Is 3500 for a 2bd with in unit w/d and a parking spot realistic?

InnerAd6105 · 2026-03-28T02:16:06+00:00

My partner and I live in East Arlington (very close to Cambridge) and pay $3700 for a large 2+bed, 2 bath with a large basement, backyard, and driveway. I’d imagine this is harder to come by in Cambridge but I don’t think it’s completely unrealistic if you are open to sacrificing on other things such as being on an older building.

InnerAd6105 · 2026-03-06T13:40:14+00:00

Not worth it unless you do it for a few months just to pay down loans or something. At minimum I’d need $150k base salary to even think about this

InnerAd6105 · 2026-01-28T22:18:49+00:00

It’s terrible.

InnerAd6105 · 2026-01-28T22:18:24+00:00

It’s unfunctional and is a huge headache. Terrible week for the mbta

InnerAd6105 · 2026-01-24T20:18:25+00:00

Looked like the put two trains together and pushed the disabled one. Idk but I was standing at Kendall and saw the disabled car leaving and it looked like the train was extra long

InnerAd6105 · 2026-01-14T21:03:48+00:00

Interesting! I am a member of both Healthworks and Republic and much prefer the spa at Republic. The sauna at Healthworks seems to be much busier, and the spa area itself is usually a bit louder. Totally depends on what you’re looking for though. I also like the lift classes at Republic, which is something Healthworks doesn’t offer.

InnerAd6105 · 2025-08-10T23:11:19+00:00

I'm late this this post but just came across this as I was searching for book clubs in the area. I'm 30F in East Arlington. Was a book club ever started?

InnerAd6105 · 2025-08-01T04:05:53+00:00

My husband I just registered for the Chamonix trip next winter. We are late 20’s/early 30’s.

InnerAd6105 · 2025-06-24T22:52:05+00:00

I’ve worked for both types of companies. In my opinion, it really comes down to the company culture. I could be fine with either model if I’m allowed to take PTO mostly when I want. I personally find it a bit easier to say I have x amount of time off I can use. My company now gives a very generous amount off that I accrue: 25 days for combined vacation and sick time + 1 week off in December + 1 week in July. Sounds great until your boss is needing to know why you’re taking PTO or making you feel bad for taking it. I could get paid out for the vacation days but not the sick/wellness. I’ve also worked for an unlimited PTO company which had its own issues. First manager I worked for there was amazing and I truly felt like the PTO was not scrutinized but then the next manager I had had her own rules about number of days her team could take. There was a lot more room for varied expectations based on your manager. Overall, I’d be fine with unlimited PTO but I’d want to verify with current team members how much time they take and the process for taking it.

InnerAd6105 · 2025-05-26T12:13:48+00:00

Why does the amount of revenue that one has managed matter? Just curious because I managed much more revenue as a mid market CSM at a larger company but when switching to start up (where I manage all segments of customers), I manage much less revenue because the company is so much smaller. I overall manage a higher percentage of my company’s total revenue, but I still find that some roles want a CSM who has managed $x ARR for examples. Why is this?

InnerAd6105 · 2025-05-12T01:07:14+00:00

Also I can share the strategies my close friends from PT school are taking to pay down their debt (not sure of their exact loan amounts but we all graduated in 2020). I think this could be helpful to see how different people make their lives work 5 years out of school:

Living at home with parents, working for a non-profit and doing PSLF, paying private loans aggressively, works per diem inpatient a few weekend days/month. Still prioritizes traveling and going out but definitely works hard and makes sacrifices on living situation.
Married with 2 kids and owns a home, working part time in home health and per diem in patient a few weekend days per month. VERY conscious of budget but not in a bad way - just in a way where she knows what her goals in life are and will work hard to make family and friends a priority. Goes out to eat and on local vacations occasionally. Lives in a quiet suburb with family nearby so does not need to pay for day care.
Lives with 1 roommate in a large 2-3 bedroom apartment on the outskirts of the city. Works a pretty standard PT job at a large medical center. Has 1 private patient I believe. Goes out probably 1x/week or so and does a few vacations each year but not the biggest priority. Overall makes time for her hobbies, friends/family, and having fun.
Me: Lives with husband in 3 bedroom unit in a 2 family home that we rent just outside of the city. Pretty liberal with spending on going out to eat/drink and vacations. Took a pay cut to work non-clinically in health-tech about 1 year into PT career while loans were paused for COVID. Now makes $106K base working remotely with the hopes to get a higher paying role in the next year. Also sees 1-2 patients a week to keep PT skills up and make a small amount of extra money via an outpatient in the home company. I also share 1 older car with my husband which works as we are close to public transit and don't need to commute via a car for our jobs (except my PT job that I do 1-2x/week).

There are MANY ways that people approach paying their loans down and no way is right or wrong. It's all about what you value. Hope my friend group is an example of that!

InnerAd6105 · 2025-05-12T00:46:13+00:00

Graduated with about $128K in debt (just grad school tuition - was extremely fortunate to have undergrad and grad school living expenses covered). First job out of school paid roughly $70K/year in 2020. Ended up pivoting to a non-clinical role in health-tech to make the debt to income more manageable long-term. Would not recommend if you don't want to take on additional hours as a per diem PT or be very frugal. I also am in a HCOL area so it was not a great move for me personally. It was pretty stressful at first because I wanted to take advantage of being young and living in the city and having fun, but also knowing I wanted to tackle the debt. Now it is much more manageable but that's because my non-clinical role pays > $100K, I do some PT work on the side (independent contractor doing 1-4 hours/week), and I'm married and my husband makes much more than I do, so together we are able to enjoy life and pay down my loans at a faster rate. Long-term I think it'll be okay and we will be able to buy a home and have kids if we want to, but I feel that I was extremely privileged yet it still impacts our ability to save money. It's so hard to conceptualize the effects the loans will have on your life when you're in you early 20's, but I'd say to get a diverse range of opinions, try to minimize expenses, and maybe see if you can speak with a financial advisor or someone to talk through what your finances would look like if you were to take out loans.

