Joe Teresi learned several things from participating in a cost of living project where he lived in New York City on an income of $60,000. He discovered that money can go a long way when living independently by creating a budget and avoiding luxury purchases. Living in New York was expensive due to high costs for housing, food, taxes, and utilities, but public transportation saved on transportation costs. Despite the high costs, Joe and his roommate were able to live comfortably in their two-room apartment on Madison Avenue on their combined $110,000 income and had money left over after expenses and savings.

1. Joe Teresi<br />Period 1<br />Conclusion<br />During the Cost of Living Project I learned many things. The most important fact I learned was that money can go a long ways when living by oneself. I had an initial income of $60,000 and lived in New York. In New York there were extra expenses in food, living, taxes, and utilities. But, both me and my roommate saved in transportation because we did not need to buy or lease a car, we just used public transportation, which is quit extensive in New York. We chose an apartment on Madison Ave. and 59th Street; it was expensive and only 2 rooms and a kitchen/ bathroom area. I was very surprised how far we were able to make our money go. We were able to buy everything without playing with numbers or backtracking. And we both had money left over after all of the expenses and savings. This project helped me get an idea just exactly how many expenses a person living on their own and being self-sufficient has. In our project be bought a lot of things, but not too many luxury items such as iPods, ipads, or a x-box. And by leaving this out and creating a strict budget I believe that we were able to make our combined income, $110,000, go a lot farther than it would have gone without one. This shows the important of making a budget and distributing ones funds into the important categories before wasting it on expensive clothes or stupid gadgets. Another thing this project taught me was that taxes are very expensive and decrease ones disposable income greatly. I never realized just how much money taxes cost and in New York there was an extra city tax that was more than the state tax and the Medicare/Social-Security Tax. New York is an expensive place for the bare essentials such as living, food, and taxes but it is one of the biggest cities in the United States and offers countless opportunities. Despite the expensive city, my partner and I were able to live comfortably in New York City with a combined initial income of $110,000.<br />