Hi lovely FIRE/Mustache people,
I'm having an excruciatingly difficult experience trying to make a decision.
Can you please offer your thoughts? I would appreciate them greatly.
I have been living in many many many (20+ easily) share houses over the last decade (but very occasionally renting my own apartment intermittently). I did this because it was cheap and the Australian housing market is crazy expensive for renters.
(Similar situation in London, where I also lived for a while, but somewhat better because it seemed to be more culturally accepted and you would find more professionals to rent with vs Australia, at least that was my perception.)
I wanted to be frugal and save money so I could one day quit my job and FIRE. I wanted to keep my living expenses to a level where I could afford to FIRE as soon as I retired.
However, over the last year, the last two share houses I lived in haven't been great. Maybe it's just bad luck, but I feel like maybe things have changed where I live, and different kinds of people are being attracted to share-houses than before (hint: less safe kinds of people, and sorry if I come across as class-ist, I don't look down on poor or low-income people, I just want to feel safe, that's all).
The 2nd-last sharehouse: The other housemates seemed to find me suspicious, talking loudly about me outside my front door, etc. Then one night, one of them was shouting, swearing and banging doors around very loud. I felt scared and threatened and ended up cancelling the lease and bailing. I stayed with a kind and understanding relative in the meantime (thank God I had them).
The last sharehouse was better... I got on well with the housemates in my side of the building. But it was also very loud at all hours of the day and into the night (because of the structure of the building, even small sounds from next door and upstairs flow directly into my room and into my ear) and I had difficulty focusing on work and sleeping. Then for the last several days, a group of younger house mates from an adjacent part of the building started partying almost every night, shouting and laughing very loudly, smoking weed, and sometimes walking around to my side of the building and making noise there too. I felt very scared and intimidated and in a panic, I went back to staying with my relative again (who again was very kind and understanding and let me stay).
There's an argument to be made that I should just try to find a sharehouse that's quiet and safe. The problem here is - how can I know ahead of time whether it'll be quiet and safe or just a repeat of the last two? Both of those looked perfectly fine, clean, safe, etc when I first viewed them. It was only after I moved in and had lived there a few weeks that I got to experience what the people were really like. Yes, I know in some cases you can ask to meet the housemates face-to-face. However even then, how do you really know? They might say they never party, but they might change or different people might move in, etc, etc. In the case of my last sharehouse, the 'party group' didn't start until this month (the 4th month I've lived there), so I had no way of knowing they would be there. If it wasn't for them I probably would've stayed there longer.
Anyway, now I'm trying to decide whether to try moving to a different share house or whether I should just get my own place for a while, e.g. a self-contained studio or apartment.
Problem is - the studios/apartments tend to be expensive all throughout Australia - $300-400 at the lower end. (Ok there are a few cheaper ones sprinkled around here and there, but there is often a reason they're cheap, e.g. high-crime and unsafe area). This conflicts with my goal of early retirement. With the amount of money I have invested, and the % I estimate I can reliably take each year, my yearly budget would be $20,000. That equates to $384 per week. So if I'm spending $300 on rent, then I only have $84 left to cover all my other needs - food, clothing, health insurance (which is mandatory in Australia), phone, etc. I don't know that I can make $84 stretch that far.
It's looking like I may have to make a choice between:
1. Safety / peace & quiet / sanity / some control over my living space
-or-
2. Low enough living costs to retire early
Right now I'm veering toward 1 (Safety, etc), as I believe it's impacting my mental health and ability to enjoy life, and also because I'm still working full-time, so technically I can afford to spend much more as long as I keep working.
Maybe the ultimate solution is just to save and invest more money so that my FIRE income will go up to $400 or $450, and then I can feel more comfortable about renting a place for $300 per week.
(And I'll pray to god that rents don't go up any further.)
Has anyone else struggled with this kind of decision? Deciding where to live, whether to share or rent your own separate space, balancing feeling/being safe with keeping spending within FIRE budget, etc?
Very keen to hear your thoughts, perspectives and/or your own personal story on this topic.
Thanks!