US Consumerism and the Recession

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by BlackCat
Yearly : heating 3600 DKK, electricity 2200 DKK, internet 3600 DKK = 9400 DKK - 1$ ~4,80 DKK -> $1958 / 12 = $163 monthly. Seems to suck to live in america

Your utilities are probably subsidized through your taxes.

[Ecthy]

Well I managed because there just wasn't any more! If I had made $1,000 I'd have lived like a king!

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Your utilities are probably subsidized through your taxes.

They are all private and work on market terms - only exception is heating that isn't allowed to give a profit.

[Starchild]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


Because our internets are privatized.

So are ours. Same with our utilities.

[Kontiki]

What's considered "cable" in the UK?

[DanS]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
That's what we were paying in Chicago in 2001. I guess it depends on whether you have steam heat or not, but several of our apartments did not, and that last winter we'd get $600 a month gas bills, though only $50 in the summer. I averaged for gas, plus $100 on electricity.

Heck, cable+internet and electricity is $280 a month here in Florida.

$600 a month gas bills are super extreme for a one-bedroom apartment, even in Chicago.

I doubt even Ming pays that for his house in the dead of the Chicago winter.

[Lancer]

Originally posted by Ecthy
Well I managed because there just wasn't any more! If I had made $1,000 I'd have lived like a king!

[Garth Vader]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


That's what we were paying in Chicago in 2001. I guess it depends on whether you have steam heat or not, but several of our apartments did not, and that last winter we'd get $600 a month gas bills, though only $50 in the summer. I averaged for gas, plus $100 on electricity.

Heck, cable+internet and electricity is $280 a month here in Florida.

Even in a month of -40 weather heating for my 2 bedroom apartment maxed out at about $80 a month. Electric was like $70 and that was high because I had electric hot water. Cable+internet was $100.

[Arrian]

I just did some back 'o the napkin math and came up with $850/month in total utility costs (cable + internet + phone + electric + oil) for the dead of winter. That's using 2008 oil prices. For a 4-bed, 2500 sqft house.

$600/month gas bills for heat in 7 years ago for a small apartment? That's INSANE.

-Arrian

[Victor Galis]

I pay $600/mo. for a 2 room apartment all utilities included basically downtown.

Maybe she owns a house or something. I mean I'm seriously wondering how many of these people who are like, "OMG! We can't afford even the basics." live somewhere far out in a house that's slightly too big for what they could reasonably have afforded in the good times. Then again, I'm just not sympathetic of people who choose to live in the suburbs then #@$*( about the price of gas.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


That's what we were paying in Chicago in 2001. I guess it depends on whether you have steam heat or not, but several of our apartments did not, and that last winter we'd get $600 a month gas bills, though only $50 in the summer. I averaged for gas, plus $100 on electricity.

Heck, cable+internet and electricity is $280 a month here in Florida.

Well, I think you're way off about utilities, but others have already addressed that (incidently, I was basing my utility estimates on my experience of Pittsburgh, which has a similar climate and cost of living).

Your point is well taken about the student loans, but that's why I put her in her own apartment in the hippest neighborhood in the city. If she's got student loans to deal with, a move to a less-hip neighborhood and/or having a roommate could still get her back to where I had her.

I suspect the real culprit here is credit card debt. There are only a few of us on this board who are old enough to remember when it used to be difficult for a fresh college grad with an entry-level job to get credit; I was in one of the first graduating classes with access to easy credit, and its hard to see how it did any of us any good.

edit: either that, or an "exotic" mortgage -- and, really, even with a housing market as reasonably priced as Milwaukee's, what single 20something needs to own a house so badly that she can't wait until she saves up a proper downpayment?

[chequita guevara]

Maybe natural gas prices have dropped since then. All I remember is that the pice was insane, way out of our reach to pay, and thank goodness Chicago doesn't allow the gas company to disconnect you in winter. We still owe that gas bill.

[Darius871]

Maybe their printer just added an extra zero by accident...

[Jon Miller]

Originally posted by Victor Galis
I pay $600/mo. for a 2 room apartment all utilities included basically downtown.

It is over $1000/mo. for a quite ****ty 2 bedroom apartment here in Newport News. While it is definitely not the bad area of town, it isn't the hip area of town either. Additionally, while it isn't a complete dump (well, our place is, but the complex isn't), it isn't all that nice either.

JM

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Darius871
Maybe their printer just added an extra zero by accident...

Nah, it was a major news tory in Chicago at the time because of how many people were getting insane bills. Some of them were clearly wrong, like the lady who got an $1800 gas bill in January. ****ing People's Gas.