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Soap Box: Sounding off about stuff you should know.

Trying to live on your own in the Danbury Area in your early 20’s

So you’ve got your bachelors degree. Four (or Five or Six) years of busting your butt you finally did it (You six yearer, know who you are!!!). Graduation was wonderful and your party was great, your parents are soooo proud of you...

Now it time to make it on your own or as I like to call it, reality slaps you in the face like a pimp would to his ho for not having his money.

The Job Market or The Lack There Of.

So now you have a degree and your name isn’t Jeremy Shockey meaning you need to find a JOB!!! the thing you’ve been dreading your whole life. Well don’t worry it’ll take sometime to find one. Ok let me re-phrase that. It will take you time to find one that pays well. The job market is extremely tight right now and don’t think those Baby Boomer are just going to roll over for you Gen X’ers. They’ve been doing this (and by this I mean what ever job you want) longer than you, they've have more experience than you and excluding an act of god they will probably been doing it for as long as they can. Don’t get me wrong they don’t want to work forever but look at the economy right now (and if you don’t know about our wonderful economy for god sake people turn on the financial channel) it’s not that great. Social Security believes you can survive on five hundred dollars a month. THAT WOULDN'T COVER MY RENT!!!, and the price of living is just going to grow in the next 20 years so they need a nest egg to make it through “The Golden Years”. Plus keep in mind your competing with fellow graduates and that there are not that many large companies in this area. In all I would say about four of them I might be off by one or two so don’t kill me on it. The truth of the matter is your going to have to start at the bottom or temp and try to get a foot hold. These jobs will probably pay $20,000 to $35,000 a year. To the college student that might sound like a ton of money, I just got to hope you’re not that naive. This brings to are next section.

The Renting Game

All I ever read in the paper is “were working on housing”, were working on lower rent”. Don’t hold your breth on this one. By the time the city government finish “working” on it your kids might reap the benefits. Rent is astronomical in this area and there’s no other way to put it. A one bedroom will cost you close to a grand a month with security. An efficiency apartment will cost between $600 and $800. Plus you’re young. Landlords do not like young renters!!! I don’t care what they say about equal opportunity. Landlords would rather have a stable middle age person. When shopping around for an apartment I suggest, bringing a parent with you. Yes, I know you’re a big boy or girl but they know more than you do about this kind of stuff and trust me if a landlord thinks they can squeeze an extra $20 to $50 out of you a month they will. Know your rights as a renter. Check out the city and state websites to know what’s allowed and what’s not read over the lease contract thoroughly before signing. Just because you do something your landlord doesn’t like, doesn’t mean he can stop you from doing it. Your best bet is to find a room mate. Make sure it’s someone you can deal with on a long term basis. I’ve seen the best of friends become bitter enemies due to renting together. You’ve all seen “The Real World” David and Puck should have never got kicked out by the way, but I digress. DO NOT MOVE IN WITH A GIRL/BOY FRIEND UNLESS YOU ARE POSITIVE AND I MEAN POSITIVE YOU EITHER A. PLAN ON SPENDING THE REST OF YOUR LIFE WITH HER/HIM OR B. YOU HAVE EXHAUSTED EVERY OTHER OPTION. Moving in with a significant other could leave you in the precarious position of either having to pay the full rent on your own or homeless if you were to ever break up. Finally and this is the most important part, PAY YOUR RENT!!!! Rent is due on the first of each month if at all possible send it out a couple days early. CT law states you get a five day grace period. Never put yourself in a position to take advantage of this. Landlords remember everything and if your a little late one month you can be sure they’ll be on you like white on rice next month. The best thing to do is keep a buffer of extra money in your saving account just in case something comes up.

Bills: The Vicious Cycle.

Probably at this point in you're life you’ve probably used to paying some bills, i.e. cell phone, car etc. Well, get ready for the bills to jump from 2 or 3 to 5 or 6. Let’s list the basics:

Rent: $500.00 to $1000.00

Electricity: $50 to over $100 (depending on usage and time of year)

Gas/Oil: $30 to over $100 (depending on market value and time of year)

Water: $20 to over $50 (depending on usage)

College Loan: Dependent on your APR and how much you borrowed

Home Phone: Base plan $20 add $5 to $20 for peripherals if wanted i.e. caller id, etc (long distance varies)

Cable/DirecTV: $50 to over $100 (depending on plan)

Internet Connection: $10 to over $75 (depending on connection speed)

I know that some people might consider the last three non basic but how many people do you know in this day and age that do not have those things. These bills come every month and they don’t take a month off for holidays for snow days for nothing. So let’s look at this logically. First as stated in the last section PAY YOUR RENT FIRST!!! Paying the rest of your bills is pointless if you have now where to plug in you stuff. Pay your utilities next. (Electric, Gas and Water) After that you pretty much pay which ever one you want to next. One thing I suggest is not getting bogged down with the “state of the art peripherals” that you can get with the final three. The human race has survived several decades without caller I.D. and digital cable and so can you. When it comes to the internet ask your self this “Do I really need to have high speed so I can download an mp3 of Madonna calling me a dick for illegally downloading an mp3 or do I really need every episode of The Simpson?” …Ok all of you who said yes I hope you get sued for thousands. To the rest of you I have five words: JUNO TEN DOLLARS A MONTH!!! All you AOL user listen up and come to the light side. There nothing AOL does that the regular net can’t do. You don’t need to pay $20 bucks a month for a messenger, they give them to the rest of us for free!!!! Remember people you can all ways upgrade as your wallet gets fatter.

Money?! What Money?!

So now you have your entry level position you have your apartment and you have your bills. Now here comes the interesting part. Making sure you have enough money to cover it all. Make yourself out a budget and stick to it like glue. If need be cut up your credit cards for a while just so you don’t get the urge to buy anything. First off all, ways have enough money in your bank account to cover your rent, if for some reason you where to lose your job this will give at least a month buffer to get your act together and find a new job. Next, if your company has a credit union become a member of it and have $25 dollars from each paycheck put into your credit union saving account (Notice I said saving account). This way you’ll have a little extra money when you need it or do find something you want to buy. Next if you already haven’t start saving, do it. You might want to buy a house or a new car one day. Remember, with a house most banks want you to put down at least 20% of the total price of the it.

Cold Hard Truth

If you're still reading at this point a lot of you are probably thinking “This won’t happen to me!!!” and maybe it won’t, but it can and it does. It happens every day to people just like you. It happens to the jock ,the cheerleader, the dork and it happens to everyone in one way or another. So be prepared for it if it does. Don’t let that pimp slap you in the face and take your money. It gets easier the longer you do it and you’ll be smarter each day you do it, finding new ways to make things work. Trust me on that one. So go out there and do your thing and make your money. Be smart with your money. Tuck your shirt in, wash your face. For gods sake look presentable!!!! Go make poppa proud.

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