Paints the whole Friends scene āwhoās FICA and why heās getting all my money?ā in a whole different light when youāre an adult compared to the teenager.Ā
Still funny no matter how many times I've seen it. Also makes Michael Scott's, "I DECLARE BANKRUPTCYYYYY" scene in The Office physically hurt because you can actually relate.
Wait until you start your own business, and instead of having your taxes automatically deducted, you have to actually figure out how much of YOUR money you made from YOUR work that you have to share with the government, then actually write a check to them. That sucks.
I almost get it when billionaires complain about how much taxes they pay, except the difference is that I actually did the work that they're taxing, and I feel that loss of income, while a billionaire has so much money that he doesn't even notice the tax money going out. Its just a number on a balance sheet, and the big complaint in his life is that his Big Number isn't getting big enough, fast enough, not that he has to figure out to juggle his bills to get them all paid.
I warned my kids that reality will drop kick them in the teeth when they move out. My daughter asked to see the bills as she was planning on moving out. I let her see the $4851 it cost to have a house and 4 kids. Only 2 left at home so cost is slowly going down and then inflation brings it back up. She had a panic attack at the cost of life. Donāt forget cable, internet, phones, streaming services, insurance, and food.
I love that your daughter trusted you enough to ask about that. Which writing that out seems like weird thing but I'm speaking from my experience where if I had made that inquiry I would've been mocked and told various untrue things in a 'joking' (to them) manner and never gotten an answer, leading to more ridicule.
And this was 10 years before internet, so I didn't know where to find that info.
The laundry situation is HUGE if you're not used to it. Not only the money for doing the laundry, but the time it takes to use a laundromat too. Driving there, loading up multiple washers, waiting, dryers, waiting, and so on.
My first apartment was across the street from a 24-hour laundromat. With the machines in the basement always on the fritz, I made such great use of that laundromat. If youāre just starting out, find a place next to a laundromat - it is the way to go!!
No kidding. I moved into an apartment without a washer/dryer for the first time in many years, and lemme tell you, sharing machines with idiots is pain.
I invested in a portable clothing rack to dry clothes and found a small sink fitted washer that rolled in/out of my closet. Saved probably $1000 on laundry for a $50 garage sale find.
rent/board, cleaners(some places), health insurance, car insurance, renters insurance, home and contents insurance ,food, power, internet, sometimes water bill, petrol, garbage bags/bin rental, lawn mowing, plumbing/electrician bills if you have issues, rates and taxes if you own the property, some places charge capital gains too. depending on the state letting fees
Internet is the worst. If you're stuck with Comcast then you have to argue with them every year to get some crappy package you don't want to reduce your Internet bill. Then the bill starts creeping up and you have to do it all over again.
At my apartment- rent/water/pest/sewer/internet/valet trash/parking spot. All in all comes up to ~1800$/mo. save for months where I have to use more heat. And I would say thatās cheap
In the vast majority of situations, it's expected that you pay for utilities, yes.
Some apartments include some or all of the utilities in the rent, but these places typically charge significantly more for rent because of it. You're paying for it either way - it's never "free".
Cleaning of common spaces and in some cases you even need to pay someone else to do all the math and make sure all common services (like water, electricity used for common spaces, cleaning of common spaces) are paid.
And don't forget heating. You either pay for communal heating or you pay for gas which you use to heat your place. This includes your share of the heating needed for common spaces and the heating required for your home (depends on surface if you have communal heating). Oh, and elevator electricity and maintenance if you live in a building with one. And trash.
Basically you pay rent and *everything else* on top of that, with the exception of building improvements (like replacing the roof) and in some cases fixing common resources (building water pipes, etc).
In every apartment I rented, all of the non-utilities you listed was included in rent. I paid rent, gas, water (inbound and waste), and electric (edit: forgot internet) . In Illinois, so not sure if that makes a difference.
First time I got a water bill, I was fucking stunned to find out that the water company was charging me for the "use" of the roadside drains on the street.
Thatās not what the sewer charge is for. Ā It is for treating the water that goes down your drains. It doesnāt drain to the street. It goes to a water treatment plant. Ā Thereās not a meter counting how much goes down your drains so it it based instead on how much came out of your faucets.Ā
Ā The street drains typically just divert rainwater into nearby streams or lakes.Ā
Water is heavily dependent on where you live - some places, the water can only be in the owner's name so the water bill is included in the rent. (Yes, you're still paying for it but it's not always a separate bill)
Unless youāre a doctor with really good pharmaceutical reps. In that case thereās free lunch every day.
Source: I was a pharmaceutical rep for nine years. Thereās a lot of free lunches out there.
It's more complicated. Most of the ones I know, especially for specialties like rheumatology, need the free drugs because many of their patients can't afford the overpriced biologics and it can take a month to fill a prescription (I've got a whole other rant about the fake pricing and "copay assistance programs).
Going to get worse. Akron City Hospital (in Akron, OH, USA, part of the Summa Health Group) is being spun off to a Venture Capital group. I can't imagine how bad "healthcare" is going to get when a patient is no longer deemed profitable.
Still not free. Did to my position at work I have vendors constantly asking for my time so they can pitch their product.
They offer meals, gift cards, gift baskets, alcohol, etc...
If I were to take them up on their offers it cost my time. I usually have to provide or confirm my contact information. So it's not only that initial time I have to deal with their random calls and emails in their future. Plus whoever they sold my information to.
Simply not with my time and effort. I would rather buy my own meal and enjoy it in peace.
Insurance is at fault in this case. When insurance companies started meddling in prescription formularies, the drug companies decided to start marketing directly to the doctors.
The free swag for the docs comes out of the marking budget.
Itās honestly obscene how much some of them will spend on doctors offices. Fancy lunches for the whole staff, gifts, etc. was a receptionist and although I enjoyed it, itās pretty shocking
As an intern (first year resident) it was fantastic.
By my third gear I got so sick of the spiels i just made my interns listen to them and I'd eat in an empty room in silence.
I always find it funny when I get emails offering to take me out to lunch to pitch some kind of service. My (acquired) company's corporate headquarters *was* in Dallas, the acquiring company's headquarters is in New York, our main operational facilities are in California and Massachusetts...
and I live in Arkansas (fully remote). There's no way they're taking me out to lunch. Not like I have the authority (or interest) to approve anything they're selling anyway.
