Culture Shock 82

Rent. Try to guess what a 670 square foot apartment would cost ya.

This is what you get:
2 bedrooms. 1 bathroom.
A 2 ft wide balcony out your front door.
No backyard.
A front yard that you share with 10 other tenants.
A 3 ft wide bathroom with a broken fan and no window.
The highway 400 feet out your back window with 24 hour traffic.

Any guesses?  $900. And if you want downstairs with a tiny fenced in backyard, it'll cost you $950.

Now come to Mississippi with me.  We are currently in a one bedroom apartment so that is no fun with a 2 year old. BUT this is what we get:
700 square feet.
1 bedroom.  1 bathroom.
Walk-in closet.
A 3 ft wide front porch.
A huge backyard.
A decent front yard that we share with some hunters parking their trucks once a year.
A bathroom with a separate vanity.
A secluded house that no one can see from the small country road that is barely ever used.
Any guesses?  $300. Yep.

Groceries will cost you a little more out here. We get a lot of produce from other states.  Mississippi actually grows a lot of cotton, I think. Gas is cheaper. So in general we spend less; can live on less.

Typically, rent is $500 to $750 for 2/3 bedrooms out here. Still cheaper than Cali.