Urban hacks
Some ways to save money in a high-cost city
Traditional money-saving advice may not cut it if you live in one of America’s most expensive cities or urban areas.
There is a silver lining, though: High-cost cities can come with unique opportunities to save, such as housing lotteries, discounted tickets to cultural institutions for residents, and specialty grocery stores and farmers markets.
1 Streamline your grocery
routine It can be more convenient to shop for groceries weekly at a traditional grocery store, but if you’re looking to cut costs in an expensive city, it may be worth the extra effort to shop wholesale and supplement with smaller, budget-friendly trips to the local grocery store.
“Shopping at Costco has made it really stark how much of a markup I accepted on groceries,” says Kyle Henson, a regional sales manager in New York.
It’s easier to shop wholesale if you have a car, but if you don’t have a car Henson suggests taking public transit one way and a rideshare service or taxi on the way back, or even using Costco’s discounted rental car service to make the trip.
2 Take advantage of local discounts Living in a 2 big city may come with higher rent and food costs, but it can also come with access to great cultural institutions. Museums, movies and shows can be pricey, but city residents can sometimes secure free or discounted tickets.
In many cities, popular museums offer free entry for residents on certain days of the week, and some even have monthly free days for all visitors. For institutions that don’t advertise free admission, programs such as Culture Pass in New York and Discover & Go in Los Angeles give library card holders access to free and discounted tickets to museums and cultural centers.
3 Play the housing lottery
Rent is typically the biggest expense for residents of cities with a high cost of living. However, there are affordablehousing lottery programs in many major cities, which can ease the financial burden.
“It’s surprisingly easy,” says Thomas Van de Pas, a bartender in New York who has won the city’s housing lottery three times. Housing lotteries typically incentivize developers with higher building size limits, tax breaks or lower-cost loans in exchange for reserving a portion of new housing developments for the lottery. Rentstabilized units are available for applicants in specific income brackets.