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?