Everyone knows that living in NYC can be waaaaaay expensive. So, often, Manhattanites learn to live in smaller and smaller dwellings in the most efficient way they can.
Check out this apartment in the West Village which measure a mere 90 square feet.
“I really like getting rid of things,” says Mary Helen Rowell, as she stands in the middle of her minimally furnished West Village apartment. “It’s my favorite thing.” Considering that Rowell’s apartment measures all of 90 square feet, purging is more of a necessity than a hobby, but enjoying the process makes it easier to keep the tiny space neat. “If there are three things on the floor, it’s a disaster.”
Rowell found the place two years ago through a friend, who saw the listing on NYU’s student listserv. “Everyone was laughing at the tiny box that was for rent,” says Rowell. Even when she visited, the landlord seemed embarrassed to show it. But the rent was just $750 a month (now a whopping $775), and she took it on the spot.
The room is about 78 inches wide, which is smaller than a standard bed frame.
“You have to keep it in check,” says Rowell. “It always has to be neat.” There’s a delicate balance with what can fit in the apartment. “My boyfriend tried to give me a book last week, and I said, ‘No, there is no place for this.'”
