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It really depends on the kind of lifestyle you choose. If you want to live alone in a fancy apartment, drive a new car, and eat out every day, then you certainl
by brndnmtthws 9y ago
It really depends on the kind of lifestyle you choose. If you want to live alone in a fancy apartment, drive a new car, and eat out every day, then you certainly won't be able to save as much.
If you practice frugality, find cheap housing (which does exist if you look hard enough), and don't spend money on things you don't need, then it's quite easy to save a lot of money.
- autotune 9y ago> fancy apartment Being a 400 sq. ft. studio that you pay $3k per month for to live in an area where you won't get stabbed when you go out at night and is close enough to work where you don't need a car.
- NikolaeVarius 9y agoWhy would you ever live in a studio if you want to save money?
- autotune 9y agoWhy would you ever live with roommates if you want to be sane and productive at work each day?
- introvertsexist 9y agoPresumably for sanity & security & sleep. Fuck you; this attitude to rent is the worst part about the bay area. If you want to save money, please avoid the bay at all costs.
- Woofles 9y agoOr consider that the bay is more than SF. I recently moved to Oakland and I'm paying around $1k/mo on rent compared to $2k/mo or more living in the city while not really giving up any of the benefits of living in the area.
- martin1975 9y agoHow's your commute time?
- Woofles 9y agoMy commute is 30-35 minutes each way (walk to Bart, work in downtown SF). For comparison, when I lived in Lower Haight my commute time was 25 minutes each way (MUNI bus a block from my apartment to downtown).
- mikestew 9y agoFuck you; this attitude to rent is the worst part about the bay area. Well, that was uncalled for. I’m willing to bet a paycheck that someone named “Nikolae” lives in a place where “studio” might have a meaning different than it does in the U. S. And so they wonder why you’d live in such an expensive place if you’re trying to save, whereas in the U. S. a studio is the bottom tier of apartment inventory.
- shimon 9y agoJust to clarify, a studio apartment is the smallest and cheapest type of apartment. It usually consists of a single room combining kitchen/living area/bedroom and a bathroom. The only cheaper way to live would be with roommates or family.
- jklein11 9y agoBecause it was the cheapest viable options.
- nkrisc 9y agoUm, what's cheaper than a studio? Anything with one or more bedrooms is going to be more expensive. Perhaps you're not familiar with American apartment terminology or I'm missing something? A studio apartment is as cheap as you can get normally.
- falsedan 9y agoRoom/housemates, an N-bedroom's rent/N is always less than a 1-bedroom (for N > 1)
- nerfhammer 9y agoIt completely depends on the supply of the particular city. SFBA has lots of split level houses that were meant for families a few generations ago and very few studios. Many in this thread seem flabbergasted that a studio would be expensive or could ever be cheap, it's probably based on whatever market they're used to.
- santaclaus 9y ago> Um, what's cheaper than a studio? Having roommates! Rent a victorian with a few roommates in West Oakland. One train stop to San Francisco, way less than 3k a month.
- cbr 9y agowhat's cheaper than a studio? Splitting a several-bedroom apartment several ways. For example, where I live [1] a studio is $1,700 but one room in a 3br is $1,100. [1] http://www.jefftk.com/apartment_prices http://www.jefftk.com/apartment_prices
- JBlue42 9y agoDepends on where you live. When I looked into splitting a place here in LA, it was only $100 less than if I stayed in my studio, with less amenities. I'm lucky, as I'm rent-controlled, but even people I know that live in 4-bedroom houses in not great areas are paying only a little less.
- logfromblammo 9y ago"Studio" is American for "zero-bedroom apartment". It's an advertising-friendly euphemism, just like "garden" is American for "below ground level apartment". An American studio apartment is essentially a hotel room with kitchenette. It has only two doors, one for the bathroom and one to the exterior. Thanks to fire codes, it will usually have at least one escapable window. While it isn't the lowest tier of city housing, it is the smallest type of apartment with significant supply in the US. Dormitories aren't tremendously common away from university campuses, and communal barracks are uncommon outside of the older military bases--where they are generally mothballed until a particular need arises for large quantities of temporary housing.
- alexandercrohde 9y agoJust for comparison, I lived in SF for about 4 years. I saved a huge amount of money. I lived with 3 roommates to save money, I sold my car, you won't get stabbed anywhere in SF (so live in the sketchy area it'll get nicer each year). My rent was $1,200 a month, a lucky find. Now don't get me wrong I hated living there, no girls, homelessness everywhere smelled like garbage, and a self-obsession that pretended to be health-minded but was really wealth-minded ($9 juice OMG). But the earning power change by having lived there is night and day. To have companies people have heard of on your resume goes such a long way.
- koolba 9y ago(Emphasis mine): > I lived with 3 roommates to save money, I sold my car, you won't get stabbed anywhere in SF (so live in the sketchy area it'll get nicer each year). I'm not willing to test that theory and there's an inherent value to not thinking about getting stabbed on a daily basis. > My rent was $1,200 a month, a lucky find. To live with 3 other people in the sketchy part of town? Yeesh.
- humanrebar 9y agoIt's also not sustainable since, you know, most people eventually start families and settle down. Roommates don't work then. Even if that's not you, you have to realize that everyone else needs that option if we're going to have a functioning community.
- derefr 9y agoThe SV "rationalist community" seems to think group homes work fine for married couples. Then again, they're almost universally swingers.
- autotune 9y agoRoommate rant: I started out with trying the roommate situation for $1500 a month or less usually; all I ask out of roommates are that we all stick to a schedule for chores and peace and quiet at night. Every single roommate situation either had somebody who couldn't abide by the 10 PM quiet rule (we're talking watching tv at all hours of the night, having sex with their girlfriend until the AM, or having a very audible conversation next to my room at 2 AM), or refused to do any type of chores leaving it all on me or the place a stye. If I could find a mythical responsible roommate or roommates and only pay $1500 a month or less I absolutely would but it hasn't ever worked out.
- nrhk 9y agoAlternatively, room with 7 other people, stomach the train, walking, biking, only cook or eat soylent and never go out or spend any money on luxuries of any kind. Then yea you can make it work...just no fun.
- ThrustVectoring 9y agoSpeaking of cheap housing, I've been so pissed off at the blatant rent-seeking that I've been tempted to kit out a cargo van for sleeping in instead of paying outrageous amounts for barely more space.
- pj_mukh 9y agoSeconded. Just finding good roommates saves more money than I'd have saved anywhere else. Unfortunately, mild misanthropy costs money.
- dark_silicon 9y ago"fancy apartment". Cute idea.
- forgotmysn 9y agothis is a fallacy, at least in the bay. start-up salaries are lower because you're working for a start-up, and rents are exorbitantly high everywhere. even with roommates living in the living room, no car, and making your own meals will you be able to save money in the bay area.
- brndnmtthws 9y agoAfter ~8 years living in the Bay Area (mostly Oakland & SF), I'm obliged to strongly disagree with you.
- forgotmysn 9y agoI've lived here for ~20. I was raised here. I've never paid less than 40% of my income on rent, and I've only worked in tech.
- baumy 9y agoEven if that's 40% after tax and 401k withholding, you are either wildly underpaid or you live in very extravagant housing
- forgotmysn 9y agodefinitely the former. thats startups.