What is the cheapest rent you've ever paid?

[10dollarsatatime]

I was always good at jumping on the housing deals...

$340/month for a one bedroom apartment in Salt Lake City (2002-2003)  Tiny basement apartment only a block from my work.  The stairs were so narrow that I moved most things in through the windows.  And the bathroom door was narrow enough that you had to go through sideways.

$305/month for a one bedroom in Provo (2007 or so).  I was supposed to be responsible for utilities, but the utility company didn't have record of it existing.  I still don't know who was paying my electric bill the year I lived there.

$250/month for a one bedroom in Provo, renting an illegal MIL from a friend (2009 or so)

$400/month for a two bedroom in Provo, (2011-2014)  Loved this one...  It had a hallway that got narrower as you went down it.  Totally trippy.

I'm trying to help a friend find such an apartment now, but the pickings are as slim as always.

[HPstache]

$250/mo in college.  I lived with 6 other guys in a 6 bedroom house and was one of the two in house who had to share a room for cheaper rent.  As I recall, rent was $1900, those two sharing paid $250/mo and those in their own room $280/mo.

Even more impressive, but probably not fair to this discussion was after college when a business partner and myself bought a fixer upper duplex.  Our mortgage was $1300 and we rented out the other unit for $850.  So we split the remaining $450 for a cheap living arrangement of $225/mo.

[belgiandude]

250 eur/month for a 10 square meter room in a house (utilities included) between 2004-2006
350-400 eur/month while sharing various houses (utilities included) between 2007-2014
half of $500/month for a one bedroom somewhere in the south (2014-2015)
I now live in NoVa which is a tad more expensive, but then again our housing is sponsored (generous employer), so my out of pocket is not that much more than what i have written above.

[Neustache]

$475 in 2002 for a 2 bed/2bath in KC MO.  Only roommate was my husband, so that was the total bill. 

[TravelJunkyQC]

220$ for my portion of a 3 bedroom basement apartment that 4 of us shared (my BF and I shared our room). This included everything (heating, internet, etc). Apart from the river that ran through the length of the apartment in the spring when the snow melted outside and came in through the walls, it was all good :p

[KCM5]

$250/mo in 2010 for a one bedroom apartment. I don't think it gets any cheaper than that! Seriously, $250/mo, no roommates! Although I did live with my partner, so we could even call it $125/mo/person.

This was a small, backwater town in the rural midwest. There are plenty of reasons I don't live there anymore, but the cheap rent isn't one of them!

[Duchess of Stratosphear]

I paid $125 (my half of $250) in 1993 in Boone, NC. Later, my roommate moved out and I had the whole place to myself for $250 (it was a basement apartment). I stayed there until 1997, so it was a big help to have that cheap rent as I paid my way through school. My landlady never raised the rent on me. The apartment was a five minute walk from campus and a two minute walk from the grocery store where I worked. It was kind of perfect.

[Fred2004]

$200 month+ utilities (friend bought a foreclosure)...lasted 4 months, it was brutal! ha

[brian313313]

125/mo for a "room". It was an office converted to an apartment but it did not have a kitchen. It was private though which I liked. I bought a small fridge & microwave. I learned to do dishes immediately there because all I had was a bathroom sink. First day I went to brush my teeth in the morning and the sink was filled with dishes. :) These were 1987 dollars.

[NV Teacher]

College in the mid 80's.  I paid $65 a month during the fall-spring quarters and $45 a month for the summer quarter.  It was pretty run down but clean, close to campus, and unbelievably cheap. 

[MrGville]

I paid $430 per month for the master bedroom of a 3 bedroom apartment.  This was in 2015.  I live in a fairly LCOL area, but still much more expensive than the surrounding rural areas around me.

[Kaybee]

$120/mth plus utilities.  It was the early 2000's (maybe 2002-04) and my 2 friends and I had found a *great* student apartment.  It was close to the school, grocery store, laundromat and, most importantly, the bars.  The only problem was there were 2 large bedrooms and 1 TINY bedroom.  The monthly rent was $600 for the whole place but nobody wanted to get stuck in the small bedroom (if you put a double mattress in the room, there would be no room to open the drawers of a dresser).  We hemmed and hawed and then I suggested we NOT split the rent equally and whoever took the smallest room would pay less.  It was a winning idea but my roommates (who have TONS of stuff) were still leary of the small room so I took it.

