San Francisco • Hacker News Board

Re: San Francisco

#131

Post by marcinw » Sun, Jun 16, 2013, 9:50 PM UTC

look_lookatme wrote: post #24

jurassic wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

28k for food and random living expenses is a lot of money unless you are eating out for every meal; that's more that some people's entire paycheck (like grad students.) If you can't make room for savings in there, it definitely shows a lack of priorities.

Well some people's priorities might involve having an active social life, dressing well, paying for entertainment, etc... all of which will be expensive. It's not a "lack" of priorities, it's just a different set of them.

And that's your problem. I was the same way, though I live in NYC. With every pay raise I upgraded my lifestyle. Whether I was making $50k/year or $100k/year, I wasn't saving anything more besides the shit I was contributing to my 401k. My savings actually grew smaller over the years, until I made a conscious effort to save money. An effort so simple, I kick myself for not realizing it sooner.

Several simple ways I found to save money living in NYC (not SF, but close enough). Note these figures are on a per-year basis.

  - Scrap web hosting, move to AWS and S3 (~120 saved)
  - Get rid of cable, stick with cheap Internet (~1000 saved, Internet ~40/mo)
  - One night less at the bar each week (~2500 saved, that's just for a $40 tab)
  - Skip buying coffee every day (~500 saved)
  - Get a cheaper phone package (~120 saved)

In the end, I think a good rule of thumb is to keep your daily expenses under $20. You want to dress well? Wait for Banana Republic to have a 40% off everything sale, and buy clothes then. Buy clothes you're actually going to wear more than once (this is easy for guys, women have it harder).

I don't know your lifestyle or actually care what you spend money on, but complaining you can't save money is a bullshit excuse. I was bullshitting myself too, and I think everyone's got spending habits they can curb without impacting their lifestyle.

Re: San Francisco

#132

Post by colmvp » Sun, Jun 16, 2013, 9:50 PM UTC

agilebyte wrote: post #83

physcab wrote: post #46

San Francisco truly is a wonderful city, all things considered. I'm currently traveling throughout Europe and while I'm having a blast seeing how another portion of the world lives, I'm more thankful than ever I can call my home SF. It has temperate weather, is relatively clean, Napa, Stinson Beach, and Pt Reyes to the North, Pacifica, Santa Cruz, Monterey to the South. Tahoe for skiing and summer fun is 4 hours away…

When talking about singles you mean men right?

Yeah seriously. The number of single women I meet in SF is for whatever reason vastly disproportionate to living in other cities in the United States, like New York or Los Angeles.

Re: San Francisco

#133

Post by Dewie » Sun, Jun 16, 2013, 9:51 PM UTC

lobotryas wrote: post #88

ryanSrich wrote: post #80

Eh. They can keep it. • Average engineering salary in sf: 116K / year [1] • Average rent for a one bedroom: $2,700 / month [2] After taxes you're coming in around 72k / year - 32k / year for rent You'll have roughly 40k to play with. That may sound like a lot but factor in food, health care, travel, energy, internet, phone, and numerous miscellaneous expenses and you'll be hard pressed to save anything over 10k a yea…

You are forgetting the weather. DC winters: cold, snow, sometimes blizzard, have to scrape your car free from ice if you don't have indoor parking. SF winters: sometimes you have to put in a jacket and sometimes it rains. That's it. This is just one example of many. It's pointless to compare two cities on rent and cost of living alone. Now, if the extra 11k is worth the winter challenges to you then I'm happy. Person…

Having more money is pretty much objectively better, while more distinct seasons is personal preference, to a degree.

Re: San Francisco

#134

Post by bherms » Sun, Jun 16, 2013, 9:53 PM UTC

michael_miller wrote: post #23

bherms wrote: post #4

Very happy he enjoyed the city! Next time he's in town, I'll be sure I'm following his twitter to remain informed. I'd love to buy him a drink. While there is a lot of crappiness in the city, it really is a melting pot (not as much as 10-20 years ago of course) of motivated, friendly people.

What forces do you see bringing together SF as a melting pot? I've only spent a small amount of time there, and with a very small subset of people, but my experience has been that there is a large group of people from very similar backgrounds (20-something from Stanford/MIT/CMU in the tech industry). I absolutely agree about the motivated, friendly people part. There's definitely a "pay it forward" culture in the tec…

but my experience has been that there is a large group of people from very similar backgrounds (20-something from Stanford/MIT/CMU in the tech industry)

That's why I said "not so much as 10-20 years ago". It seems like our community is actually destroying what made SF so special in years past. That being said, while a majority of people coming in are fairly well-off 20-something tech industry kids, the fact that SF prides itself as being an "anything goes, something for everyone" kind of city helps to bring out the quirkiness and eccentricities of people who otherwise would've never found that side of themselves. In addition, if you look in the right places, you will find a ton of the goofy oddballs that made SF such a special place.