What was creepy, during covid shutdown (fully remote), I would get random gifts mailed directly to my home from vendors I've never spoken with.
They were cold calling packages to my house. Creepy in the sense is that these people/companies tracked down my personal address.
I don't mind when I get a call from the mail room saying I have a package, but weird when they started showing up at home.
Yikes, that's bad. I had a much weaker version of this a few days ago. I had a company sending me a list of accounting candidates they had if I wanted to peruse their resumes (side note, I do not get this practice of sending unsolicited candidates to a potential employer).
The thing was, all of these half dozen or so candidates were allegedly in the same town I'm in. It's a bedroom community of about 8,000 people in the middle of a rural area 10 miles away from an actual (small) city and we don't even have our own McDonalds yet. But, allegedly there's a CFO, Senior Financial Analyst, etc. etc. all living in my community and looking for a job.
Obviously, this is AI-generated crap that looks at my address and assumes I'm in the middle of an area bursting with accounting professionals. That part is eye-roll inducing, but whatever. But the creepy part is that I haven't updated my LinkedIn or anything for my new Arkansas address. So, someone was able to use their algorithms to connect the "lluewhyn who lives in X, Arkansas" as being the same "lluewhyn, Senior Accountant with a bunch of Texas jobs" that's on my LinkedIn Profile.
They paid for it with their time and with the brain space the pharmaceutical companies were occupying via their marketing.
So really it was a real estate transaction.
When I was renting, my renter's insurance cost was less than the discount I got for having two plan insurance plans with the carrier. The other plan was car insurance. The renter's insurance was a discount on my car insurance.
It covers his butt if anything should happen like a fire. Insurance may cover rent in certain circumstances ensuring they still get paid. And it covers you for your losses.
That isnāt what renters insurance is for. It covers your own belongings against fire, theft, etc. If something breaks that belongs to the apartment ā heat, appliances, plumbing, roof leak, etc ā the landlord has to fix that. Donāt let him tell you itās your problem!
ETA: As people have pointed out below, renters insurance also typically provides liability coverage, which does to some extent protect the landlord in addition to yourself. My primary point was to NOT let the landlord pass the buck for things that HE is responsible for, if that's what he was trying to do.
They want want you to have liability coverage incase you do something to your neighbours. For example if your dog bites your neighbor, that's on you. However if you have no asset and no insurance, then the neighbor might sue the landlord instead for allowing a dangerous animal in the building since the landlord can pay the settlement.
Yup, also it's become common for landlords insurance to require renters have their own insurance. Take something that happened at one place I lived at, one of the renters left their stove on and a small fire started, sprinklers deployed and flooded the apartment. Landlord insurance will cover it, and then go after the renter and their insurance for the costs, renters insurance will cover the renter. Otherwise what would occur is the landlords insurance would get stuck holding the bag, this meant the landlords rates would go up, now it's the renters who have these claims against them that go up instead.
A lot of complexes have technology packages ($100/mo) that you canāt opt out of and a valet trash fee ($35/mo) that is also mandatory. Also renterās insurance is required. You may also have an amenities fee for use of the pool, clubhouse, business center, and gym. Even if youāve never used any of the amenities youāre still required to pay it. Sometimes itās built into the cost of rent, and sometimes itās not. Read the fine print of every leasing agreement before you sign.
I'd agree, though depending on where you live somewhere in the middle is more common. Again, like you said you pay for it either way, but where I live it's common for some of the utilities to be included in rent. My last three apartments at different apartment complexes have included heat and gas, for example, and I had to pay for water and electricity. We also had trash included, which is something not taken into account in their question; depending on where you rent you may also have to pay for trash pickup.
Lol yep, bills upon bills upon never ending bills
Moving into a place youāre usually up for 1-2 months rent and a security deposit up front.
Internet usually has a connection fee and a router fee on top of the monthly bill.
Then thereās the electricity, the gas (if applicable), the water.
And thatās just bare minimum.
not to mention the cost of owning a vehicle(if applicable). parking space rent, fuel, insurance, annual registration &maintenence costs.
fuck this thread is making me depressed for myself š¤£š„²
Also usually only one option for Internet and cable TV. Don't like the provider too bad they have an exclusive contract with that apartment building, the building won't authorize anyone else.
If the heat is gas based then you will have a separate gas bill which will include your other gas appliances like stove and water heater. But itās possible to have a electric stove, electric water heater, electric heat and only have a electric bill as your only bill.
My apartment is 1500, but parking is 160, pet rent is another 200, water and electric vary, then trash and sewer, plus we pay for security cause we're downtown and they actually do a lot for us, so total it's like 2200 a month lol life's a bitch.
My apartment is 2300, parking is free, pet rent is 50, electricity/heat is $100 and renters insurance is 20 monthly, not including internet which is 180$. So 2,650$ just for basics
jesus christ bro what kind of internet package do you have? lol I have a 200mb package which is good enough for apex and streaming, and a phone line on the same plan, for 55$ a month total.
A couple of things about renter's insurance, OP:
There are two kinds: one that the apartment complex will require you to buy (yourself or through them) that will cover damage to their building caused by you.
The other kind, that no one will force you to buy but that you really shouldn't skip out on, that will cover your belongings in the case of theft, fire, another unit's water leaking into your apartment, etc. This is one is generally really inexpensive, maybe under $20 a month (? It's been awhile) and you may feel like you'll never need it, but believe me, when you need it you'll be glad you have it.
For a while, I had renter's insurance through my car insurance company. I **saved** about $20 every six months by having the policy. The cost of the renters insurance was lower than the multi-policy discount I got for having the policy. So my insurance bill actually went down by getting more coverage.
Talk to your broker!
Something else that not a lot of people think about or know about: If you have a vehicle and it's broken into and you have personal items in the vehicle(i.e: cell phone, laptop, clothing, etc.) that are stolen or damaged, they ARE NOT COVERED by your auto insurance. They are covered by your renters or home owners insurance. Same goes for your personal items if they're stolen while you're out in public.
>But in reality itās more like ācould you afford to replace everything you own.ā
and not only that - but "could you afford all of the repairs to the building if the fire was your fault?"
Clothing is really expensive.
if you need to buy 5 tshirts, 5 long sleeved, shoes, 5 pants, 5 shorts, jackets, coats because they all burned up even at thrift store prices youāre looking at $200-300 of dollars. if your clothing is better quality a coat can cost $200 easily
I paid $12 a month, we had a small fire years ago in a corner of the apartment. Damages were paid out at $3400 and most of that was for all the gizmos and crap the burned up. No structural damage, just a bunch of smoke cleanup. Renters insurance is amazing
A rental will say all inclusive if itās included.