The rent we ended up paying in the 2 years we lived there ended up being even less because our landlord (who was SUPER nice with us and always sent someone to fix thing *immediately*) didn't always ACCEPT our rent money.  We would contact him when the cheques weren't cashed, offering to resend new cheques (minus cheque cancellation fees) and he always just said "No, this is my fault.  Don't worry about it, I need to learn my lesson!". 

Coincidentally, there was a biker gang that was more or less running part of our town at the time and my landlord was often seen with some of its members... my roommates and I now just assume he didn't care about our rent because that building was likely used for money laundering purposes.

[Ocinfo]

$210 for one third of a three bedroom apartment during my sophomore year of college in 2004. Crazy looking back at how many hours I had to work to pay for that...


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[MoneyMage]

$205/month for a room in a house with 4 roommates. I had the concrete basement room but managed to keep the spiders out most of the time. Had to kill a couple every time I wanted a shower though (they always snuck in from the garage in pairs!).

I lived there for about a year and a half right after college during my first couple of jobs. Saved enough during that time to buy a used Camry and pay off all of my college loans before getting married.

It really was not a great place to live though and I'm glad I got out of the roommate situation. I moved closer to work (really close) in a studio condo but that place was $750/month and that was actually cheap for the area. Still, it was a lot safer and my car never got broken into there.

[DesireeD]

During a rather interesting period of my life I lived in a 3/1 with six other adults, and my total monthly budget at the time was $250. My share of rent and bills was ~110, food and transportation ate up the other ~140. Lived there for about six months. Looking back it wasn't the worst possible situation, so much as some of the worst possible roommates.

When I left I moved to an efficiency that cost 200/month including all utilities, with a shared bathroom and shared kitchen. I really did subsist on monthly trips to the grocery store (Ramen, bacon, instant mashed potatoes, cheap canned fruit, canned veggies, peanut butter, multivitamin, milk) and rolled my own cigarettes. This was all in 2003-2004. I was also at my thinnest then, cause I walked everywhere.



    Were you my room mate? I lived in that same situation only I paid $75.00 a month for my share of the rent. You were ripped off my friend This was in Tacoma in Hilltop in the late 1980's

[exmmmer]

$285/mo - 4 years ago

San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico

:)

[Learner]

$88/month from around 2000-2004 while going to university.  All utilities included.  Shared bathroom and kitchen... and routine inspections.

[Eucalyptus]

$0, in 2008-2009, when I was homeless. Lived in old dongas (portable miners accom), field camp, side of road, out of my car, on my office floor. It wasn't by choice, economically homeless. I don't recommend it.

I love camping, stealth camping (have done a huge cycle tour that took nine months, 20 something countries), etc. But choice is everything.

[Classical_Liberal]

For the last 9 months $0.  I took a job traveling for work, gave up my apartment and live in the hotels provided.  In between assignments, I extend my stays with the hotel points I earn, or travel a bit and crash in my car.  It was an absolute blast at first since I love being mobile.  Not gonna lie though, this has gotten old and a home base is preferable.  I just signed a lease for $515 on a 300 sq foot studio, not bad, but not 0. 

At one point there was a journal in here about a 50 year old guy living in his Chevy Volt... I think it's gone now, but he was a total badass!

[tallen]

$325 for a 2 bedroom townhouse across the river from Wheeling West Virginia. Recently remodeled, one of the nicest rentals in the area. I thought it was a steal but others that where actually from the area seemed to think it was expensive (I'd just moved there for work-stayed about 6 months. In 2000)

[Adge]

I'm currently paying $500 a month for a really cute 1 bedroom duplex. 500 square feet, quiet neighbors, nice neighborhood and walking distance from downtown. It's great.

[MVal]

$450/month  + utilities. Living in an unfinished bathroom. I'm buying a house and moving out next week!

Been paying same, $450/month but utilities included for last 8 years with a roommate. We are also living with an unfinished bathroom (only the tub is now usable after several weeks...we've been down to the sink in the kitchen and a toilet in the basement, showering at gyms). But I am moving out and just rented a place for $650/month. Totally worth it to have my place after so many years and all this time of living so cheaply has set my savings on a great foundation.

[OthalaFehu]

1994-1997 $300/month 2 bedroom with one roommate so $150 per month rent. Top floor was condemned.

[expatartist]

US$60/month for a 300sqf studio in Siem Reap, Cambodia, 2006. No aircon which kept utility bills low, but in hot season the sweat was nonstop morning, noon and night. The landlady would give me fresh jackfruit from the garden when I paid rent :)