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Ask HN: Any tips for living cheaply in SF?

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

#61

Post by TomOfTTB »

timr wrote: post #43
dangrover wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I'd assume he has sometime line where, if he doesn't start getting work within the first couple of weeks, he gives up. The Hostel is just there to give him the chance to get his feet on the ground and try to drum up some connections

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

#62

Post by wheels »

ivankirigin wrote: post #53
swombat wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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-dimensio…

There is nothing exclusive with working on a startup and sex / drugs / reading philosophy, etc. It is wrong to say "go to uni to do X" if there is nothing stopping you from doing X outside of university. Also, avoiding the infantilizing effects of university would do lots of people good. It certainly requires dedicated to learn as an autodidact, but I'd bet many people could get a better applied computer science educ…

I'd bet many people could get a better applied computer science education in 4 years by trying to become an active developer.

I'd say perhaps a better applied programming education. Programming != CS. The things which I learned in my CS education and the things that I learned in real-world hacking have a relatively small overlap, however, having that CS background did open up some possibilities for working on interesting problems.

That's not to say that you have to go through formal education to get a good grounding in the theoretical elements of CS, but it does facilitate it.

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

#63

Post by anigbrowl »

csomar wrote: post #22

you still have few time, if you are capable work hard on sites like rent a coder and make some extra cash.. but I'm against going with $3,000 it's way too little and no one knows what may happen

LOL, no it isn't. I moved here from Europe with half that amount, twice. If you want to have your own apartment and stuff, then you need $1500/mo unless you get really lucky. If you're OK with roommates, you can do it for $1000/mo and have money left over for entertainment/parties/fast times.

Besides, the point of moving to a cool city at the age of 18 is to get into trouble, no? Look after your property, don't be too trusting, practice safe sex and and avoid over-friendly strangers whether on the street or behind a desk etc. etc.. Don't assume that coming to Sf will launch your career or you'll find a pot of money, treat the $3000 as the price of a useful learning experience and if you do luck out regard it as a bonus.

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

#64

Post by anigbrowl »

mannicken wrote: post #10
ashleyw wrote: post #3

I have never lived in SF, nor have any plans to — but what are your reasons to be there? Surely it'd be easier (or should I say cheaper) to work out of Seattle?

I compared living costs using Craigslist. Turns out apartment prices all almost the same. The only cheaper thing is 200 bucks for gasoline to go there/back. EDIT: I think that the advantage that moving down there will give me will outweigh the $200.

Take the train or fly, buy a bicycle or walk and take the bus. This city isn't that car friendly but the transit is alright. You're not coming here to sit in traffic or improve your parallel parking skills, are you? Thought not :-)

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

#65

Post by anigbrowl »

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.

I don't, and could tell you bad stories about it. I used to manage another hostel (below) and we got quite a few 'refugees' who had had a bad experience at the Mason one. I rate the International Guest House at 2976 23rd street. Call ahead and see if they have a spot free. There's only room for about 24 people. It's cheaper, there's free coffee, and if you have the right attitude it's easier to extend your stay (frankly, this basically depends on whether you're cool or not). It helps if you make up some BS like you just came back from Europe or something - they want you to have some evidence of internetional travel if space is at a premium.

Downsides/danger include attractive people of both sexes, easy availability of booze and weed, failure to complete coding projects because you stayed up until 3am the previous night. The main benefit is that the place is low turnover, so your friendships there aren't transient like at a lot of bigger hostels. Mind you, I haven't kept in touch for about 4 years, and lots of places go through different phases.

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

#66

Post by gtani »

Random thoughts:

If you're looking for summer sublets around universities, have you considered Davis? It's an hour and some away with no traffic, but cheaper, and uh, a lot hotter. I don't know anything about the department but I've been impressed by UC Davis recent grads in CS /EE i've worked wtih.

people start hacker houses at random intervals

http://searchyc.com/hacker+house

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

#67

Post by jf »

tomsaffell wrote: post #44
breck wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

if you come to SF you can also hit me up for a free dinner.

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

#69

Post by pz »

Living on $1k in the city sounds rough. You'll probably be so stressed for money and busy that you won't even be able to enjoy it. If you're focus right now is building your website, don't distract yourself with contract work and city life. I would recommend just staying with your folks and getting down to it. Being in the city won't make your website any more successful.

But if you're dead set on coming out here, I would recommend looking in the east bay or the peninsula. Stay close to a BART or caltrain station so you can get into the city easily for networking events & to meet with clients.

If you really want to live in SF proper i would recommend looking for a room in the Tenderloin (despite its rep, its a great place to live, i loved it... lots of cheap food and close to everything) or in the southern or eastern part of the mission.

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