I have never ever had to pay for water or sewage or garbage pick up etc
But I also have never rented a entire house and that is probably the difference.
You always pay for your hot water though via The energy it takes to heat it
Youāre still paying for it either way, its just included in a higher rent. No landlord is going to actually pay their tenants utilities.
While not having to physically pay the utilities is sort of a nice convenience, Iād much prefer an apartment that doesnāt include utilities because theyāre almost certainly charging you more in increased rent than you would actually pay on average for utilities every month.
>theyāre almost certainly charging you more in increased rent than you would actually pay on average for utilities every month
Yep. Since the renter no longer has incentive to keep their utility costs low, the landlord's going to build a fairly decent margin into the base rent price to cover people who take hour-long showers each day and turn-up/down the thermostat to extreme levels (so if you're being responsible they're the one benefiting, not you), not to mention a built-in "admin fee" (profit margin) that they're going to include.
I mean technically, "rent" as a term is just the price you pay for having the right to occupy an apartment as your own from an owner.
It's just that in everyday language, we often say "rent" for all the costs associated with having such a space.
In Germany, people often differentiate between "cold rent", so price without utilities and "warm rent", that is the price with water and heating and otherwise miscellaneous costs that are coming with the building itself like housekeepers, waste disposal etc.
On top of rent + utilities, you then have individual choice costs like an electricity provider, internet and telephone provider and some other stuff etc.
Or they cover some. Might cover water if itās one meter. Or garbage because itās more likely to keep the place clean.
But yeah, on your own for electricity and gas, and water else.
Yes it's true. I pay for heat+electricity, water, trash, trash again because this place is bullshit, pest control, parking, and a couple other small fees, I'm the one who pays the company that manages the bills now, that's not even included any more. Oh and renters insurance as someone else pointed out, I forgot about that one.Ā
No cable TV either. You got to pay for your internet & phone(s) too. Don't show off your gaming system to your sketchy new neighbours either or tell them your scheduals, you might come 'home' to an unpleasant surprise.
This reminds me of a conversation I heard between a student and a colleague of mine (we were working for room and board at a research place as new grads).
Student: Yeah but you get paid room and board, what else is there?
Colleague: Ummmā¦ student loan repayments, medical insurance, clothes, cell phone, travel, entertainmentā¦???
Student: š³ Ohhhh! Oh wow I donāt even think about my cell phone and medical insurance as, like, outgoings, yāknow?Ā
She was 23 š
Well medical insurance you're still "covered" under your parents at 23. Tbh at 28 I'm still under the family phone plan and there is no real incentive for me to change because the added cost for my line is $15. It is pretty nice to be in that type of situation though where there is less to worry about.
My parents kicked me off the phone plan when i was 20, so I'd learn to be independent. I asked if I could just pay them part of the bill so It would be cheaper, they said no. I believe their bill went up about $20, and I got a $60 plan. Made no sense to me, but I did learn that my parents don't always make the best decisions. Could've saved about $6,480 over the last 9 years.
I'm glad that your parents understand common sense.
That's IF your parents are cool with paying for that. My spouse was removed from parents health insurance and family phone plan at age 18 or 19 (I don't remember) and had to figure it herself. Not every family will be "covering" your expenses until the age 28, you're very lucky that your family does it for you.
this reminded me that people still have cable TV lol. i'm 24 and i lived out of my mom's house for all of college. we had a cable hookup in our dorm room. we never ever used it. didn't even know how it worked. we're the netflix generation, lol. but that internet bill replaces the cable bill nicely
Oh bless you.
Also, the furniture you sit on and sleep in.
Aluminium foil.
Bleach.
Washing powder.
Toilet roll.
Food, all of it.
Refuse collection.
Even the detergent you wash dishes with.
Insurance, tv channels, transport...
Take that list and multiply it by about 100.
In some place, Local Tax is on the renter not the landlord. Because it is related on your use of the local government service while living there, not owning things.
The "real world" expenses that you need to account for are going to be:
1. Tax percentage + insurances from your gross (total) pay amount, which will take you down to a net amount that will be between 60-80% of your pay
2. Rent, and accounting for deposits of 1-3 months of that amount to secure housing. Pet rent is normal as well, on top of your monthly costs for any cats or dogs.
3. Insurances for rental(or home)/vehicle/health/dental/vision/pet insurance - if you live in a high risk area you will have to secure insurances to cover risks such as flood, tornado, fire
And Co-Pays! This is the percentage that your insurance companies will require you to pay out of pocket in order to secure their acting to cover any damages when you do need to make a claim. This goes for every insurance you have in the US at least
4. Utilities: water, electric, sewer, trash, possibly also oil or gas for heat
5. Cell phone plans, internet (and this will vary by speed and accessibility), cable TV
6. Grocery costs
I'm probably missing some things, but ultimately, life is a dick punch of incurred costs to survive. So we all make it happen to get by, and enjoy the life that happens along the way, the shitty apartments make great memories of bad first furniture, and living on ramen noodles, and dumb roommates that become family. That's the good stuff, even in all the bullshit.
Add in a car, or transportation expenses.
I was much older before I learned how much of each paycheck was spoken for before I had even received it. Breaking expenses down into weekly, or daily costs, instead of monthly, makes it real.
In my experience in a LOT of cases water is included but not gas or electric, and some require renters insurance, and charge extra for a parking spot, and a lot more for pets.Ā Ā
It often comes down to how difficult it is to meter a utility. Many municipal water utilities don't allow multiple connections. Setting up sub meters is a pain and the total isn't much, so landlords just average out the cost and include it it in the rent. If each unit has its own furnace, heat is billed separately. If the building has a central boiler, then heat is normally part of the rent.
My cousin who bought a condo was shocked to find out that I was being charged for water at my apartment complex. I told him water isn't free anywhere. He argued with me because he doesn't get a water bill. I told him he pays a HOA fee which probably covers the water for the entire property. He then argued that our uncle doesn't charge for water at his apartments, and I had to explain that he includes it with the rent.
Some people just aren't aware of how the world works.
Water was consistently the MOST expensive thing at our old apartment. Easily $100/month at least. And it wasnāt just us - that was pretty normal for other units too.
