Can I afford not to sublet my apartment for the summer?

[tronskian]

I'm a PhD student living by myself in a 1BR apartment. Monthly rent is $900 and utilities/internet is $100.

This summer I have an internship across the country so my apartment will be vacant for 3 months. It would be great to sublet the apartment and recoup some of the $2,700-$3,000 I'll be spending.

However, the sublet looks like it's going to be a hassle.

I'm renewing my lease when I get back so I plan on leaving my stuff in the apartment. Thus I don't want just anybody to live with my stuff. It's not that it's valuable, just that it's *my* stuff. Friends and family don't need the place, so I'm canvassing friends of friends without luck so far. I'd like to avoid subletting to an actual stranger.

It also looks like it's going to be a bureaucratic nightmare to get the sublet approved by my landlord. They have to do an application and there's some fees ($200). I interact with the landlord mostly via Post-It notes, so it'll be a pain.

These factors make we want to just take the hit and not deal with a sublet.  I'm in a frenzy trying to get all of my papers and projects in decent shape for the summer that I just don't want to spend the stress and time.

I'm projecting my total expenses for the summer to be $8,000-$9,000 due to living in a more expensive city plus some fun travel since I haven't been in that part of the country before.

I'll be making $30,000 for the summer, so there isn't going to be a cash flow issue.

I don't have any debt and about $50,000 in savings. I'm not aiming for early retirement or anything, so while adding to my savings is great, I don't need to be a total badass about it.

Am I OK avoiding the hassle of subletting or should I just bite the bullet and do it?

[former player]

Mustachianism isn't solely about maximising financial returns, it's also about having a good life without trashing the planet.

I think you've made reasonable efforts to rent to an acquaintance.  Your badassity so far (a PhD student with no debt, assets of $50k and earnings of $30k over a summer is BadAss) mean that your hair is not on fire and you don't need the money.   You are busy now getting ready for your internship, and you will be stuck across the country if something goes wrong during the sublet.   I'm very clear that for you the time, effort and risk involved in renting to a stranger make it not worth doing.

[norabird]

Personally, I don't at all mind the stranger thing--what if you set up a thorough screening process? Can you stretch yourself here? Once you meet someone, they switch over to an acquaintance, and you could find someone great.

[Rein1987]

I had similar situation before while I was in the PhD program. I chose not to sublease my apartment and pay two rent during the summer. The most important reason is that I do not want to deal with strangers and I like to keep my staff in the room.

And, yes, you can afford not to sublet your apartment. You have more than enough money to cover this rent.