I think you can totally live on that budget, if you play things right. You might also look into living in some neighboring cities that would allow you to commut

I think you can totally live on that budget, if you play things right. You might also look into living in some neighboring cities that would allow you to commute for events, but you could live on that budget in San Francisco proper if you were careful. I think you should just plan on the 2.5 months though and go to school afterwards. I'm in a very similar situation. I'm taking a break from school (college), I have a bunch of savings built up, and I have a business that makes about enough for me to live off of. I'm sharing a place now with some other hackers (we were in Palo Alto for a few months) and it's come down to $500-$900/month for rent depending on who gets a roommate. Not too shabby. Coming from Boston, I thought it was really lame that there wasn't a central, unified subway system. But the busses here are just as good. There's one route that comes by my place every 5 minutes. Also, I never realized how much the weather affected my emotions. I love how sunny it is out here.