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help, california :)

R

ROGI

Apr 25, 2005
770
304
Croatia, Europe
#1
hi, first of all thnx for even looking here.
I have few questions about living in L.A.. since i'll be going there in May to work (student exchange) , i would be glad if someone could help me about these few questions.

1. I'm interested in average rent price of apartments (for me and my GF, nothing fancy, anything with bed, bathroom & kitchen would be OK)

2. the mimum wage? is it around 5.5$ a hour? and average wages for low grade jobs (students jobs as we say here, like pizza delivery, work in fast food restaurant, etc etc)?

3. i've been dinging around internet to see what are the usual prices for foodstuffs in L.A. but could not find any supermarkets/or similar that had at least some prices posted online. but from what i've seen looking at non-food-products everything in US is cheaper than Europe, so i hope food is also.

so hope someone can help me with average prices of these few things :

- 1 gallon of milk (non fat)
- 1 pound bread (average type, not cheapest, not most expensive )
- price of McDonald's hamburger (no, i won't be eating only those but these are often used as index for standard in countries around the world; how many McD's hamburgers can you buy with average pay)
- Coca-Cola 2L (liters)
- 2 pounds of chicken meat , (chicken filleer)
- 2 pounds of beef
- Cooking oil 1L (liter)

it's a lot of stuff, but i need it to get at least approximate picture of some expenses. , since eating habits are different, i had problems finding some foodstuffs on wallmart's page that are common here in Europe, because of that i'm trying to compare food that is widely consumed both in Europe and US, to get a better comparison. (i left out vegetables since it would be too big list). also, I've noticed habits of preparing food are different (as what I've heard and from looking at supermarkets web pages). there is lots of almost finished food, whereas here it's more oriented on raw foodstuffs that is cooked and prepared home. that also comes as a factor, since then i believe that as processed food is cheaper than raw in US, while here is other way around. or is it? :D

yes, yes, I do complicate :ninja:

help guys, i'm planing on cutting my costs so i can get me a USA MTD635 ;)

thnx for reading, thnx for answering. :D
 
#2
well in CA the minum wage I believe it still 8.00 or 8.50. for the costs of an appartment check out craigslist.org and go the on the one for LA and look and see what you can get for X-amount of dollars. for the food stuffs, a loaf of bread is around 2.50-3.00 for your middle of the road type of bread, a galllon of milk is around 4 bucks and that changes regularly depending on the market, a Mickyds hamburger is like .89cents or you can get the double cheeseburger for a dollar not the greatest but you get what you pay for. As for the coke if you get in on sale it can be pretty cheap or you can buy the store brand which is always cheaper. As for the meat, we usually buy in bulk and freeze it so I cant really help you there. And yes most Americans are lazy and dont want to have to fully prepare their entire meal.
 
#4
It really depends where you're going to be. LA can be expensive, but the outerlaying areas can be much more reasonable. I live about 35 minutes outside of downtown LA depending on traffic (which means I could live about 1.5 hours away :p). If you want to live by the coast head a little further south toward Long Beach area. If you want to live West Side then the farther you get away from the coast the more reasonable rent becomes. Still anywhere in the immediate area of LA is considerably more expensive than areas like most of North Orange County. Do you know where you are going to be specifically?
 
#5
Okay, here is what I found;

1 gallon of milk averaged $5.39 for the good stuff and $3.19 or 2/$5.20 for the cheaper, store brand.

1 loaf of bread was anywhere from $2.99-$3.99 or 2/$5.00, per loaf.

1 McDonald's hamburger cost $.89

One 2 liter of Coca-Cola cost $1.99 or 3/$5.00

2lbs of Chicken was roughly $10, 4.6 lbs of breast was $18.43

2lbs of Beef averaged $5.00 - $7.00

also, a Dozen eggs was $2.79 for the good stuff and $1.99 for the store brand.

Also, a gallon of gasoline/petrol is anywhere from $2.49 to $3.15 in the LA area.

Hope this helps
 
#6
I did a search of Croatian Los Angeles on Goggle and came up with a set of geographically disparate (far away) places. Seems like there is a small community in zip code 90012, very near an Armenian community in the eastern part of Hollywood. Generally if you can find a couple of local stores for your ethnic group in LA (and there are many groups here), then they can help find housing, and familiar foods. Hollywood, particularly East Hollywood is not the safest part of the city to live in.