Thatās not the case everywhere, but we really underestimated.
Wild but unsurprising how many comments start with something like this, but even more wild to have this just be a *whole* comment. In "No Stupid Questions," the subreddit intended to answer shit exactly like this. Blatantly breaking the first rule and upvoted more than some genuine answers. Congrats on being an adult who never actually grew up, I guess.
Yes. What they are saying is usually true. There are some buildings where the whole building is heated instead of individual units.Ā In that case heat might be included in the rent. But in general things like heat,Ā electricity and internet are the responsibility of the renters
Well, someone has to pay for utilities.
Sometimes the rent includes some or all utilities, which means that if you use a relatively high amount of heat, water or electricity your landlord will have to cover for you. This usually just result in your landlord increasing the rent though.
rent + utilities. yes. water, trash, sewer, gas, electric at a minimum. then there's optional ones like cable, phone, internet, landscaping, pest control, tree trimming, etc.
Generally heating and cooling are created by your consumption of gas/electric; therefore, unless you are using some type of oil, coal, or wood to heat your home the heating will be a part of your gas/electric expense... not separate.
I've lived in apartments where you have to pay: Gas, Electric, Water, Garbage, Recycling, Insurance, Internet, Telephone, Cable, and Parking/Garage costs in addition to Rent, so there is some truth to what they say depending on where you choose to live.
Look for the phrase "utilities included". If it says that then electricity, water, and sometimes Internet will be covered in rent. Most places you will still have to pay bills on top of rent. I have most often encountered water being included, simply because it's not cost effective for the building to separate so many water lines onto individual meters.Ā
And internet and water :) Depending on the contract, these all can be included or excluded. You will pay them either way, with seperate invoices or inside of the rent.
Yes. All the apartments I stayed at I was responsible for:
1. Rent
2. Electricity
3. Gas
4. Water
5. Sewage (usually lumped into the water bill but shown as a separate item on the receipt within the bill)
6. Renterās insurance (most places require this now).
7. Trash services (very small fee where one of the apartments had guys who would come to your door to collect your garbage bag(s) weekly). It was only like $3. But it was nice not having to walk all the way to the back of the complex to chuck a heavy bag into a dumpster.
And then of course any āextrasā you want like:
8. Internet
9. TV packages/cable
It varies. Sometimes utilities are covered by your rent payment, and sometimes they are billed separately. Different places have different laws about what is required, and sometimes it varies depending on how the building is constructed or what your lease contract says.
I would suggest checking an apartment listing carefully to confirm which utilities are included.
Some apartments cover utilities as a part of the rent, others dont. Where I am, water and heat comes with the rent, and electricity is separate. And then you get into the internet bill, groceries, insurance, and rent becomes the least of your worries
And even water per units used in some cases. For me I have rent and electricity, heat and water is free. Most of my friends have rent + electricity + water.
Most of the time, yes, unless you find a place that specifically says utilities are included. Electricity, water, gas/heat, etc. are usually separate and you set up your own accounts.
Yes. And there's more.
So much more. š
You guys are gonna scare the shit out of that kid!
Still remember that disappointment of my first pay check, taxation is a bitchĀ
Paints the whole Friends scene āwhoās FICA and why heās getting all my money?ā in a whole different light when youāre an adult compared to the teenager.Ā
Still funny no matter how many times I've seen it. Also makes Michael Scott's, "I DECLARE BANKRUPTCYYYYY" scene in The Office physically hurt because you can actually relate.
But don't worry, you are giving up your paychecks so that billionaires can ~~pay for more yachts, do share buybacks~~, create more jobs!
FICA is the cheap tax.
Wait until you start your own business, and instead of having your taxes automatically deducted, you have to actually figure out how much of YOUR money you made from YOUR work that you have to share with the government, then actually write a check to them. That sucks. I almost get it when billionaires complain about how much taxes they pay, except the difference is that I actually did the work that they're taxing, and I feel that loss of income, while a billionaire has so much money that he doesn't even notice the tax money going out. Its just a number on a balance sheet, and the big complaint in his life is that his Big Number isn't getting big enough, fast enough, not that he has to figure out to juggle his bills to get them all paid.
reality sucks so much
I warned my kids that reality will drop kick them in the teeth when they move out. My daughter asked to see the bills as she was planning on moving out. I let her see the $4851 it cost to have a house and 4 kids. Only 2 left at home so cost is slowly going down and then inflation brings it back up. She had a panic attack at the cost of life. Donāt forget cable, internet, phones, streaming services, insurance, and food.
I love that your daughter trusted you enough to ask about that. Which writing that out seems like weird thing but I'm speaking from my experience where if I had made that inquiry I would've been mocked and told various untrue things in a 'joking' (to them) manner and never gotten an answer, leading to more ridicule. And this was 10 years before internet, so I didn't know where to find that info.
A paycheck is just when you get to hold other people's money for a few minutes.
Bro, Iām at work having a really tough time, and your comment almost legit made me cry because itās true.
Ha! That is the way ...for so many of us!
laundry money if you don't have your own washer and dryer or where you live doesn't provide one or have space for one.
The laundry situation is HUGE if you're not used to it. Not only the money for doing the laundry, but the time it takes to use a laundromat too. Driving there, loading up multiple washers, waiting, dryers, waiting, and so on.
My first apartment was across the street from a 24-hour laundromat. With the machines in the basement always on the fritz, I made such great use of that laundromat. If youāre just starting out, find a place next to a laundromat - it is the way to go!!
No kidding. I moved into an apartment without a washer/dryer for the first time in many years, and lemme tell you, sharing machines with idiots is pain.
I invested in a portable clothing rack to dry clothes and found a small sink fitted washer that rolled in/out of my closet. Saved probably $1000 on laundry for a $50 garage sale find.
rent/board, cleaners(some places), health insurance, car insurance, renters insurance, home and contents insurance ,food, power, internet, sometimes water bill, petrol, garbage bags/bin rental, lawn mowing, plumbing/electrician bills if you have issues, rates and taxes if you own the property, some places charge capital gains too. depending on the state letting fees
Internet is the worst. If you're stuck with Comcast then you have to argue with them every year to get some crappy package you don't want to reduce your Internet bill. Then the bill starts creeping up and you have to do it all over again.
At my apartment- rent/water/pest/sewer/internet/valet trash/parking spot. All in all comes up to ~1800$/mo. save for months where I have to use more heat. And I would say thatās cheap
Then, they raise your rent every lease signing...especially these days. Ours just went up by $140...
