Resident living - splurging or still a student?

[Fabio]

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Hi again, all.

When you started residency, did you go out there and assert your independence and buy all new stuff for yourself (furniture, electronics, appliances) or are you still living off the same rattling old desk and make-shift TV stand you've had since college?

My folks want to get rid of all their old furniture from 1975 that is collecting dust in our basement. I could help them out by taking it for free and having ugly furniture in my new apartment, or I could go out there and buy new stuff that would make my place "mine."

Any ideas? Thanks a lot!

 

[mdblue]

Wait for at least 6 months before you go on a splurge. 🙂

 

[Bobblehead]

You can't beat FREE. You may be drawing a salary for the first time in your life but you also have to consider your entire financial picture. You are now in your mid 20s with perhaps up to $100,000 in debt and no retirement savings. Why spend it on expensive furnishings you may end up selling in 3-5 years when you finish residency? Wait for the "good" stuff until you buy a house you'll be in for a while or get married or etc.

 

[care bear]

i'm not a resident but i just have to say. . . IKEA! 😍

you can furnish your whole place for cheap and still have it look nice and suited to being a professional (IMO)

 

[DrQuinn]

38k is not THAT much money... but you can indeed lift somewhat comfortably. I owe 190k in loans (deferred) but still live in a nice 2 br condo in downtown Tampa... and I plan on buying a new car in 6-7 months. But I'm pretty smart with my money and am always finding ways to make $$$ (like Ebaying hte $hit out of my condo every couple of weeks).

Q, DO

 

[terpgirl]

I agree with care bear... go IKEA! Don't hate KMart, Walmart or Target--I have a GREAT TV stand, for $39 at Target that holds a 27 inch TV, DVD player, shelves and places for almost 200 CDs. Looks like I paid a lot more. And it's something that I'll be keeping for a long while, it's that nice.

If you want new stuff, go to the discount outlets. If you don't mind, look in the newspaper for local garage sales. Uber cheap and nice stuff there--I live near military bases (metro Washington DC) and there are many families with new furniture or slightly used but in great shape, but they have to move and cannot take them with them.

And let me say, SLIPCOVERS ARE YOUR FRIENDS!! If you have wood furniture, strip it and refinish it. Go buy new drawer pulls. Get some framed art (on sale at least once a month at Target). Some new pillows are nice, and cheap.

Have a Bed, Bath and Beyond? They send around 20% of coupons all the time (but you have to only buy one item at a time, or they take off the 20% from the cheapest item), and you can even used expired ones. I bought flannel sheets, $100 originally, from the clearance rack for $35 and somehow paid $25. I thought it wasn't available on clearance/sale items but apparently not. I have at least 1/2 dozen sitting around, PM me if you're interested and I'll send them via mail to you..

-Liz

 

[Winged Scapula]

I had a fair bit of nice stuff from before medical school so I kept it and upgraded a few things (ie, slipcovered the couch, refinished the DR table, etc.). Its tempting to splurge but your salary really doesn't go that far and I would buy a new piece every few months with smaller buys in between for stuff you *really* need. I have a nice 2 BR/2BA apartment which probably costs more than I could/should spend but I wanted a nice place to come home to, as well as room for friends/family that wished to visit.

 

[banner]

"Splurging" is never a good idea. That only helps the "man" keep you down.

Either it's in your budget or it's not.

 

[Gerota]

As a starting intern at UCLA:

38100 at all UC schools, after taxes = not enough to support yourself comfortably. Depending on your debt and consolidation plan you could be paying off a huge amount a month. 100k over 30 yrs requires 600/month

$2175 / month NET

Monthly expenses
$1250 rent in Studio/1bedroom
$ 500 student loan payments (higher end
$ 275 for leased honda civic (NOT ferrari!)
$ 150 car insurance
$ 50 utilities
$ 50 gym membership

= $2275

Oh wait!!!! No money for recreation or for food!!! Dont forget $3/gallon for gasoline!!!

