Curious for you and others who've done similar things -- had you considered sharing a place with roommates at the time? I too have gone through such a phase af

Curious for you and others who've done similar things -- had you considered sharing a place with roommates at the time? I too have gone through such a phase after college, 12-14 years ago. I worked in the Sacramento area, I was single and had little belongings. The smallest/cheapest places I lived in were 1) living in the living room of my friend's 1-bedroom apartment, for $300/mo (he was paying $800/mo before I joined, so I shared 3/8 of it, and it wasn't like he was even using the living room at all before I moved in), and later 2) living in the living room of an apartment with random housemates (found on FB, at my college town Davis) for $250/mo. (Not counting the times when I had been somewhat homeless for a couple of months and stayed in a different friend's apartment every week with a sleeping bag, sleeping on their room's floor, when I was working a very low pay job) Of course finding similarly priced apartments is impossible (even in 2006~07), I honestly doubt I would even be able to find a 150 sq ft apartment for that price. I would however gladly take living with roommates/housemates -- especially over a 150 sq ft apartment to myself -- considering the toll on mental health etc. like you said. I actually quite enjoyed my living conditions at the time (taking over the living room at my friend's place and random housemates' place). Even with random housemates, it's nice to have someone to say hi to when they walk in and out (inevitably walking past where I'd be sleeping or using my computer, when they walk to the front door).