Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 84 posts

Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

#41

Post by jlees »

mannicken wrote: post #25
gojomo wrote: post #19

I live in SF, it's a great city, and if "living in SF/bay-area" is your dream, go for it. But that's not quite the same dream as "reach ramen profitability on my web project". In fact, the two dreams may conflict. Moving to and learning a new area takes a bunch of time and money, and the bay area (especially SF proper) is expensive -- compared to Seattle or living with family. For a young techie, the biggest benefit…

http://www.paulgraham.com/startuphubs.html This, and "I-really-want-to-try-to-live-Cali-and-get-out-of-my-parents'-bedroom" reason. I think this is enough to spend $3000. Basically, I'm making myself a little YC experience :)

See if you can hook up with a YC team and sublet a room with them or something, keeps costs low and keeps you surrounded by the right sort of people.

Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

#42

Post by [deleted] »

dangrover wrote: post #32
TomOfTTB wrote: post #21

I’d do it if I were you. I won’t lie. In my opinion the chances of success are slim to none. But this is the best time of your life to take a chance. The more adult you get the less able you are to take huge chances. So as long as you hang on to enough money to get yourself home should things go bad I don’t see a down side (where as if you don't you could end up regretting it for the rest of your life) That said, two…

I highly recommend the Hostelling International hostel at 312 Mason St. It's like $25/night, super-clean, and they feed you breakfast, too! I've stayed there a few times while going to WWDC.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

#43

Post by timr »

dangrover wrote: post #32
TomOfTTB wrote: post #21

I’d do it if I were you. I won’t lie. In my opinion the chances of success are slim to none. But this is the best time of your life to take a chance. The more adult you get the less able you are to take huge chances. So as long as you hang on to enough money to get yourself home should things go bad I don’t see a down side (where as if you don't you could end up regretting it for the rest of your life) That said, two…

I highly recommend the Hostelling International hostel at 312 Mason St. It's like $25/night, super-clean, and they feed you breakfast, too! I've stayed there a few times while going to WWDC.

HI hostels have a maximum stay restriction. I think it's around two weeks. They certainly don't let you camp out for an entire summer.

Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

#44

Post by tomsaffell »

breck wrote: post #31
swombat wrote: post #14

If I fail I'll go back to living with my parents/continue college in the fall. Why not just do it from home? I don't really see the benefit of moving to SF. You'll reach Ramen profitability a lot more easily if your costs are $0. You might even start college with something that most students can only dream of: income.

I'd say it would be 10x easier to do it in SF/bay area. You'll find 10x more entrepreneurs and hacker types. This will help you learn a lot more in a lot shorter period of time. And probably have more fun. I've found job and contract opportunities are 3-4x more plentiful so you could probably earn a decent income on the side. I don't think you can live on $1,000/month in SF. The absolute lowest I was able to live on…

> I don't think you can live on $1,000/month in SF

I think you can, if you really want to, and it sounds like he does, so I say: go for it.

You can get a room share for $600. http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/roo/

That leaves $13 per day to spend, which is tight, but livable if you really want it. Suggestions: bring a cheap bike, so transport costs nothing; make your own lunches; $5 burrito dinners, etc; work from the public library and/or work from coffee shops and spend as little as possible/nothing; go to all the free events (there are lots, and some are free for the first x visitors) - some even feed you for free (saves $5), and give you booze.

And if you do come to SF, I'll stand you one Chicken Shawarma for dinner, because I think moving to SF for the summer when you're 18 is ballsy, so I'll put $8 behind that. (I spent the summer I turned 18 alone working in Scunthorpe, UK - believe me, SF will be better..)

Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

#45

Post by swombat »

ivankirigin wrote: post #27
swombat wrote: post #14

If I fail I'll go back to living with my parents/continue college in the fall. Why not just do it from home? I don't really see the benefit of moving to SF. You'll reach Ramen profitability a lot more easily if your costs are $0. You might even start college with something that most students can only dream of: income.

