. I knew I wanted to live and work in Boston, so shortly before I graduated I met with a realtor and signed a year lease on a cute little one-bedroom apartment.
My First Boston Apartment
Looking back on the situation I was a pretty ballsy 22-year old. My parents thought I’d lost my mind for renting an apartment before I had a job, but I was confident that I’d do whatever it took to make it work. I knew how to hustle and work hard so if worse came to worse I could waitress or bartend to pay my rent. Strangely, I wasn’t afraid of failure so I jumped into the pool headfirst.
Simple but cozy
Those first few months were a little touch and go, but I made it work. I found a great temp job working for a well-known hospital’s billing department and I was quickly offered a full-time position. Because I was young and foolish passionate about volunteering, I turned down a great paying job at the hospital to do a unpaid volunteer year. Actually I wasn’t really that foolish because my passion wasn’t billing and although the pay and benefits were great, my heart wasn’t in it.
The next year of my life I spent working at a legal services office. My official pay was $0.00, but I received a $1000 a month living stipend. My rent was $1000 a month, so my “living” stipend didn’t really allow for much living. Again my parents though I was crazy and worried I was going to starve to death. But I didn’t. I survived and I thrived and learned a lot along the way. In fact, many of the frugal things I do today (willingly) are things that I learned how do do during that year.
How I Lived in Boston on $1000 a Month (Circa 2005)
- Roommates. This one’s pretty obvious, but the easiest way to save money when you’re living in a big city (or a small town) is to have roommates. After several months of barely making ends meet, I put an ad on craigslist and found myself a roommate. My apartment was a one bedroom split (both the living room and the bedroom had doors) so we each had our own rooms. Having a roommate wasn’t always fun, but it cut my rent in half, so it was worth it.
- Utilities. Candle light is romantic! Who needs television? It’s not that hot in here. Where I could cut back, I did. I didn’t have cable TV and I didn’t run my air conditioner unless it was really hot. My heat was included in the rent, so thankfully that wasn’t an expense I had to pay for (I made sure of this before I signed the lease – Boston winter’s are cold!).
- Cooking at home. I love Mexican and Spanish food, so eating beans and rice, was hardly a sacrifice. I’m not a great good, but I did learn how to make a bunch of simple and inexpensive dinners. I often cooked a whole chicken and used it in the meals I made for the rest of the week. First night was baked chicken and veggies, second night chicken burritos, third night chicken stirfry etc.
- Taking lunch to work. Sometimes it was kind of boring to eat the same thing for several days in a row, but when you’re living on a tight budget you have to do things that aren’t fun. After I ate lunch I made good use of my lunch hour, knitting some of the gifts I was planning to give to family for Christmas.
- Hustling. When you’re making a small amount of money at your full-time job, you have to hustle a little to keep your head above water. I did my fair share of side jobs including pet sitting, babysitting and data-entry. I searched the craigslist “miscellaneous” and “part-time” job forums for side work and gigs that I could do nights and weekends.
- Using Public Transportation. Many big cities have good public transportation- use it! It might be more of a hassle and it might take longer than driving, but when you make $1000 a month you probably have more time than money (I did!). I bought an unlimited T pass and saved money on gas, parking and maintenance on my car. I only drove when I was going somewhere outside of the city without public transportation.
- Saying “No.” This one was hard, maybe one of the hardest. When my friends were going places and doing things that I wanted to do, I often had to say, “no.” Vacations, concerts, expensive dinners, and shopping were all “no gos” during that year. Once I got in the habit of saying no, it was actually sort of empowering.
- Shopping Around/Buying Used. Just about everything that furnished my Boston apartment was secondhand. From my bed to my bookshelves to my desk. I only bought clothing that I needed (legitimately needed for work etc.) when it was on sale and I shopped at the Haymarket for rock bottom produce prices.
- Think “Free”. The best things in life are free, right? I took advantage of just about everything in the area that was free. I borrowed books and cds from the library, I played tennis at city courts, I went to free lectures at Harvard, I watched Shakespeare on the Boston Common. I took on the mantra, “If it’s free, it’s for me!”