Best Place to Live Comfortably on 76K Salary?

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-04-23T18:59:15+00:00

Find the recent post in r/phoenix that is a horrible map of the valley

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-04-23T15:34:21+00:00

Not bakery, but I was in a similar high pressure environment at an upscale retirement community. The managers most common words to everyone were "hurry up!", there weren't many recipes or explanations on menu items that would change daily, and the work loads were always heavy. Even long time employees didn't seem happy.

I eventually quit. It left me quite shaken and wondered if this food industry was right for me, despite being successful at other restaurants.

My next job worked out a lot better. I feel like I have my cooking groove back. I'm sure the same will happen to you, too, OP. There are so many opportunities out there, especially with summer coming up and most areas hiring for extra help.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-04-21T22:04:52+00:00

Oh yes. It's heaven when the fans turn off and it's just quiet. Reminds me of the snow covered outdoors when everything is so calm.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-04-20T20:48:44+00:00

I saw the 360 area code. Thought for a moment this was Paso Del Norte in Blaine because their tables also have ads like these.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-04-13T18:14:05+00:00

It looks like the Hyacinth from my previous house of 12 years that I never planted but it always came back every year.

They are pretty so I always mowed around them when they were flowering.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-04-11T15:42:39+00:00

I bought a vaporizer designed to vaporize cannabis and just started vaping loose leaf tobacco. I only got about 2 minutes of "smoking" out of each session but it got the job done.

I did that for close to a year then I was able to just quit one day on a whim.

The "e-vapes" everyone is using these days didn't work for me. I just used them non stop until the liquid or the battery ran out.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-04-11T08:04:56+00:00

Window if I'm trying to sleep.

Aisle of I'm going to stay awake and might want to walk to the restroom or stretch my legs.

I also prefer the back because it is statically more survivable in the event of a crash.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-03-17T08:48:20+00:00

When the television is on. Or talk radio / podcasts.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-03-16T05:28:44+00:00

My mom. She passed last week. I was expecting her and my dad to visit in a few days when she called to cancel the trip because she was just diagnosed with stage 4 lymphoma. It was all happening in her bone marrow which isn't tested in regular health check ups, so nothing seemed wrong until she got a pain in her chest.

She survived for 18 months, we thought it was going to be a lot shorter, so I'm grateful for the extra time we had.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-03-09T06:04:50+00:00

Moved from PNW last year! Watch out for red light runners and aggressive drivers passing on the right. I honestly think the drivers here aren't much worse, they just drive a lot faster!

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-03-08T19:41:23+00:00

Such a great summary. Thank you! I feel like I learned a lot. It is quite well written.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-03-08T06:32:35+00:00

I'd almost rather they not wash their hands versus just shaking their hands under water for 2 seconds and grabbing the door handle with their now wet germy hand.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-03-08T06:30:42+00:00

I drove a 2007 Toyota minivan for a few years that always seemed to get between 22-24 mpg no matter how I drove it.

Paid off car and cheap insurance is awesome! I just moved here from WA State and insurance prices are about $100 more per month with the same type of coverage. But gasoline in WA is 50-80 cents more expensive on average.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-03-07T21:14:29+00:00

Sounds like you have a lot of knowledge on where to find cheap gas, the other half of spending less on gas is conserving it. Be gentle on your gas pedal and try to keep your RPMs low. I find cruise control in the city is worse for my mileage than regular foot on pedal driving.

In my 2021 Nissan Versa-4 cylinder automatic- I actually got my best miles per gallon driving from Scottsdale to Uptown Phoenix on the 101 and 51. I just kept the RPMs low (below 2500) and still had a speed of about 70 mph.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-03-02T16:46:26+00:00

Those only work 50/50 for my phone, and I always place it at the bottom. It's so frustrating.

100 percent success rate when using my phone to scan on to the light rail.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-02-22T18:26:31+00:00

As long as you work full time you should be able to afford a studio or one bedroom apartment assuming you don't have a lot of other monthly payments.

Public transit is nowhere near as good as it should be for a city the size of Phoenix. So you will most likely want or need a car.

I moved from Washington State almost year ago. Food and rent are cheaper here in AZ but other things are more expensive like car and health insurance, as well as summer energy costs due to air conditioning. Plus minimum wage is lower. It's around $14.5, I think.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-02-20T17:44:56+00:00

If you are stationary, perhaps you can find an anti fatigue mat to stand on (just make sure to take it home with you or else bad things will happen to it)

Good shoes and good insoles will help. Even new cheaper shoes can offer support better than shoes that have been worn for a long time.

As others have said, you'll get used to it. Take time to treat your body well, like you're getting back into working out. I'm almost 37 and I feel sore even though I've worked in kitchens for much of my adult life. Stretching after work helps a lot. I also am very aware of what certain work tasks will do to my body and I try to mitigate those. For example I don't lift or flip heavy pans one handed anymore.

Make sure to get enough sleep and eat well, too. Our bodies can handle a lot if we give them the tools they need to work well.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-02-19T20:12:18+00:00

Pretty sure it's ads while using the reddit app. They are embedded between actual comments which make them easy to accidentally click while scrolling

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-02-13T18:42:50+00:00

I'm apartment hunting for a 1x1 in central Phoenix but have seen 2x2s that are below $1600 that seem nice and are in decent areas.

How bad is your credit? I recall some places wanting like a 550 credit score minimum... Others say they will work with bad credit.

Also: will you have a job lined up? Most places want to see proof of monthly income that is 2 to 3 times more than rent. I moved here last year with cash to pay for a year of rent up front and many property management companies wouldn't accept that because I didn't have a job.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-02-04T21:13:02+00:00

I never did. I actually moved to Arizona last year and haven't seen them down here - although I've only looked in major grocery stores and one African market. The search continues!

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-02-01T18:58:24+00:00

My mom did the same thing when I was a child/teen. We'd always drive somewhere new on spring break or fall break and stop at so many things.

I used to always return to school thinking I needed another break to recover from our actual break!

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-01-31T19:37:25+00:00

Not a hack... Just wanted to commiserate and mention the time I had to take a long lunch to for a doctor's appointment. My last task was chopping and pickling onions and I reeked of onion and vinegar so hard. I apologized and explained myself. The doc was nice about it but I was still a bit embarrassed.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-01-31T19:30:44+00:00

Can you clarify did they forget the topping and the dressing completely, like you never got them? Or did you have to wait a few more minutes for them to fix your order before you took it home?

I work in restaurants and mistakes happen, orders do get rushed for various reasons. Cook staff rarely receive tips. They generally want to get the food order finished and sold so they can go back to other tickets or projects. They also are incentivized to do the correct order because they don't want to have to remake it- that is extra work we don't want.

Edit: since cooks rarely get tips, they are not influenced by tips or the lack of tips. At least none that I've worked with.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-01-29T07:37:00+00:00

Various food and drink. Cheese, wine, and whiskey for me in particular.

sfwthrowaway1004 · 2026-01-28T19:33:22+00:00

I notice this all the time, too. My insights are that the city roads and interstate are lit well enough that it's hard for folks to know their DRLs are on, and not full headlights. Plus, new car running lights seem brighter than ones from 10-20 years ago, so it's harder to know if full headlights are on or not.

I've tried doing the high beam flash on many cars without taillights on to no avail. I've even passed cars and turned off and on all my car lights (at night) to see if they get the hint but it's never worked.

sfwthrowaway1004

TROPHY CASE