I guess you can order all your NPO patients trays and steal em before it gets there, thats what I plan to do.

You definitely are closer to a student than an attending. Even after several years, you wont make jack because your salary raises 2k each year.

Get your food stamps ready and find the local soup kitchen fellas

 

[WingZero]

I'll be a starting intern in Miami and am in a similar situation. We get $39,400 (might go up in July) and not having state income tax in Florida helps, but not a whole lot. Are most of you folks planning on making significant loan payments during residency? I plan on doing the forbearance thing (probably won't qualify for economic hardship deferment) - I just figure an extra few hundred $'s a month will help me out a lot more as a resident than when I'm an attending. Also, regarding car insurance, what companies are you folks using? GEICO is cheaper than most, but I've found some really dirt cheat rates with esurance.com. Anyone have experience with them (i.e. too good to be true)? I don't know how things are in Cali, but I'll be coughing up a lot more than $50 a month for utilities. I plan on at least $50 a month for cell phone (no home land line for me), $50 for electricity / AC, and $75 for cable (probably my only "splurge" - digital cable with cable modem)...

 

[ALTorGT]

you guys should seriously lobby for pay rises. while you may get through training quicker and make 30-50% more as attendings,your residency pay is atrocious. we get paid by the hour here.

 

[radiojimi]

Just moved to an exciting east coast city full of restaurants and nightlife. I'm smack in the middle of all the action, and as I walk past the scents of gourmet cuisine wafting at me, I grin stoically and return to my apartment to chow down my daily meal of bread, hummus and sardines.

I am proud of myself for saving $0.11 on my loaf of bread.

<cough, cough>, I think I have Chronic brokeitis.

 

[thegasman]

Economic hardship is not that hard to qualify for. If your theoretical payments over a 10 year repayment are >20% of your taxable gross then you are in. I qualify no problem. I would definitely try this instead of making payments. The money is going to be tight for all of us, especially you guys in expensive markets, cali, miami, etc. Good luck.

 

[GopherBrain]

Damn it, I am a fourth year medical student, and I am sick of being broke... I was hoping I might be able to upgrade from moldy bread to day-old bread once I graduated. Maybe get a car with a working heater (I live in Minneapolis)...

My dreams are slipping away... 🙂

 

[beriberi]

A couple of points:

you can consolidate 100K to a monthly payment of $291 (if you are paying interest only) or forbear/defer if you qualify.

Why not buy an older car and drop your car payment and your insurance (a mid 90s honda civic can be bought for 4-5k) by a lot.

I know a lot of people living in the L.A. area for less than 1250 for a Studio. That is way too big a portion of your income to be spending on housing.

Gym memberships in L.A. cost 29.95/month. Doesn't your hospital have one? Anyways, it's LA, it is always nice outside, who need a gym?

Sorry, but a lot of this is common sense. I think it is ridiculous to complain about being a single person living in poverty on 40k a year, when there are lots of families trying to make it on so much less.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

It really depends on where you live and if you want to save or pay off loans.

I live in the midwest in a city with somewhat expensive rent, but not as bad as LA or NY (pay 850 for a large 2 bedroom 1200 square feet). My net pay every month is about $2500. My loans are in economic hardship deferment and will be in forbearance after that runs out. I have noted a large increase in my ability and willingness to by things. I've bought a new laptop, 5mp digital camera, new printer/scanner/copier, new furniture in the past 2 years. At first I was saving a good amount, but now I am trying to pay off my car as quickly as possible so I'm puttin any extra money towards that (500 per month).

So you won't be rich. But life is better than in med school. I don't have to think twice about everything I buy or taking trips.

 

[thegasman]

A couple of points:


Sorry, but a lot of this is common sense. I think it is ridiculous to complain about being a single person living in poverty on 40k a year, when there are lots of families trying to make it on so much less.

