$6 for a sack of flour?!?

One of the things that is really getting to us is the cost of living. Most things are on par with Boston prices. Yet I can tell you from my job search that salaries are NOT in the same ballpark as Boston.

A nice, mid-range dinner out costs the same. A haircut costs the same. Furniture costs the same. Clothing costs the same. Rent is only slightly cheaper. Grocery items cost even more (there’s been a drought here) – I’m not kidding about the $6 for a 5-lb sack of flour. (Or $1.29/lb bulk. How does THAT math work?!?)

Yet I’m finding web and social media job postings that list $12-15/hr as the going rate. I’ve only seen one listing (granted, many places don’t list the salary range up front, so there could be better pay there) in the online communications field that broke $15/hr – and that, barely.

But there’s money here. A quick web search has shown that while most of Michigan has a median income $20-30,000 less than Massachusetts median incomes, Washtenaw County (where Ann Arbor is located) is only $5K behind Suffolk and Essex Counties. Arthur suspects it’s primarily due to professors and doctors (the medical center at the university is huge). But what about all the students making minimum wage? What about all of us schmucks making $15/hr?

Realizing that Ann Arbor is only about $5K behind Boston in median income makes the cost of everything make sense. But how do I find myself one of these jobs closer to the median? We both worked at nonprofits in Boston, yet still somehow made more than anything I’ve seen here. And then, we didn’t have tuition to pay for as well.

Hello, Credit Card

The credit card statement started some panic. Granted, it’s unusual – the moving bill plus 6 months of health insurance are all on it – but it’s equal to half the amount of money I transferred into my new credit union account. One half, gone in the first month.

I was thinking we had more breathing room than this. After all, all of our utilities and other bills are included as part of our rent (for which we already have money set aside). So it’s just food, gas, and yarnquality of life expenses from now on, right? But when things are costing the same – or even more, in the case of food – that’s going to have a greater impact than we originally budgeted.

We knew we’d have to change our habits. After all, we’ll be down to one income (assuming I find a job) and one negative income (hello tuition!). Time to start eating like students again and forget our happy traveler and foodie lifestyle for a while. But we were also expecting things to be cheaper here because of the economy and student budgets.

It's Expensive to Be a Hippie

The other really upsetting financial discovery is that the food co-op is wicked, wicked expensive. It makes Whole Foods look affordable.

Which, to me, defeats the entire purpose of being a co-op. A proper co-op model keeps prices down – the goal isn’t profit; the goal is affordable food for members.

We went ahead and joined anyway, because we want to support food co-ops on principle. But unless I get a better paying job than what I’ve seen out there so far, we won’t be shopping there very often. (I really do need to find somewhere else with quart-sized plain soygurt first.) I may have had my issues with the Harvest Co-op (primarily their produce shelves), but it was usually competitive and it was also conveniently located within walking distance of home.

Ah, and the latest surprise was the swimming pool. The rec center – including the pool – is free for Arthur as a student. However, unlike gyms at home, there are no unlocked lockers where you put your own lock onto while there; every locker is pre-locked and costs $2. So for a facility that is supposedly free for students – it’s part of what tuition buys, after all – isn’t. While that sounds like small money, if Arthur wants to swim 3x/week, that’s $6/week in cash (a sack of flour!) he needs to keep with him. That's not "free".