[notimportant]

Info for NYC:

At $110k (but as a sole breadwinner currently) I still live paycheck to paycheck. After taxes I am looking at approx $78k a year; my bi-weekly take-home is a couple dollars shy of $3k and my rent was $1800 for a small 2 bedroom condo but we have downgraded to a basement studio for $500 so we can pay off all our debts (wife's schooling, far too many credit cards, a far too expensive wedding and various other things). So far we have made a huge impact on our debt and we will soon start saving for a house.

If you were living directly in the city, you would need to double or even triple the rent. I do end up paying for it in commute time (2 to 3 hours worth of travel each day), but it allows us to get by just that little more.

[notimportant2]

I hear ya. I work in finance and I make 110+60 bonus about 7 years out of college. I could afford rent, but I'm living very cheaply to save up for a down payment for a market that refuses to go down. My commute is an hour and change (in Brooklyn) but I hate it everyday.

[TheSOB88]

Sounds like you really are having a tough time of it. 3 hours of commute, and you're not even excited by your job. It does sound like you need a change of pace.

You should look into working from home some days - it'd probably make you much happier. If you haven't read Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Work Week, it has a great section on how to convince your boss to let you work from home. It's a good book - overrated, but good.

[notimportant]

At times I do work from home - but generally it's because I was up until midnight coding to meet some deadline that is highly unrealistic, and not planned out appropriately. Working from home is highly "frowned upon" by upper management and not something that is generally accepted, even though I have everything I need and more at my home office.

[TheSOB88]

Who says upper management has to know about it? If you know it'd make you happier, and you know you can deliver the results, you should go for it. There's always gonna be obstacles you have to overcome. Don't let them stop you.