Being somewhere in person helps a lot. I think it is worth moving just for the better network. Networking is exactly how you can maintain a steady stream of projects.

Sure, but this guy is 18... I'd say, go to university and enjoy life first. You can also build an excellent network of both friends and professional acquaintances there, and it's a lot of fun, and you learn a lot of cool things that you'd never learn as an entrepreneur. And it'll probably make you a more interesting person too ("I left school at 18 and have been working in start-ups ever since" is pretty one-dimensional).

If he was out of uni, then fair enough, go startupping or freelancing and avoid getting a regular job if you can... but at 18, seriously, just go enjoy university life, have sex, take drugs, take philosophy classes, and all that...

I don't really see the point of sacrificing your university life to go freelancing. If your start-up is taking off big time, AND it requires you to stay on it full time, then fine... but to give up uni to "make some contacts"... that's silly. The contacts can still be made 4 years later, there's really no need to go there right this minute.

Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

#46

Post by [deleted] »

dannyr wrote: post #36
notdarkyet wrote: post #15

Why? Is there really a point to moving to SF? I see no plan here and really no reason for you to take such a leap, so why bother wasting your money just to move locations for the summer. Anything you would be doing there could be done from where you are. Save your $3000, continue working on what you have, and if it seems to be a good idea, invest it into that product. You gain nothing by moving there (unless you find…

notdarkey, Those people who are telling him to do it probably have done it themselves (that includes me). After moving in the Bay area, I asked myself why I didn't do it earlier. I have lived in 4 US cities and no city comes close to the startup environment in SF. It's like watching the Superbowl in person versus watching it in your own house. The energy is just different. He's 18. If he fails, so what. Sometimes, it…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

#47

Post by rms »

peterbraden wrote: post #34

you can get pretty cheap rent if you don't mind living in sketchy areas. I lived on treasure island for a few months, and besides feeling like the set of a zombie film, it was alright living for ~600pm I lived in the mission for a little more. Definitely try the east bay for cheap rent- if you don't mind getting the bus/bart into the city the rent is a lot cheaper.

The catch of treasure island is that in an earthquake, it is at very high risk of liquefaction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_liquefaction

Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

#48

Post by fourstar »

LOL. Good luck. SF is expensive. $100 for food? Yeah if you are a 90 lb asian female.

No the weather is not hotter than Seattle. It's cold here. Also, good luck trying to live off of $1,000 per month. Rent alone will be close to that.

It really doesn't help to live out here despite what everyone else says regarding the "networking abilities".

An 18 year old has no place in this city, tbh.

Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

#49

Post by timr »

wannabetechgeek wrote: post #39

Sure you can do it. From 2002-2004, I lived on about that much per month, but it wasn't easy. -Rent was under $500 - you can still get these prices. Sublet a room in a house with some other young people. - Electricity/internet bill - $35. - Cell phone - $50. - Bring down your bicycle and bike for transport - Free - If you cook every day, and eat mostly vegetarian and rice - not just MSG-infused ramen - you can live o…

Prices have gone up a bit since 2004. The cheapest shared living situations I've heard about here are in the $700/month range, and those tend to be dicey and hard to find.

Re: Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

#50

Post by timr »

thesethings wrote: post #5

Regarding the weather, I've lived in both places, San Francisco is much colder in the summer than Seattle. San Francisco, and most of coastal Northern California, barely has seasons. Though Silicon Valley and the East Bay (Oakland, San Jose, etc) do get warmer, San Francisco, being surrounded by water on 3 sides, just doesn't get hot in the summer beyond a random handful of days. (On the the other hand, it also barel…

I lived for seven years in Seattle, and there hasn't been a day since I've moved here that I've missed the weather.

The SF bay gets its summer later than Seattle, but it lasts longer, and the rest of the year is massively more enjoyable. Everyone here complains about the chilly weather in the spring, but a bit of springtime chill is far better than 10 months of gloom.

Post reply on HN