[BrandonM]

I'm renting a 2.5 bedroom house with a yard in a reasonably-good neighborhood for $250/month in Columbus, Ohio. Utilities (water, gas, electric) come to about $200; Internet and cell phone is another $150, so we're talking $600 a month, total. Throw in $1000 in debt payments and another $400 for food and entertainment, and I could easily live on $2000.

If I got a roommate, my monthly cost would drop by about $200 (I could afford a car). Once I pay off the debt, making $2000 a month would mean I would be putting $500-1000 in the bank every month.

[istjohn]

$250/month is less than I'm paying for a small bedroom in Columbus. How did you find that deal? Or is there a catch?

[BrandonM]

I lived in a 3-bedroom place with two friends near OSU for $238/month for about two years before someone I went to school with gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. She owned a house on the other side of town but had to move back to where we grew up for a couple years, so she told me I could stay there for the cost of property tax and insurance (it's in the Hilltop, and she just wanted tenants she could trust). A friend and I lived here for a year (paying $125 each!), but he just moved out.

So yeah, what I'm paying now is abnormally low, but with a roommate or two, $250/month is not at all uncommon.