Let us just say that the average rent in central/northern NJ is about $900. I can't say I am "raking in the dough" so my only option would be to rent a room or a studio the size of a small refrigerator box.

To scour Craigslist is a tricky situation.
You have to filter out the garbage and make
sure there are no double posts with different
rent amounts, scams, or men looking
for dates. (Yes this happened once.)

Photos are a bonus if you are lucky.
You can probably forget about pets.
If you happen to find one out
of ten places and they email you back,
your percentage of actually seeing it with
your own eyes is 1 in 10.

To visually see the apartment is an event
not to be missed. Bring along a friend or
relative so later while eating dinner you
can laugh about the drunken landlord,
or reminisce about the broken down
shack where the landlord doesn't
even attempt to show up.

Good times to be had by all.

So with all that info and getting some small
knowledge at rentlaw.com perhaps one
day I will find my shack of creativity.

Until then...back to searching and
hoping for a rent elf to appear.