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Thread: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

  1. #1
    Member xoscarletox's Avatar
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    Default Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    I'm getting to the point where I'm driven absolutely crazy by my roommates because these people just don't understand that the cost of living these days is NOT CHEAP!!

    We live in a 2 bedroom house where 5 of us live... bf/gf on the top floor, me and my daughter on the second floor, and the other sleeps on the couch right now on the ground floor until we can turn the dining room into another bedroom.

    Apparently me asking for $300 per person per month from them is unreasonable when the rent is $750, Comcast is $150, the Electric/Heat Bill runs $200-300, and the Water Bill runs about $100. Note, I have buying all the food for the house, with one other contributing $100 a month.

    I'm getting to the breaking point and thinking it might just be easier to have 1 roommate and 1 roommate only that actually understands that the cost of living is HIGH AS HELL!! FOH... if you're 20 years old and complaining about $300 especially when TWO of us are DANCERS!?! Save it for someone who has never paid a bill in their life because I'M SICK OF HEARING IT!

    I feel better now

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    God/dess shasta's Avatar
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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    Well, I added it up and divided by 5. Comes to 280 without the charge for food. I am a firm believer in everyone buying their own food.

    I own a house now, but when I rented I always liked to see the breakdown of expenses. One landlord who lived in the house with me would have it on a spreadsheet. Once in a while he would throw in a charge for stuff like trashbags/cleaning supplies.

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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    Sounds fair when shasta breaks it up. But if these people are that disrespectful (in terms of eating your food - I had that problem with a roommate and it's honestly the worst, that boy has never bought groceries in the 6 months he's lived with us, but he's always eating), is it financially feasible for you to kick them out or move out on your own?

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    Member xoscarletox's Avatar
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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    they live in MY house. all the bills are in MY name. I think I'ma just be like, well, if you wanna find somewhere else to live for 300 a month... go ahead and try, because it's not gonna happen

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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    ^ Why dont you do a spread sheet of everything; X rent/Y people = $, X phone/Y people = $. Total it up, Have a group meeting with everyone, and show them the numbers.
    Ask them what the problem is... Why they think it is unreasonable, let them give their reasons and see whether they seem to be correct.. If not then tell them, thats what the share of the bills are! I dont see a problem.. You cant even find a room with everything everything here for 300!

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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    It's already been done. Then they want to see the bills. Okay, fine, now you want to bitch because I get an e-bill and I no longer get statements through the mail, and if I print it off line it's just not good enough for you.

    Then, you're looking at the Peco bill (electric, heat) and telling me that these numbers just don't add up and that you're going to sue Peco. This being over the statements where we had two of the coldest months on record and a broken window on the second floor in a 3 floor house where the doors and the windows are draftier than sin!

    The part that really got me was when the one said that he had $250 put away for whatever but wasn't going to give it to me because of this reason or that reason. Yet, you lived here and ate here for free in the month of December until you got a full time job and didn't give me a penny.

    This just sucks all around. I kinda sorta almost figured that when this started, it was probably going to ruin a friendship somewhere. It almost makes me think I'm being unreasonable considering this is not the first time it has happened amongst different failed friends/roommates in the past, but then I realized, hey, it's not my fault whatsoever... these people just need to grow the hell up!

    Before they moved in, I was paying the rent, peco, comcast, car note, car insurance, water, and child support by myself along with cigarettes, gas, food, and child necessities which came to about $2000 a month. Shaking my head... I love being a dancer

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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    ^ Wow! I would print up the last 3 months worth of bills of everything, hydryo, heat, phone etc etc... And divid those by the number of people.. Show them the average number.

    Honestly, I would at best cut the phone line out.. use your cell, if someone doesnt like it, who cares, they can pay it. I would strt buying my own food too. I mean... 300 IS reasonable for all the shares! Im sorry your dealing with such people. I hope they get around.

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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    $300 is RIDICULOUSLY cheap. Your roommates are apparently just ungrateful for the break they're getting.
    If you've already talked about it and they still have a problem... Kick 'em out. Find new roommates who understand that when you say $300 a month you mean $300 a month and not "$300 unless you whine and then I'll probably charge you less"...
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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    how much are they paying now? and for the person who didn't pay for december, guess they have to leave then. They can't stay if they're not willing to pay for what they owe. It's pretty simple.

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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    Its why I make everyone that moves in sign something saying they understand. Yes I round it up but I also clean the house and take the trash out. I learn the hard way the first time. I fixed it by bring the internet to my room with a password, buy a small fridge for myself and filled it with the food I bought, and cut the phone and keep to my cell phone. They will either leave or start doing their parts.