Re: San Francisco

#135

Post by Dewie » Sun, Jun 16, 2013, 9:54 PM UTC

paul9290 wrote: post #126

skwirl wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suppose this outlook is related to where you grew up. To someone from the north, referring to DC as cold and snowy is preposterous. They had one bad year with snowfall a few years ago, but other than that winter they rarely even crack 10" in recent years, and even that usually comes over only a couple of days during infrequent storms. Their mean temperature is above freezing every month of the year.

On average in and around DC we see a blizzard every six years. The last awesome snow filled winter we had was the 2009 to 2010 season. We accumulated up to 80 inches of snow; fun stuff! San Fran weather is awesome, the amount of homelessness makes me sad though!

> San Fran weather is awesome, the amount of homelessness makes me sad though!

It bums you out?

Re: San Francisco

#136

Post by abalone » Sun, Jun 16, 2013, 9:54 PM UTC

batbomb wrote: post #102

abalone wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rent control is the ONLY reason we were able to stay in the city and have a child recently. It gives renters the housing security they need to put roots down and start families.

I believe that too, but I meant that also in terms that rent control punishes you for deferring decisions on moving. I have a very large 1BR apartment that can be 2BR if needed. I'm very reluctant to leave. If I had 2 children, it would be too small. A move up to an extra bedroom in my neighborhood would easily be $2k more for an extra room. 3 years ago it might have been a different story. If I was in a studio now,…

We have exactly the same kind of apartment. I'm not sure if eliminating rent control would make things more affordable. I am pretty sure that we would have constant insecurity every year, wondering if our rent is going to jump and we're going to have to move. The buffer from short term market fluctuations is a big factor is helping us stay and build a life in our neighborhood.

But yeah, if we have a second kid it's gonna be tight. THAT IS WHY IM ON HACKER NEWZ 2 MAKE MILLION$$$.

Re: San Francisco

#137

Post by bherms » Sun, Jun 16, 2013, 9:54 PM UTC

encoderer wrote: post #32

bherms wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Avg 1br prices are up to over $2500 now. Granted depending on area and quality, you can get down to $1600, but a majority are mid to high $2ks.

Citation? We're in the SF rental market and I work for a real estate start-up. I see 1br's in desirable neighborhoods available for $1.5-2k all day long. A look through Craigslist gives you an idea: http://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/apa/sfc?zoomToPosting=&qu... But note that there are many 2+ BR's in the search results so skim the list with some scrutiny. Also there's a lot of spam in the "$1200 4br" listing that ap…

See seph's comment. I took that from a heatmap I saw not too long ago on avg 1br prices in each neighborhood. I'll link if I locate it again.

Re: San Francisco

#138

Post by kumarm » Sun, Jun 16, 2013, 9:56 PM UTC

ryanSrich wrote: post #80

Eh. They can keep it. • Average engineering salary in sf: 116K / year [1] • Average rent for a one bedroom: $2,700 / month [2] After taxes you're coming in around 72k / year - 32k / year for rent You'll have roughly 40k to play with. That may sound like a lot but factor in food, health care, travel, energy, internet, phone, and numerous miscellaneous expenses and you'll be hard pressed to save anything over 10k a yea…

You can rent single bedroom for $1000 around multiple Bart stations and save 2000 more/month with 30 minutes commute by public transport in SF.

Re: San Francisco

#139

Post by dripton » Sun, Jun 16, 2013, 9:57 PM UTC

ryanSrich wrote: post #106

lobotryas wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are forgetting the weather. DC winters: cold, snow, sometimes blizzard, have to scrape your car free from ice if you don't have indoor parking. SF winters: sometimes you have to put in a jacket and sometimes it rains. That's it. This is just one example of many. It's pointless to compare two cities on rent and cost of living alone. Now, if the extra 11k is worth the winter challenges to you then I'm happy. Person…

I grew up in Syracuse NY. The snowiest city in the U.S. I don't consider D.C. to "have" winters. They have a mild falls until spring.

I've lived in Syracuse. DC gets what Syracuse would consider a real snowfall about once every five years. But when it happens, everything shuts down. Not enough plows. And terrifyingly bad snow drivers.

Re: San Francisco

#140

Post by spikels » Sun, Jun 16, 2013, 9:58 PM UTC

abalone wrote: post #61

batbomb wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Rent Control tends to hold people hostage from having new families (as turnover in larger houses is much smaller as a result, and there's no real benefit to waiting to have a family), and that's a part of it. While I'll agree that most families don't need a huge house to live, you at least need a 2 or 3BR house (especially as the become teenagers) to raise 2 children. At current market rates, you'd need $3k a…

Rent control is the ONLY reason we were able to stay in the city and have a child recently. It gives renters the housing security they need to put roots down and start families.