Yup! I save a lot by riding a bike and using public transit instead of a car. My only expense for transit is $65/month for a bus pass. Literally have no car payment, no mechanic fees, no oil changes, no insurance, nothing. And I still haven’t had any need to call an Uber yet.
It only takes me 10 minutes to get to work by bus or bike from my new apartment. If I need to buy groceries, I just hop on the bus to the nearest Target.
What’s funny is that I’m not even in NYC/SF/Boston/Seattle. I’m in a suburb of Madison, WI where you wouldn’t expect fast public transit. But the public transit is surprisingly good here, on par with what I experienced when I lived in the Bay Area (although tbf, Bay Area public transit is crappy compared to NYC or Boston…but I digress). And I get to enjoy low CoL in a city with lots of nature!
I’ve always wanted to live in a place that feels like an old-world rural village next to a beautiful lake where kids walk to school and the milkman delivers milk on a bicycle to houses that look like cute little cottages. And this is the closest I’m gonna get.
It really is a win-win, since it’s better for the environment, my own health (biking=exercise), and my future med school loans! Feels good to put away more $$ for medical school 🙂
Strong start. Along with riding my bicycle to all my rotations, I've used other neat tricks to cut my student loan burden in half. I will share them on this forum, but be warned, these are only for those truly dedicated to savings.
1) Homebrew coffee, never get starbucks-- $5 x 365 x 4 = $7300
2) Drink tap water-- $20 x 364 x 4 = $29200
3) Refuse to take USMLE or COMLEX-- $650 x 2 = $1300
4) Access the mainframe computer at your university, download the professor's ppts before the lecture, create notes, sell them to your classmates so they don't have to go to lecture-- $150 x 120 x 365 x 2 = $13,140,000
5) Don't rent an apartment, buy the building and become the landlord-- $350 x 120 x 365 x 4 = $61,320,000
6) Develop ground breaking surgical procedures, attain tenure at a world-renowned teaching hospital, do cocaine, don't sleep, develop a pyramid scheme of clinical practice so you never actually have to see patients or other humans, collect profit-- $3500 x 1000 x 365 x 20 = $25,624,497,800
Total Net Profit before Expenses: $25,624,497,800