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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    I hate to say this, but your roommates' response is probably the result of an ongoing 'paradigm shift' in the way most younger Americans now view their debts.

    Over the limit credit card spenders settle for 50 cents on the dollar under threat that they will file for bankruptcy. Underwater mortgage holders stop making their mortgage payments and live for free for the next 2-3-? years as foreclosure proceedings grind ahead. Delinquent student loan borrowers simply 'refi' their loan ad infinitum. With tighter creditworthiness regulations in place, they are already ineligible for loan approvals so paying creditors or not paying creditors will have no leverage in that regard.

    In other words, these days, for younger borrowers with fair to poor credit ratings and comparatively low incomes, the only debts that REALLY need to be paid are those where the 'bill collector' will tap dance on their esophagus if they don't pay up. In the absence of formal written rental agreements signed by all parties, and with all of the bills in your name, your deadbeat roommates have everything to gain and absolutely nothing to lose by not paying you !!!

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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    May I ask why you're letting them continue living with you? If everything is in your name and they're refusing to pay you for certain things (especially when you're not even rounding up like most landlords do with rent) and stealing your food, you're totally in your right to kick them out and get new roommates, especially if they've signed something and aren't living up to their end of the bargain. You can find new roommates who WILL pay and be respectful, especially at such a low price.

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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    I guess it just works out that there's generally always someone home to watch my daughter when I go to work instead of me having to drive to wherever to drop her off and pick her up and worry about waking her up from naps and sleeping and such when my schedule happens to run into hers. I do have to admit that they are good at taking care of her when I'm not there. And I'm only not there when I go to work.

    Now granted, I'm feeling like I'm caught between a rock and a hard place... I did fail to leave out the fact the I am almost 6 months pregnant and can no longer dance (Just stopped 2 weeks ago) and had to go back to getting more hours at my diner job making 4 times less a night than before.

    I guess I'm thinking that the slight more income I have coming from them and the live-in babysitting outweighs the extra of the water bill and the Peco bill, since most of the Peco bill comes from the heating portion of it anyway and would be that much regardless.

    As for the phone - I meant my own personal cell in the previous post. We don't have a house phone, we all have our own cell phones.

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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    I feel your pain, and $300 a month is SO not unreasonable!

    There are 5 of us my house, Me and bf in one room, 3 others in separate rooms, the rent is £800 a month, Rent is calculated per room, so they pay £200 each, me and bf pay £200 between us. Bills are split between 5 equally. When we first moved in there was some question as to whether me and bf should be paying more each, but was eventually decided no as we share one room, which we live in. I was doing all of the cleaning, so now the boys pay me £25 each a month to clean, which pays my rent.

    They should be paying for their own food, you're not their mother, you cant be expected to shell out for their living costs. Me and bf just bought a fridge for our room to stop the thieving from the communal fridge, i like these boys but hellfire they drink milk like its going out of fashion, and 6 pints a day is not something i can afford!
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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    Ok, you forgot to mention child care. That should be deducted from their rent IMO.

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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    The way that Shasta worked it out was for five people, but if I'm reading the OP correctly, one of those five people is your daughter....and if your daughter is a child (which, assuming she had naps and needs childcare, she is!!) then she can't be calculated into rent payments!! Which means that you are dividing by four..which comes to $312 per person, not including food (and assuming $250 for electric). So if they are eating your food, that would be more. Then again, they are helping with childcare...

    What I would do is create a paper trail and agree on a system that they all think is fair. This will stop resentment, and also help them view you as a landlord, not a "mom" who will forgive their debts. The best suggestion that I can come up with would be to work on an "account" system. Basically what they would be doing would be paying into an "account" with you each month, and you would be tracking the exact cost of bills, food, childcare, etc. So at the beginning of the month, they would give you $300, and have +$300 in their "account". Then rent would come out (put it on the spreadsheet) and they would have 112.50. Then bills, and for each one, put it down for EXACTLY a quarter of the bill for that month. If they look after your daughter, agree on an "hourly wage" (just $5 or something, if they just happen to be at the house they live in) and put in how many hours they are caring for her. At the end of the month, give them a "statement" (like a receipt) with the full breakdown of costs, and how much is left, or they have gone over that original $300. They would then see a build up of debt or credit in their "account". This sounds really complicated when I read it back, but its actually simple - just like a bank works - it means that you are getting a lump sum every month, but they are getting a breakdown of expenses and you are getting (in the long term) exactly what is owed.
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    Default Re: Roommates and the Cost of Living!!!

    OMG $300 is cheap!!! Thats what my parents charged me before I moved out years ago, I was working part-time and still going to college. Charge them $500 from now on! HAHA

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