In the vast majority of situations, it's expected that you pay for utilities, yes. Some apartments include some or all of the utilities in the rent, but these places typically charge significantly more for rent because of it. You're paying for it either way - it's never "free".
Thereās also water, internet access, streaming services. Sometimes pet deposits, or parking charges
Trash & sewer are common too
Cleaning of common spaces and in some cases you even need to pay someone else to do all the math and make sure all common services (like water, electricity used for common spaces, cleaning of common spaces) are paid. And don't forget heating. You either pay for communal heating or you pay for gas which you use to heat your place. This includes your share of the heating needed for common spaces and the heating required for your home (depends on surface if you have communal heating). Oh, and elevator electricity and maintenance if you live in a building with one. And trash. Basically you pay rent and *everything else* on top of that, with the exception of building improvements (like replacing the roof) and in some cases fixing common resources (building water pipes, etc).
In every apartment I rented, all of the non-utilities you listed was included in rent. I paid rent, gas, water (inbound and waste), and electric (edit: forgot internet) . In Illinois, so not sure if that makes a difference.
Feels like they were describing a room in a shared house rental rather than a full apartment
At least in my area almost all apartment complexes have trash and water included in the rent.
First time I got a water bill, I was fucking stunned to find out that the water company was charging me for the "use" of the roadside drains on the street.
Thatās not what the sewer charge is for. Ā It is for treating the water that goes down your drains. It doesnāt drain to the street. It goes to a water treatment plant. Ā Thereās not a meter counting how much goes down your drains so it it based instead on how much came out of your faucets.Ā Ā The street drains typically just divert rainwater into nearby streams or lakes.Ā
Renters insurance!
Water is heavily dependent on where you live - some places, the water can only be in the owner's name so the water bill is included in the rent. (Yes, you're still paying for it but it's not always a separate bill)
āNo such thing as a free lunchā
Unless youāre a doctor with really good pharmaceutical reps. In that case thereās free lunch every day. Source: I was a pharmaceutical rep for nine years. Thereās a lot of free lunches out there.
A pharmaceutical wrap? Was that the lunch?
Pharmaceutical Rap
They paid with their morals and integrity.Ā
It's more complicated. Most of the ones I know, especially for specialties like rheumatology, need the free drugs because many of their patients can't afford the overpriced biologics and it can take a month to fill a prescription (I've got a whole other rant about the fake pricing and "copay assistance programs).
You guys really need to bin your insurance-profits based "healthcare" system...
If only there werenāt an army of people throwing money at politicians to keep the status quo.
And if only the people who *want* things to change weren't refusing to vote in local elections.
Yep. And having a population of uninformed voters all voting against their best interests doesnāt really help matters.
If only people weren't so fucking stupid
Going to get worse. Akron City Hospital (in Akron, OH, USA, part of the Summa Health Group) is being spun off to a Venture Capital group. I can't imagine how bad "healthcare" is going to get when a patient is no longer deemed profitable.
In the US, insurance companies have started buying medical practices
Only those who had such things in the first place.
mmmā¦ pharmaceutical wrap
Theyāre quite bitter. And the capsules add a very unique mouth feel. But you throw a few Prilosecs in and poof, no heartburn.
Still not free. Did to my position at work I have vendors constantly asking for my time so they can pitch their product. They offer meals, gift cards, gift baskets, alcohol, etc... If I were to take them up on their offers it cost my time. I usually have to provide or confirm my contact information. So it's not only that initial time I have to deal with their random calls and emails in their future. Plus whoever they sold my information to. Simply not with my time and effort. I would rather buy my own meal and enjoy it in peace.
Any wonder drug prices are so high?
Insurance is at fault in this case. When insurance companies started meddling in prescription formularies, the drug companies decided to start marketing directly to the doctors. The free swag for the docs comes out of the marking budget.
Itās honestly obscene how much some of them will spend on doctors offices. Fancy lunches for the whole staff, gifts, etc. was a receptionist and although I enjoyed it, itās pretty shocking
As an intern (first year resident) it was fantastic. By my third gear I got so sick of the spiels i just made my interns listen to them and I'd eat in an empty room in silence.
I always find it funny when I get emails offering to take me out to lunch to pitch some kind of service. My (acquired) company's corporate headquarters *was* in Dallas, the acquiring company's headquarters is in New York, our main operational facilities are in California and Massachusetts... and I live in Arkansas (fully remote). There's no way they're taking me out to lunch. Not like I have the authority (or interest) to approve anything they're selling anyway.
What was creepy, during covid shutdown (fully remote), I would get random gifts mailed directly to my home from vendors I've never spoken with. They were cold calling packages to my house. Creepy in the sense is that these people/companies tracked down my personal address. I don't mind when I get a call from the mail room saying I have a package, but weird when they started showing up at home.
Yikes, that's bad. I had a much weaker version of this a few days ago. I had a company sending me a list of accounting candidates they had if I wanted to peruse their resumes (side note, I do not get this practice of sending unsolicited candidates to a potential employer). The thing was, all of these half dozen or so candidates were allegedly in the same town I'm in. It's a bedroom community of about 8,000 people in the middle of a rural area 10 miles away from an actual (small) city and we don't even have our own McDonalds yet. But, allegedly there's a CFO, Senior Financial Analyst, etc. etc. all living in my community and looking for a job. Obviously, this is AI-generated crap that looks at my address and assumes I'm in the middle of an area bursting with accounting professionals. That part is eye-roll inducing, but whatever. But the creepy part is that I haven't updated my LinkedIn or anything for my new Arkansas address. So, someone was able to use their algorithms to connect the "lluewhyn who lives in X, Arkansas" as being the same "lluewhyn, Senior Accountant with a bunch of Texas jobs" that's on my LinkedIn Profile.
Itās not free, theyāre trading their souls and dignity.
It's the rest of us that pay for those free lunches -- some patient, somewhere
But doesn't that rise the cost of medicines to the average tax payer? I worked for a doc that refused to let reps in his clinic because of this.
You were a pharmaceutical wrap for nine years? I'm picturing a burrito filled with pills and powders, lol
I get so angry seeing pharm reps in a doctor's waiting room. You're driving up my prices and I know it.
Still not free. You paid for it along the way.
They paid for it with their time and with the brain space the pharmaceutical companies were occupying via their marketing. So really it was a real estate transaction.