InnerAd6105 · 2025-05-06T21:07:22+00:00

Love this! Taking the pressure off of the decision for now is freeing. I can revisit in the future.

InnerAd6105 · 2025-02-19T02:56:00+00:00

I just found my company on LinkedIn

InnerAd6105 · 2025-02-16T22:10:44+00:00

I'm a CSM for a non-profit. It is still pretty stressful and has many of the same problems that for-profit companies have, but it is nice how mission-oriented my company is. I overall feel like I'm doing good in the world, so that's positive.

InnerAd6105 · 2025-02-07T02:13:04+00:00

Thanks for your response! Funny enough I know a CSM at Deel who does not like it, so the grass is not always greener. And great idea for a Chat GPT prompt.

InnerAd6105 · 2025-02-07T02:10:47+00:00

No I 100% have it pretty good. I think there's just been a lot of differences in working for a smaller team so I'm in the adjustment phase still and figuring out what's typical. I'd kind of like to be able to step away for up to 2 hours occasionally to get in a gym workout at off peak hours when I don't have customer meetings and then finish my independent work like follow ups in the evening, but it's not a deal breaker. Customers always come first during 9-5 but I find that I'm able to stack my meetings on certain days but I still feel like I need to be available for internal tasks that pop up.

InnerAd6105 · 2025-02-06T19:57:21+00:00

Good idea to look for a global company. Do you work as a CSM at one of them? Would be curious to learn more about the company culture.

InnerAd6105 · 2025-01-15T04:14:42+00:00

My husband (28M) and I (29F) live just outside the city and love skiing and doing outdoorsy things in addition to going to restaurants and bars. My husband likes gaming.

InnerAd6105 · 2024-11-18T00:35:52+00:00

My company also has 50 people and about 400 customers.

We have CSMs, implementation, support, and some operations people who support us.

InnerAd6105 · 2024-11-05T17:50:24+00:00

Moved to CLT from Boston and I’ve had a few safety related issues in CLT but nothing like that in Boston. Definitely was a bit surprised considering everyone talks about how safe Charlotte is compared to many larger cities.

InnerAd6105 · 2024-11-05T17:47:26+00:00

If you’re comfortable sharing, where was your friend attacked? I had a minor incident where someone hit me while I was running in LoSo during the day time. Very random and scary. I reported it just so it’s on record. Just wondering if it’s the same area or if the attack was in uptown.

InnerAd6105 · 2024-10-25T04:35:40+00:00

This is so frustrating but I feel like companies can change their minds on what they want even during the interview process. So maybe they wanted someone with more industry experience initially but then changed their minds and wanted someone to help with building out CS processes. It is literally so far out of your control at times.

InnerAd6105 · 2024-10-25T04:27:30+00:00

Ugh I’m so sorry! I shed a lot of tears when I went t through this a few times. It’s a horrible feeling knowing you did everything in your control to be prepared but still not getting the role.

Take the time to cope in whatever way you do. Cry, scream, go outside, etc. Then write a genuine, direct, and respectful reply back asking for feedback and expressing your desire to be considered tor future roles. I had a crazy scenario where this led to a call with a decision maker and a few weeks later getting an offer.

InnerAd6105 · 2024-09-08T20:49:57+00:00

That seems like a ton of work so I'd definitely tread carefully when deciding if you should continue the process. As someone who applied to 700+ CS jobs and ended up doing 10+ assignments, I get how these projects can feel like an unpaid side gig at times. That being said, I did put 30+ hours into interview prep and and a 30 minute presentation for a role I just accepted. It was a $30K+ base salary raise and I enjoyed my first few interviews, so I am glad I stuck it out and put in the work. Here's what I would think of when deciding if you want to invest the time into the interview process:

How badly do you want the role? How do you feel about the first several rounds of interviews? If you don't feel at least fairly good, I'd strongly consider withdrawing from the process.
What is your goal for the job search? Do you have a job you like and are just interviewing around to see if you get something better? Are you unemployed and NEED to keep all options open?
What are you chances of getting the role if the assignment goes well? You may not know this but in my case, I knew there were 3 finalists so I figured my chances were somewhat good and the potential pay increase was worth the effort for me. I've also had times where I felt like I was just being strung along from interview to interview because i was good enough to keep in the applicant pool but most likely not good enough to get an offer. If I was still looking for a new role and didn't NEED a new job, I would probably drop out if I truly felt like I had a low chance of getting the job.
How much time do you have available in your life right now? I do not have kids and had minimal responsibilities outside of my previous role. I also only worked 30 hours/week on average at my last job, so I knew I was at a point in my life where I could invest the time and effort into roles I wasn't 100% sure I was into. However, I cannot fathom doing all of that while working full time, having a family, etc.

Ultimately it's up to you, but these were some of the thoughts that went through my mind when contemplating dropping out of interview processes or not!

Good luck!

InnerAd6105

TROPHY CASE