I'll admit it, I've had a blast every time that I've been out there. But it's been a vacation every time. How is it to live there in on $20-25 an hour, 40 a week?

Tonight I talked with another guy at work and found out that I'm making about 75% of what I'd make in the rest of the country. And that's not counting other skills I have than just running one machine. This guy, without certifications that I have, had an offer at a shop out there before my boss's boss called him and told him to sign on with us. He decided to stay on in the Cities... He's going to give me a list of other shops across the country that have the same printer.

But right now, ChiTown is sounding good. Close to family. I know some people there. Easy to get over there for an interview. I just have no idea what the living wage is... What sort of place that would get me, what neighborhoods... Keep in mind that I have a quite expensive whiskey addiction :p

Depending on how the next month goes, the figure might be closer to $30. But moving would be another 6 months to a year out...

Curious, what do you run? What did you miss?

I run thisthis.

I'm not sure what you're asking about missing...

Those things are nuts. I know a few people in printing out here in LA.

For a second I thought of "nakunasu" (to miss, or to lose), instead of "nakunaru" (to get lost).

Silly conjugation rules.

you meant "nakusu" and it only means to lose.

I run a high volume B&W machine... our shop has a 6 color press, GTO, a few hamadas, and maybe a digital press in the near future.

i make 9.50


That is an awsome machine though.... wow

J, you make plenty enough a week to make it out here. I know people who make much less ($13-$16) and who survive and enjoy life just fine. You're in fact making just as much as some of my friends in regular full time jobs so really, what you can afford is what you want to be able to afford. But on that kind of steady income, where you want to live is up to you. Deals and budget are flexible in Chicago since it's so big -- look and ye shall find (exactly what you're looking for).

join the mass-migration... mareesha and i are moving there in may. Team New in Town is growing and welcoming new members!

This thread was probably a pit premature, but I had way too many wheels turning in my head last night. And I was drunk. Now I'm up all super early to update my resume...

Man, I need some coffee.

Thanks for the responses. I thought it was more than enouogh, but I don't really have a frame of reference, you know?

really ****in comfortable.

30 an hour is quite alot in comparison to most of the people I know here. You could find something reasonable to buy or hell there are plenty of 2 bedroom apts. in my neighborhood for 650 a month. Rent one of those for a year and save a **** ton of money. The cost of living is high in comparison to most places, but at the same time like it was said before, the city is so big there is always inexpensive everything. I wish I was making 30 an hour

when i moused over that link, i was like "he runs a copy machine??? thats weak" then i clicked, and gained more respect for what you must do. i would get tired just walking from one side to the other on that machine...

It's worth at least a year of renting to feel out the different neighborhoods, property values, etc. Our real estate market is really quirky/speculatively outrageous, whereas rent prices are (overall) pretty low as a result of competition.

Yojimbo's is an expensive habit, but cheap beer is easy to find and great ethnic meals can be had for <$10 in most corners of the city.

there is a strange balance at work here...
I will be joining Team Chi-Town ExPat this summer.

Jeremy, just get your a$$ over here already!

We need good teachers here. Now who's going to sweep the velodrome?

(Why can't I think of something funny to say here?!)

my jobs usually pay $8 and hour or less, and i never work more than 30 hours a week, and i live like a king.

what kind of lifestyle are you ****ers pursuing?

chicagoamdream - the food is one of the things I've loved the most when I was out there. I gained like 10lbs. There's nothing that can compare here.

CF4L - we're about to get a second one. Biz cards and stationary items for hotels are pretty much eliminating our 1&2 color presses, if you can believe that. The shop I'm at has this dream of me just loading and unloading paper. I much prefer the front end, setting up everything from word docs and pdfs to quark, inDesign and illustrator. Putting 40 different files together into one 100 page book with 4 or 5 different stocks and single/double sided pages and having it come off the machine ready to bind is fun. Mentaly challenging... Especially if you have to work on three different OS's to do it...

A very drunken one. Without a shop discount. And lots of old debt.

No wanderous punch here, though.

That ***** is dangerous. Fogcutter if I'm in that place. Whiskey and beer everywhere else...

You could live like a god damned king here on what you make.

http://static.flickr.com/40/116798903_a5729dac25_o.jpg

Why aren't I working? Anyway, you can see the differences in different aspects of the cost of living. This is clearly a general outline, as you can adjust your living to make each of these items more or less costly. Here are the differentials in percentages:

Overall: 1.141352063
Food: 6.155398587
Housing: 11.49122807
Utilities: -27.93821357 (nice)
Transportation: 3.348017621
Health: -11.35135135
Misc: -2.495378928

I would imagine misc. includes hookers, strippers, scratch tickets, and Chicago Wigs. But nothing else.

Misc would probably include copious amounts of Jameson, but not hookers.

Transportation would probably include lots more bikes...