40k would be a lot for one single person, but we're not all single. A lot of residents have families. We're hoping my wife can stay home now that I've finally got a real job. But most likely she'll still have to work part time. It will work out, I try to remember most people don't have what I do. But the thing that gets to you though is the expectations of others. People who don't know think I'm rich or something. Somebody even said my wife should get a lexus now that I'm a doc! Hell I still drive a 1993 Buick I got free from my grandmother so that I can make my credit card payments. But at least getting a salary will be better than borrowing tons of money. And it does go up every year. (a little)

 

[modelcitizen]

i'm not a resident but i just have to say. . . IKEA! 😍

you can furnish your whole place for cheap and still have it look nice and suited to being a professional (IMO)

Yah!!!! then you'll have a bunch of cheap particle-board in your house that looks just like the crap they sell in ikea

go with your parent's 1975 stuff. free, and undoubtedly, of higher quality than ikea.

 

[ALTorGT]

yeah...heres a solution..buy the mazda rx 8, get a nice place to rent..sweet furniture...live beyond your means..spend 60 K a year for the next 5 in residency..so you come out of residency with a net debt of 150K for med school + college + 150K for post graduation = net debt of about 300K....now assuming you graduated from anesthetics or rads youll start making 300K a year straight out....now just service the interest on that debt..and buy a sweet 2 million dollar home, the new BMW M5...and so on and so forth..so by the time youre 50 your upto your neck in debt..like 5 million plus..but your servicing the interest which at 5 percent a year is 250,000 a year...then..when you're ready to retire..just leave the country...YEAH!...goto the bahamas..take everything with you....and never come back...

 

[Finally M3]

Lol. Nice post ALT!

I'm planning on a spending spree all right. Paying off my credit card bills!!! I love the thought of having no balance by the end of the year.

And damn, some of you guys are cursed with some expensive real estate. $1250 a month? That would give you the monthly payment of a 1500 sqf 3 br 2 bath house around here!

 

[BeefyRedEye]

$1250 a month for a studio would be considered a steal in my location on the upper east side of NYC. My hospital is heavily subsidizing my 420 sq ft. studio and its only setting me back $1010. I looked at rents of comparable studios in comparable buildlings (doorman, central air, modern high rise) and they were all going for $2000-$2200.

My PGY-1 pays $46 and being able to sell my car and not pay insurance helps a tremendous deal. I am in the land of 7 dollar beers however - the living expenses in this city are insane!

 

[Meritina]

Trashy old furniture can be very valuable.

My place was the ultimate furnished dump, with scratched wood floors and a couch that you could not even see the real color of it because it was so stained and yellow.

But I turned this place into a nice comfy place with decorations-
-couch covers
-rug
-adding a couple newer pieces of furniture from target to mix with the old ones [also recommend ikea]
-little decorative items all over the place and on the walls, a painting I found next to the trash bin in my apt bldg, cool bed spread also from target, large fake tree from home depot

I probably spent 500 dollars to revamp the place this way. It may still sound like a dump as I describe it over the internet, but really it's now a place with alot of character. In my opinion, most new furniture [unless it's neiman marcus style] are just too plain boring...

 

[Fabio]

Thanks for all the great advice! This was a helpful thread for me. I have decided to save $ and take the older furniture - hopefully the revamping process won't be so bad!

Keep the comments coming, though! 🙂

 

[Lonestar]

Damn, I feel for you guys. You all should really consider moving to the south/southeast. I just closed on my house. It's all brick, 2 story, 2300 sqft., 4 br 2 and half baths, beautifully landscaped, 10 years old (looks brand new), and the seller even payed 4K towards closing. My monthly payment which includes property taxes: $1012.

 

[drvlad2004]

Damn, I feel for you guys. You all should really consider moving to the south/southeast. I just closed on my house. It's all brick, 2 story, 2300 sqft., 4 br 2 and half baths, beautifully landscaped, 10 years old (looks brand new), and the seller even payed 4K towards closing. My monthly payment which includes property taxes: $1012.

