as an aside, i know many people paying $500-600/mo in rent and not living in half-bad situations. it may mean moving in with some strangers off craigslist and having a 2 or 3 roommates, but the horror stories are relatively few and far-between.

a year's worth of monthly unlimited metrocards currently costs $912. commute by bike and that's like a free month of rent for many folks (yeah, it costs money to maintain the bike, but let's assume you're doing that anyway).

assuming you're not doing all your grocery shopping at whole foods, you can eat on a budget and myopenbar.com tells you where to drink for free.