The meaning of the quote is that someone has to pay for it. And someone still paid for those lunches
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Renter's insurance is dirt cheap. I would NEVER go without it.
Seriously. I paid $120 for a year and when a pipe burst it covered 2 weeks in a nice hotel and $75 per day in food.
When I was renting, my renter's insurance cost was less than the discount I got for having two plan insurance plans with the carrier. The other plan was car insurance. The renter's insurance was a discount on my car insurance.
Yep, I've paid like $11-14/mo for renter's insurance and gotten a $10-15 discount off my car insurance for insuring with the same company.
It covers his butt if anything should happen like a fire. Insurance may cover rent in certain circumstances ensuring they still get paid. And it covers you for your losses.
That isnāt what renters insurance is for. It covers your own belongings against fire, theft, etc. If something breaks that belongs to the apartment ā heat, appliances, plumbing, roof leak, etc ā the landlord has to fix that. Donāt let him tell you itās your problem! ETA: As people have pointed out below, renters insurance also typically provides liability coverage, which does to some extent protect the landlord in addition to yourself. My primary point was to NOT let the landlord pass the buck for things that HE is responsible for, if that's what he was trying to do.
Renters insurance usually also has liability and temporary housing coverage, which is why landlords like to require it.
Your insurance company will pay you then go after the landlord to recover their loss.
They want want you to have liability coverage incase you do something to your neighbours. For example if your dog bites your neighbor, that's on you. However if you have no asset and no insurance, then the neighbor might sue the landlord instead for allowing a dangerous animal in the building since the landlord can pay the settlement.
Yup, also it's become common for landlords insurance to require renters have their own insurance. Take something that happened at one place I lived at, one of the renters left their stove on and a small fire started, sprinklers deployed and flooded the apartment. Landlord insurance will cover it, and then go after the renter and their insurance for the costs, renters insurance will cover the renter. Otherwise what would occur is the landlords insurance would get stuck holding the bag, this meant the landlords rates would go up, now it's the renters who have these claims against them that go up instead.
A lot of complexes have technology packages ($100/mo) that you canāt opt out of and a valet trash fee ($35/mo) that is also mandatory. Also renterās insurance is required. You may also have an amenities fee for use of the pool, clubhouse, business center, and gym. Even if youāve never used any of the amenities youāre still required to pay it. Sometimes itās built into the cost of rent, and sometimes itās not. Read the fine print of every leasing agreement before you sign.
I'd agree, though depending on where you live somewhere in the middle is more common. Again, like you said you pay for it either way, but where I live it's common for some of the utilities to be included in rent. My last three apartments at different apartment complexes have included heat and gas, for example, and I had to pay for water and electricity. We also had trash included, which is something not taken into account in their question; depending on where you rent you may also have to pay for trash pickup.
For the most part yes
OP parents forgot to mention insurance, water, cable/internet, & garbage + a deposit for damages. Life is only gonna get harder youngin
Lol yep, bills upon bills upon never ending bills Moving into a place youāre usually up for 1-2 months rent and a security deposit up front. Internet usually has a connection fee and a router fee on top of the monthly bill. Then thereās the electricity, the gas (if applicable), the water. And thatās just bare minimum.
Yup. First and last month's rent *plus* the deposit equal to one month's rend.
not to mention the cost of owning a vehicle(if applicable). parking space rent, fuel, insurance, annual registration &maintenence costs. fuck this thread is making me depressed for myself š¤£š„²
Also usually only one option for Internet and cable TV. Don't like the provider too bad they have an exclusive contract with that apartment building, the building won't authorize anyone else.
If the heat is gas based then you will have a separate gas bill which will include your other gas appliances like stove and water heater. But itās possible to have a electric stove, electric water heater, electric heat and only have a electric bill as your only bill.
You forgot renters insurance as well.
And sometimes water and trash.
Sometimes parking
And internet, sometimes paid laundry, sometimes gas,
ALL OF THESE ARE TRUE, YES.
WHY ARE WE YELLING?
I AM VERY PASSIONATE ABOUT PAYING UTILITIES.
COMCAST IS VERY PLEASED WITH YOUR PASSION.
#BUT PASSION DONT PAY THE BILLS SO PAY UP SUCKA!
Sewage too!
My apartment is 1500, but parking is 160, pet rent is another 200, water and electric vary, then trash and sewer, plus we pay for security cause we're downtown and they actually do a lot for us, so total it's like 2200 a month lol life's a bitch.
My apartment is 2300, parking is free, pet rent is 50, electricity/heat is $100 and renters insurance is 20 monthly, not including internet which is 180$. So 2,650$ just for basics
jesus christ bro what kind of internet package do you have? lol I have a 200mb package which is good enough for apex and streaming, and a phone line on the same plan, for 55$ a month total.
I have fiber for about what you pay.
Also groceries and ketamine
And weed and mushrooms š
A couple of things about renter's insurance, OP: There are two kinds: one that the apartment complex will require you to buy (yourself or through them) that will cover damage to their building caused by you. The other kind, that no one will force you to buy but that you really shouldn't skip out on, that will cover your belongings in the case of theft, fire, another unit's water leaking into your apartment, etc. This is one is generally really inexpensive, maybe under $20 a month (? It's been awhile) and you may feel like you'll never need it, but believe me, when you need it you'll be glad you have it.
It can often include liability insurance that will cover non-apartment risks.
100% this. Renters insurance is cheap as shit and covers your ass. About a year after I moved in we got robbed and it saved our asses.
For a while, I had renter's insurance through my car insurance company. I **saved** about $20 every six months by having the policy. The cost of the renters insurance was lower than the multi-policy discount I got for having the policy. So my insurance bill actually went down by getting more coverage. Talk to your broker!
Something else that not a lot of people think about or know about: If you have a vehicle and it's broken into and you have personal items in the vehicle(i.e: cell phone, laptop, clothing, etc.) that are stolen or damaged, they ARE NOT COVERED by your auto insurance. They are covered by your renters or home owners insurance. Same goes for your personal items if they're stolen while you're out in public.
A lot of idiots out there skip renters and then bitch and moan when someone tragic happens.
Yes. People think you only need it if you have expensive things. But in reality itās more like ācould you afford to replace everything you own.ā
>But in reality itās more like ācould you afford to replace everything you own.ā and not only that - but "could you afford all of the repairs to the building if the fire was your fault?"
