links for 2007-01-14

Low-rent living is also helps you get out of debt and helps you save money faster for a downpayment on a house. I moved to Montreal from Vermont four years ago; during my last year in Vermont I was paying $850 US per month for a beautiful and spacious three-bedroom apartment in a home that was built in the 1850s; here in Montreal I pay $550 Canadian for a small two-and-a-half-bedroom in an ugly row house in a commercial/industrial part of town. Our landlord hasn’t raised the rent in four years because I shovel the snow in winter and help out with other things. Yes, the space is cramped and yes I’d rather live somewhere quieter (we’re a block from the train tracks, and freight trains hurtle by alll hours of the day and night), but our low cost of living has made it possible to get completely out of debt (and to stay out of debt), to buy a car with cash, and to save up enough money for a 30 percent downpayment on a house. When I first saw this place I thought I could never live here, and the first few weeks were depressing, but eventually it started feeling like home and now it doesn’t bother me at all….although we are definitely feeling the yearnings to have our own place and will most likely buy a house in the spring of 2008 if not before.