As far as monthly costs go: My school is the only one in the region that doesn't subsidize anything. (rent, transportation etc) $600 rent, no utilities included. If I move, I have to move about 40 minutes outside of town and even then, i'll only save around $100 a month if I'm lucky. car insurance high electric bills due to heating (and it's still going to get another 20 degrees colder by january) kerosene for my water heater

Startup costs were: had to buy a car (prices are bloated because you cannot live without a car in winter and dealers know it) had to pay key money had to buy a new heater snow tires for my car (we're at 2.5 feet of snowfall so far) pred left nothing but trash which I had to pay to get rid of

I spent all of my $6000 I saved up the first month I got here, and since I'm still making payments on my car, I haven't been able to save a single penny since. I'm not going to go over every dumb thing I've had to shell out a couple hundred man for every few weeks, but I think you get the picture.

Wanna trade?