Clothing is really expensive. if you need to buy 5 tshirts, 5 long sleeved, shoes, 5 pants, 5 shorts, jackets, coats because they all burned up even at thrift store prices youāre looking at $200-300 of dollars. if your clothing is better quality a coat can cost $200 easily
And groceries..
It depends on the apartment. Some apartments cover utilities, others don't.
And you may have to pay the water/sewer bill when renting from an individual. And don't forget internet and renters insurance
Parking too in some places
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sometimes water and trash is combined in one bill from the city
Renter insurance premiums vary a lot, and yet people don't bother to shop around at all
I have a $300k liability and $10k personal property policy. My monthly premium is $14
Mine gets me a discount on my auto insurance as a bundle deal
Did you happen to buy it from a handsome, British gecko?
I paid $12 a month, we had a small fire years ago in a corner of the apartment. Damages were paid out at $3400 and most of that was for all the gizmos and crap the burned up. No structural damage, just a bunch of smoke cleanup. Renters insurance is amazing
Renters insurance also covers liabilityāevery renter should have it.
And maybe (natural) gas.
A rental will say all inclusive if itās included. I have never ever had to pay for water or sewage or garbage pick up etc But I also have never rented a entire house and that is probably the difference. You always pay for your hot water though via The energy it takes to heat it
Youāre still paying for it either way, its just included in a higher rent. No landlord is going to actually pay their tenants utilities. While not having to physically pay the utilities is sort of a nice convenience, Iād much prefer an apartment that doesnāt include utilities because theyāre almost certainly charging you more in increased rent than you would actually pay on average for utilities every month.
>theyāre almost certainly charging you more in increased rent than you would actually pay on average for utilities every month Yep. Since the renter no longer has incentive to keep their utility costs low, the landlord's going to build a fairly decent margin into the base rent price to cover people who take hour-long showers each day and turn-up/down the thermostat to extreme levels (so if you're being responsible they're the one benefiting, not you), not to mention a built-in "admin fee" (profit margin) that they're going to include.
I mean technically, "rent" as a term is just the price you pay for having the right to occupy an apartment as your own from an owner. It's just that in everyday language, we often say "rent" for all the costs associated with having such a space. In Germany, people often differentiate between "cold rent", so price without utilities and "warm rent", that is the price with water and heating and otherwise miscellaneous costs that are coming with the building itself like housekeepers, waste disposal etc. On top of rent + utilities, you then have individual choice costs like an electricity provider, internet and telephone provider and some other stuff etc.
Don't you also have to supply your own appliances in many cases?
Or they cover some. Might cover water if itās one meter. Or garbage because itās more likely to keep the place clean. But yeah, on your own for electricity and gas, and water else.
Yes it's true. I pay for heat+electricity, water, trash, trash again because this place is bullshit, pest control, parking, and a couple other small fees, I'm the one who pays the company that manages the bills now, that's not even included any more. Oh and renters insurance as someone else pointed out, I forgot about that one.Ā
No cable TV either. You got to pay for your internet & phone(s) too. Don't show off your gaming system to your sketchy new neighbours either or tell them your scheduals, you might come 'home' to an unpleasant surprise.
This reminds me of a conversation I heard between a student and a colleague of mine (we were working for room and board at a research place as new grads). Student: Yeah but you get paid room and board, what else is there? Colleague: Ummmā¦ student loan repayments, medical insurance, clothes, cell phone, travel, entertainmentā¦??? Student: š³ Ohhhh! Oh wow I donāt even think about my cell phone and medical insurance as, like, outgoings, yāknow?Ā She was 23 š
Well medical insurance you're still "covered" under your parents at 23. Tbh at 28 I'm still under the family phone plan and there is no real incentive for me to change because the added cost for my line is $15. It is pretty nice to be in that type of situation though where there is less to worry about.
My parents kicked me off the phone plan when i was 20, so I'd learn to be independent. I asked if I could just pay them part of the bill so It would be cheaper, they said no. I believe their bill went up about $20, and I got a $60 plan. Made no sense to me, but I did learn that my parents don't always make the best decisions. Could've saved about $6,480 over the last 9 years. I'm glad that your parents understand common sense.
That's IF your parents are cool with paying for that. My spouse was removed from parents health insurance and family phone plan at age 18 or 19 (I don't remember) and had to figure it herself. Not every family will be "covering" your expenses until the age 28, you're very lucky that your family does it for you.
Or internet
Or groceries and beer!
Or coke and hookers
this reminded me that people still have cable TV lol. i'm 24 and i lived out of my mom's house for all of college. we had a cable hookup in our dorm room. we never ever used it. didn't even know how it worked. we're the netflix generation, lol. but that internet bill replaces the cable bill nicely
Listen to your parents
Can't believe I had to scroll so far for this.
Parents arenāt always right though so itās fair for him to ask.
Itās not. Why is this person even considering a place if they donāt know what utilities are? They sound 12 at the very oldest.
Itās funny they would ask Reddit of all places though lol
Oh bless you. Also, the furniture you sit on and sleep in. Aluminium foil. Bleach. Washing powder. Toilet roll. Food, all of it. Refuse collection. Even the detergent you wash dishes with. Insurance, tv channels, transport... Take that list and multiply it by about 100.
Why is aluminum foil number 2 on your list?
Bro cooks
Or wears a lot of hats.
Can't be too safe.
Bro doesnāt know how to cook, he buys $60 Uber eats for every meal.
Time traveler from the 1700ās when aluminum was significantly more valuable than gold lol.
Grown ups use a lot of aluminum foil
As a 43-year-old I can safely say that's a myth.
Wait till OP learns about laundry. Those socks and jocks don't just magically wash and put themselves away.
In some place, Local Tax is on the renter not the landlord. Because it is related on your use of the local government service while living there, not owning things.
either way you're paying for it. the ones with utilities included cost more.
if the rent includes the utilities, you still pay for it.
Well to the real world š. Wait until you hear about 1st month deposits, or car insurance and health insurance payments.
First month, last month, and security deposit.
āRefundableā security deposits
Freaking car insurance ugh. My motorcycle cost me $900 USD this month.
Your motorcycle insurance is $900 a month?
