1. If you judge that your problems are caused by students, move to a neighborhood where students don't live. Have you tried living in Proctor? What about Gary or Superior? You'll most likely get more for your money in these areas.

2. Consider spending more to get more. Sure, $500 for your place is exorbitant, but most studios are a ripoff. Another $100 along with some patience and resourcefulness can put you into a nice two-bedroom.

3. Remember, rent is highly negotiable. Just because the landlord is asking a certain price doesn't mean the price is firm. I once rented an apartment for $650 that was originally $900. All I compromised was that I had to mow the lawn and shovel the sidewalk.

4. Why live in Duluth? Do you ever envision yourself buying a house? Find a nice house here and look at the price. Now think about buying that house in the Twin Cities. The price automatically doubles.

Paul's got an excellent point. Just because the rent is the highest amount in your budget, that doesn't automatically make it the thing you're paying too much for.

We dropped cable years ago, and when the cable guy came to unhook it, he said "where are you moving to?"

We said "Nowhere, we're just not going to pay that much for TV."

He said, "Hmm. I've never seen that happen before."

The price doesn't automatically double.  Depends on the where the house is.  Homes in Duluth are way overpriced compared to other areas.  Look at what you can get for 150,000 in Duluth and then look at the Twin Cites, Fargo, Eau Claire.  Usually a newer home with more square feet.

I don't know very many students whose parents just write a check.  Lots of those students are working 20+ hours a week in addition to full class loads and taking on student loans to get through, as you point out -- contradicting your initial indignation.

Yes, rental rules need to be changed.  Yes, living expenses are too high.  But do what Joe said -- examine your choices.  It's not someone else's fault that you're in the hole, just like it's nobody else's fault that I am, either.

Cable TV is not the devil, but Charter Communications is.

Housing and transportation costs both have been taking a growing proportion of median household income for many years.

Our country has had a bipartisan policy of inflating home values for decades through the mortgage interest deduction, FHA backed loans, and other incentives. Artificially inflated real estate values have allowed consumer spending to grow even while real wages remained flat.

These factors have increased rent prices without increasing renter's income.

Rent has fallen a bit with housing prices since the crash.  But witness the frantic efforts of the past couple of years to keep housing prices artificially high. (first-time buyers credit, etc.) These efforts help people who own homes at the expense of those who would like to buy and those who rent. 

The fact remains in recent decades the discretionary portion of household budgets has been squeezed by housing and transportation.

I think this is a case of the grass being greener. I am constantly looking at real estate in Duluth for when I can convince my wife to move back there. I live in a 250k house that has taxes on it in the range of 6k a year. That equates to about $2,200 a month for the roof. $1,900 for the 2 kids in a daycare. $700 for the cars.  I could move back to Duluth and buy a 4-bedroom house in Morgan park and make 15 bucks an hour and my wife could stay home with the kids. We would survive and maybe even thrive a little more than here in New Hampshire. Now if we could just sell our house here...

Duluth is great place to live if you can make a living.

We rented for a few months when we first moved here, then bought a house and paid the same in our monthly mortgage payment as we'd been paying in rent. If you intend to stay here for a while... definitely buy. And in terms of cell phone, I use my cell as my business line, so I pay top dollar and get lots of minutes, but my husband has one of those no-contract phones, he loads $20 into it every three months and it's fine for him. Look around, you can find deals on cell phones. Good luck.

I bought a house here just because I had to see what it felt like to kick my own ass in a major rehab.  I guess I was tired of renting, and with familial obligations locking me into Minnesota, felt this was the least worst option, sort of like Knockwurst, but different.  It's been real. I'm glad there's lively discourse on PDD to vent.  When it all becomes too much to bear, I'll simply wander into the lake never to be seen again.

Wife's car will be paid off in March.  I just sold my '03 Audi, on which I was paying $200/month, and bought a 15-year-old Subaru, and dropped comp insurance.  

This will free up $750/month for us.

!

Virgin Mobile, $9.95 for the phone (JAX), $30 a month for tons of minutes, no contract.

No landline for me anymore.

I make it a hobby to live cheap. I'm proud of my thrift. And because of it I can take trips around the big lake and see the wonder of it all. I'd rather drive around Lake Superior then watch the Housewives of Atlanta or whatever other crap is on TV. I get PBS on the over the air antenna and that is all you need. Or just listen to KUMD and then of course there is the Internet. What a bargain! You can download anything and free if you are clever about it.

If your gripe is about credit card debt and not feeling like you have enough at the end of the month to pay everyone, maybe its time to switch to the envelope system. Get paid and put cash in a series of envelopes: food, rent, beer, etc. When the $$ is gone you can't spend any more until payday.


Personally I think Duluth is pretty affordable: my husband and I have two kids and we bought a nice house while we were both in grad school. 

The library has loads of dvds -- perhaps give up cable and switch to dvds. Or do the 10 bucks a month deal for netflix and stream movies.

Dave Ramsey

Serious financial advice on how to live within your means (and what that literally means).  I "drank the Kool-aid" about a year and a half ago.  If you want lower rent, pay it early, be a good tenant and negotiate with your landlord.