As promised, here is my update! After renting a room for a year, I bought a condo at the end of June in order to provide a stable long term housing solution and low cost of living. Although renting provided me greater financial flexibility, it came at the cost of my quality of living. When I realized that I could buy a condo next to my office and cut my commute from ~45 minutes of busing and walking to only eight minutes of walking, gain the privacy of having my own apartment all to myself, and still maintain my low cost of living, it was a no-brainer for me to make the move. The downside is that my investment in the condo has delayed my FI date by about a year, since a large part of my net worth has become home equity which doesn't provide any passive income as long as I live in the condo.
Three months in, I am loving my condo. My eight-minute commute on foot to work is saving me tons of time and I can sleep in later. I keep my apartment super clean at all times, which I couldn't do when I was sharing a house with other people. Plus, it is always quiet. No more getting woken up by my roommate's dog!
Without further ado, here are the numbers:
May
Rent: $500.00 (includes electricity/water/sewage/trash/internet)
Living: $79.94
Total: $579.94
June
Rent: $0.00 (My landlord kept my security deposit and personal freezer as payment for June)
Housing: $280.65 (closing costs minus credits)
Living: $61.60
Utilities: $0.00
Total: $342.25
July
Housing: $0.00 (July's dues were included in the closing costs)
Living: $90.45
Utilities: $0.00
Total: $90.45
August
Housing: $205.45 (HOA dues)
Living: $71.44
Utilities: $28.74 (electricity, includes one-time setup fee of $21.00)
Total: $305.63
Total spent so far for 2014: $3,729.60
Average monthly spending for 2014: $466.20
Estimated remaining one-off expenses: $620.66 (real estate taxes)
Extrapolated 2014 spending: $6,215.06
So looks like I am still on track to meet my goal. To think, when I started out this year I thought I would spend about $8,000 but now it's looking closer to $6,000!