I am very strongly considering that option once I'm immediately done with residency. NYC/LI is too expensive to live in and I ruled out practicing in LI. Average 3br, 2 bath home in LI is currently about $360K (and that's being generous). You got a sweet deal on your home Lonestar.

 

[Lonestar]

Wow, 360K for 3Bdr house. Mine was $163K (very nice neighborhood) and it was more pricey than other 4 bedroom houses in other neighborhoods. Our real estate agent went out of her way to help us. She even cooked food for us every time we visited the city. Make sure to get a handle on a very good real estate agent wherever you plan on living.

 

[Goober]

Thanks for all the great advice! This was a helpful thread for me. I have decided to save $ and take the older furniture - hopefully the revamping process won't be so bad!

Keep the comments coming, though! 🙂

I think that is a good move. I didn't have any free furniture but I basically furnished my resident apartment with a lot of used furniture picked up cheap from residents moving out or yard sales. I sold or gave away all the stuff when I was done. If you buy cheap furniture now it is not going to last anyways so you may as well take the free option with probably better made furniture. If you are worried about style, spend a little more time on the decorations. Believe me, you won't be styling with Ikea or Target furniture. 😎

 

[drvlad2004]

Wow, 360K for 3Bdr house. Mine was $163K (very nice neighborhood) and it was more pricey than other 4 bedroom houses in other neighborhoods. Our real estate agent went out of her way to help us. She even cooked food for us every time we visited the city. Make sure to get a handle on a very good real estate agent wherever you plan on living.

Which city are you living in, if you don't mind me asking? 163K is awesome! I would never find a deal like that anywhere in the NY metro area, not even the crappy areas of LI. On top of the low cost of living in the south/southeast, the starting salaries as an attending are higher than anywhere else.

 

[mediocre]

most furniture stores these days have 0%/24 month financing kinda like they do for cars. So even if you splurged and bought $2400 of stuff, it would be $100 a month for 24 months. I've even seen some payments spread out over 36 months, again at 0% interest. But there are crazy penalties for a missed/late payment, so there is the potential to get screwed.

 

[stwei]

As a starting intern at UCLA:

38100 at all UC schools, after taxes = not enough to support yourself comfortably. Depending on your debt and consolidation plan you could be paying off a huge amount a month. 100k over 30 yrs requires 600/month

$2175 / month NET

Monthly expenses
$1250 rent in Studio/1bedroom
$ 500 student loan payments (higher end
$ 275 for leased honda civic (NOT ferrari!)
$ 150 car insurance
$ 50 utilities
$ 50 gym membership

= $2275

Get your food stamps ready and find the local soup kitchen fellas

Man - I'd have thought they'd provide you with at least a warm meal a day
and a big smile with such a lavish investment

 

[chichi]

I recommend hanging out by your school's business or law school and finding yourself a sugar daddy/momma. It's much easier to live when your roommate makes 100,000 a year.

 

[drvlad2004]

I recommend hanging out by your school's business or law school and finding yourself a sugar daddy/momma. It's much easier to live when your roommate makes 100,000 a year.

That's what I am talking about! We all need a good sugar momma/daddy to help us pay our loans. Meanwhile, I am still searching for a sugar-momma for my broke ass. 😀

 

[Finally M3]

Heh, unfortunately my girlfriend is also in medical school. Mmm...romantic dinners of Ramen noodles!!!

Actually, we don't have anything to complain about, as our combined income will be more than enough to live comfortably on. Thank God we don't live on the Coasts!

 

[musicman1991]

Depends how ugly the furniture is!!

Seriously, my idea of splurging is occationally picking up drinks when you are out. Splitting the dinner check equally even if someone had an entree $2 more.

It's amazing how cheap doctors are when they are going to be pretty financially secure. My friend didn't even go to college and he is the most generous person out there.