Aside from planning to visit the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge or take a leisurely stroll through Central Park (I blame the movies for that). I didn’t really know what to plan before moving to New York. It is approaching our one-year anniversary of moving to the City, and after satisfying most of my touristic urges, we found ourselves processing what it means to live in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
The common soundbite about moving to New York are the below:
Rent is Extortionate
Don’t be alarmed when you find yourself shelling out half your paycheck for rent. And having to prioritize square feet, window size, ceiling height, commuting time, dishwasher or not, washer/dryer or not, etc. What we did to attempt to avoid this problem is we chose to live in New Jersey and commute to Manhattan. We maybe saving a little in the rent department, but we are spending our savings in transportation, with a hefty few hundred dollar bus passes.
New York City is well connected with New Jersey, so you will regularly meet people who live in New Jersey but work in Manhattan. Folks having to go through the Lincoln tunnel every day, and finding themselves in Port Authority, much respect!
Or by car you’ll find yourself having to pay toll fees to cross between New Jersey and New York. Here, we have pikes, bridge tolls, tunnel tolls, expressways, and parkways. Things that I still don’t quite understand.
No Where Else in the World to Live
I don’t have much to say about this so instead I will leave you with some quotes about New York.
“Winters are Mad Brick”
This is the New Yorker way of saying the winters are quite cold here. Now, no matter how much you convince yourself that winters don’t bother you, you will find a day where you are crying from how cold it is (true story). It could be one of the days where you wake up all warm and cozy, leave your apartment to trek through the snow to the bus, or when you are carrying your four grocery bags back home in the hailing snow and up to your walk-up apartment. Now, luckily for New Yorkers, you can get anything and everything delivered straight to your door though apps like Postmates, Seamless, Fresh Direct, Instacart, and of course, Amazon. That doesn’t mean you won’t finding yourself cussing as you are stepping through the slush like snow.
Space is Limited
You will realize fairly quickly that there is so much space elsewhere in the world. You will find yourself to be the tetris master as you are shuffling through your life belongings and having to store every single piece of off season clothing item under your bed. We live in a studio apartment so even more so limited on space. If you are curious on some studio apartment space saving hacks check this link out.
Doing Laundry
It is genuinely a luxury to have a washer and dryer in your building, let alone inside your apartment here. This is one of the non glamorous parts of living here. You will pack your laundry up into bags and take them over to your corner Laundromat where you spend a couple hours washing, drying, and folding your clothes. This can begin to add up in both time and money so what some people do is pay for the laundry service offered at their laundry mat locations.
Embrace the Mary Poppins Bag
There are tons of scenarios you will find yourself in. You could be commuting to work and spill your coffee on your white work blouse. In which you’ll need a Tide-To-Go pen. You might find yourself in a random downpour. Here comes the use of packing an umbrella. The forecast will say there is a 5% chance of snow and next thing you know you are stuck in a blizzard. In the winters make sure you pack your winter accessories. Check out my post on the New York City Essentials for the Working Person.
It’s Tough to Feel Content
Even if you’ve managed to snag the big three in New York (job, apartment, romantic partner), and even if you’re 99.9 percent happy with the direction your life has taken, the city’s constant onslaught of stimulation can leave you longing. You will inevitably begin to question things like why you don’t have that spacious SoHo loft? How can you afford to raise a family in Brooklyn? And the fact that peoples hair and fashion sense is straight from a magazine catalog. The best way to handle this is to see the people around you as inspiration rather than competition.
Amidst the chaos of moving to New York you will find charm. The times that you find tough will eventually pay off. The moments where you feel empty or as if you are experiencing a quarter life crisis will pass. The thing that no one tells you about moving to New York, is that with time, hard work, dedication, and positivity you will find yourself thankful you stuck it out and be proud to say you made it. To your own standards!
Check out my other posts about New York and New Jersey. If you want to see my day-to-day life in working in New York and living in New Jersey check out my Instagram.
I love New York. Planning on visiting soon. I knew it was expensive, but you can’t actually get to feel it I guess until you move to live there. Still worth it I think!
I lived in the city for a summer once, and it was so much fun! There’s is always something going on. But I couldn’t do it long term. I love living upstate now!
Wow these are great tips. My cousin has moved to my recently. Will forward this post to her
I miss NY so much. I love reading your posts because it reminds me of home.
Wow such interesting things I came to know about NYC. Thanks for sharing this amazing post.
Thank you for being honest about living in NYC. I was always scared to live in a city that big.
I have visited New York so many times. But I have always looked at New York with a tourist’s perspective. It is interesting to know the place from a residents perspective.
Haha I wouldn’t really add anything to this! I lived in NYC for 6 years and agree with what you’ve written. I miss aspects about living there but I’m pretty happy my experience was in the past. I kimd of miss the winter though.
Wow, so many great insights!! this post is amazing!