Are you planning on going to school or just working? As Maki pointed out traveling is by car pretty much everywhere and there is very little public transportation. So living close to where you work/go to school is a good idea. That being said, prices for rent tremendously.

North Hollywood, in the San Fernando Valley is not a bad choice. It is at the terminus of one of the four tube lines in LA, has a very active art/music community, is very eclectic (a collection of odd things), and is relatively cheap for housing. It is also just off major north/south and east/west freeways (major highways) so its accessible.

Today the skies are gray with fires burning to the north and there are power outages all over this huge city because major power lines into the city have been turned off. It is a typical day in LA-LA land: 82 degrees Fahrenheit 29 Celsius; dry air 10% humidity like the desert; I could see Catalina Island 26 miles off the coast, 42 km from Mulholland Drive about 10 miles inland in a blue Pacific Ocean as I drove into work; and there is a state of emergency from the fires. It hasn't rained here more than a few mm's in months. It is a wonderfully strange place with great beauty on the edge of disaster.
 
#7
thnx! really appreciate it !

seems that all is cheaper in US. i'll be only working. agency fixes papers and visa, and gives me access to their database where i'll be looking for jobs (sending employers e-mails, etc). i've seen on news that there are some mean fires over in California :hmm: , i'll keep my fingers crossed for you guys , hope that fires go off soon.
 
#8
Lucky Strike said:
1 gallon of milk averaged $5.39 for the good stuff and $3.19 or 2/$5.20 for the cheaper, store brand.
Click to expand...

:eyebrow: Is there actually a difference in the two types of milk? Isn't milk just milk? Unless it is organic or non-GM or something (although in my opinion, organic milk doesn't taste any different to ordinary milk).
 
#10
Minimum wage is around $8 I believe, might go up. People have already pointed out basic cost of food and such but I will recommend look for ethnic markets and smaller mom and pop markets. A lot of the time some will have better meat at a lower price.

Also I think the idea with the more expensive milk has to do with their diet, could affect taste. Not really sure in how the taste is, I've always had the same brand of milk.

Note I also am in the Northern Part of California and haven't lived in the south in a few years. What I remember was you needed a car, traffic was horrid, and public transport was bad. It's bad up here, but down there it's just bad. LA in genera can get pretty dangerous so do try and look for an ethnic community. It'll help you feel at home and such.
 
#11
Hey Rogi..... many of those food stuff items can be had more cheaply at the several deep-discount chains such at the ".99" stores... as much as 1/3 to 1/2 cheaper than Stator Brothers, Ralphs and other retail grocery stores in Socal. Also.. there are still fast food places that continue to sell fairly large burgers for .99 as well. You have to always have your RADAR on for deals because they are literally everywhere here.
 
#17
Happynoj said:
Is there actually a difference in the two types of milk? Isn't milk just milk? Unless it is organic or non-GM or something (although in my opinion, organic milk doesn't taste any different to ordinary milk).
Click to expand...

Yeah, if you let girls drink the cheap stuff around here, they'll be wearing bra's by the time they're eight years old. It's bad stuff man, bad stuff.

-Mike
 
#20
Lucky Strike said:
2lbs of Chicken was roughly $10, 4.6 lbs of breast was $18.43
Click to expand...

I think you might've been looking at the wrong chicken, because you're paying more than for beef. Last I checked chicken is anywhere from $0.59/lb. to ~$2/lb. Chicken for $5/lb. is organic/freerange, which is probably not what someone on a tight budget is going to buy.

And RE: prepared foods: they will always be more expensive than whole ingredients, but if you factor in labor, they may be cheaper. Right now for example you can get two triple cheeseburgers at McDonald's for $3. Or you could get a pound of beef and make even more yourself, but you have to spend time/effort doing it. Microwave dinners are like that as well. You will spend $3 to $5 or thereabouts on food that's worth $1 or $2, but you might save an hour cooking. It's definitely worth it for some people. If you want really good prepared food, there are a lot of restaurants that cater to the takeout market for anywhere from $5/lb. to $12/lb. Not a very cost-effective solution, but many Americans are so hopeless in the kitchen that they will eat mostly prepared foods.
 

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