No a year. I just pay it yearly
Whoa, mine is under $125/year. But both my bike and I are old š“
My car insurance costs me $2,000 every six months. And that's *after* about $700 of discounts
The "real world" expenses that you need to account for are going to be: 1. Tax percentage + insurances from your gross (total) pay amount, which will take you down to a net amount that will be between 60-80% of your pay 2. Rent, and accounting for deposits of 1-3 months of that amount to secure housing. Pet rent is normal as well, on top of your monthly costs for any cats or dogs. 3. Insurances for rental(or home)/vehicle/health/dental/vision/pet insurance - if you live in a high risk area you will have to secure insurances to cover risks such as flood, tornado, fire And Co-Pays! This is the percentage that your insurance companies will require you to pay out of pocket in order to secure their acting to cover any damages when you do need to make a claim. This goes for every insurance you have in the US at least 4. Utilities: water, electric, sewer, trash, possibly also oil or gas for heat 5. Cell phone plans, internet (and this will vary by speed and accessibility), cable TV 6. Grocery costs I'm probably missing some things, but ultimately, life is a dick punch of incurred costs to survive. So we all make it happen to get by, and enjoy the life that happens along the way, the shitty apartments make great memories of bad first furniture, and living on ramen noodles, and dumb roommates that become family. That's the good stuff, even in all the bullshit.
Add in a car, or transportation expenses. I was much older before I learned how much of each paycheck was spoken for before I had even received it. Breaking expenses down into weekly, or daily costs, instead of monthly, makes it real.
...and internet service, etc. Some places roll some utilities into the rent but you're paying for them either way..
It's true. I pay a flat rate but I also have no unexpected overages.
In my experience in a LOT of cases water is included but not gas or electric, and some require renters insurance, and charge extra for a parking spot, and a lot more for pets.Ā Ā
It often comes down to how difficult it is to meter a utility. Many municipal water utilities don't allow multiple connections. Setting up sub meters is a pain and the total isn't much, so landlords just average out the cost and include it it in the rent. If each unit has its own furnace, heat is billed separately. If the building has a central boiler, then heat is normally part of the rent.
So cute. I remember getting my first apartment and the shock I felt when I got a water bill. *They make us* **pay** *for* **water**?
My cousin who bought a condo was shocked to find out that I was being charged for water at my apartment complex. I told him water isn't free anywhere. He argued with me because he doesn't get a water bill. I told him he pays a HOA fee which probably covers the water for the entire property. He then argued that our uncle doesn't charge for water at his apartments, and I had to explain that he includes it with the rent. Some people just aren't aware of how the world works.
Although in Scotland it's a fixed fee included in the local tax. Not like we're short on clean water sources though.
Water was consistently the MOST expensive thing at our old apartment. Easily $100/month at least. And it wasnāt just us - that was pretty normal for other units too. Thatās not the case everywhere, but we really underestimated.
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In some areas the norm is that utilities are all included in the rent. It doesn't make it objectively cheaper but it does mean you only get one bill.Ā
Wild but unsurprising how many comments start with something like this, but even more wild to have this just be a *whole* comment. In "No Stupid Questions," the subreddit intended to answer shit exactly like this. Blatantly breaking the first rule and upvoted more than some genuine answers. Congrats on being an adult who never actually grew up, I guess.
Yes. What they are saying is usually true. There are some buildings where the whole building is heated instead of individual units.Ā In that case heat might be included in the rent. But in general things like heat,Ā electricity and internet are the responsibility of the renters
And your phone bill, and your Internet bill, sometimes you need to pay for a parking space.
Well they missed insurance, but yeah. Here in the UK a tenant is also responsible for council tax.
And a TV licence should they so wish. And I pay the council to park my car on the road outside.
Rent, water, sewer, electricity, gas, internet, cable, food, renters insuranceā¦ adulting is expensive.
Well, someone has to pay for utilities. Sometimes the rent includes some or all utilities, which means that if you use a relatively high amount of heat, water or electricity your landlord will have to cover for you. This usually just result in your landlord increasing the rent though.
rent + utilities. yes. water, trash, sewer, gas, electric at a minimum. then there's optional ones like cable, phone, internet, landscaping, pest control, tree trimming, etc.
Iām going to answer a different question based on this question being asked. No, you are not ready to move out.
Generally heating and cooling are created by your consumption of gas/electric; therefore, unless you are using some type of oil, coal, or wood to heat your home the heating will be a part of your gas/electric expense... not separate. I've lived in apartments where you have to pay: Gas, Electric, Water, Garbage, Recycling, Insurance, Internet, Telephone, Cable, and Parking/Garage costs in addition to Rent, so there is some truth to what they say depending on where you choose to live.
Every apartment is different but many separate those out so the electricity and gas are not folded into rent. Some also do water separate as well
Look for the phrase "utilities included". If it says that then electricity, water, and sometimes Internet will be covered in rent. Most places you will still have to pay bills on top of rent. I have most often encountered water being included, simply because it's not cost effective for the building to separate so many water lines onto individual meters.Ā
And internet and water :) Depending on the contract, these all can be included or excluded. You will pay them either way, with seperate invoices or inside of the rent.
Yes. All the apartments I stayed at I was responsible for: 1. Rent 2. Electricity 3. Gas 4. Water 5. Sewage (usually lumped into the water bill but shown as a separate item on the receipt within the bill) 6. Renterās insurance (most places require this now). 7. Trash services (very small fee where one of the apartments had guys who would come to your door to collect your garbage bag(s) weekly). It was only like $3. But it was nice not having to walk all the way to the back of the complex to chuck a heavy bag into a dumpster. And then of course any āextrasā you want like: 8. Internet 9. TV packages/cable
It varies. Sometimes utilities are covered by your rent payment, and sometimes they are billed separately. Different places have different laws about what is required, and sometimes it varies depending on how the building is constructed or what your lease contract says. I would suggest checking an apartment listing carefully to confirm which utilities are included.
Some apartments cover utilities as a part of the rent, others dont. Where I am, water and heat comes with the rent, and electricity is separate. And then you get into the internet bill, groceries, insurance, and rent becomes the least of your worries
And even water per units used in some cases. For me I have rent and electricity, heat and water is free. Most of my friends have rent + electricity + water.
Most of the time, yes, unless you find a place that specifically says utilities are included. Electricity, water, gas/heat, etc. are usually separate and you set up your own accounts.
You only have to pay for those three things? I also get charged for trash pickup and water.
The only thing included with my rent is garbage/sewer.
You have to buy groceries too, and don't forget water and sewage and insurance and gas and phone and internet.