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1) Give up cable tv.
2) Give up cell phones.
3) Give up air conditioning
4) Give up the big pad, with the benzo on lease
5) Pay off the VW or don't have one (city life/bike riding).
6) Buy groceries at multiple places that have the best deals.
7) Cook your own food, every night.
8) Become a vegetarian (meat is expensive)
9) Go to free places: beach, mountains, parks etc.
10) Buy clothes on eBay (avoid taxes).
11) Read books (not only is this good for you, but you can't afford to do anything else).
12) Bring girlfriend or boyfriend (because you can't afford to date).
13) Put them to work.
14) Bring family
15) Put them to work
To the OP: I'm still not totally clear whether you're looking only at SF, only at LA, at both LA and SF but nowhere else, or anywhere in the state. There will be significant variations between locations. I don't think most people here are trying to tell you not to move here, assuming you can find a job, but are responding instead to try to make clear that $50,000 in LA, or even more so, in SF, will not be enough to let you buy the large house of the kind you mentioned in your original post. By all means go for it, but it's not "nay-saying" to point out that while $50,000 is a decent salary, in CA's big cities it's going to mean a fairly middle-class lifestyle. Where it gets harder to survive on that salary is if you start to have a family and need a larger place or have other expenses. As for grocery ads, those prices are of course really good - they're teasers to get you in the door. I found that groceries were fairly cheap, or at least affrordable, in LA, but they have been significantly higher in SF. On the other hand, there are tons of wonderful and cheap restaurant options in both cities. You'll do just fine in either city (or any other city in CA) on that salary if it's just you (or you and a partner also with a job). Add a family or hopes to buy a place to the mix (and costs of daycare, etc.,) and you'll see why people talk about CA being so expensive.
Cuteazz, glad to hear your relatives are doing fine, but 8 years ago is a long time in CA's housing market. I agree with you that someone can do just fine for $50k a year, but today it would be difficult for a single person with that income (without massive savings for a downpayment) to buy a place in LA. The OP should know that.
I live in the san luis obispo area less than a mile from the ocean and me and my boyfriend make about 50,000 a year gross combined.
It can be done.
I am curious if you own a home or rent. That probably makes all the difference.
I have friends that have retired on about $50,000/year but then they own their own home and pay very small amounts of property taxes.
To the OP: I'm still not totally clear whether you're looking only at SF, only at LA, at both LA and SF but nowhere else, or anywhere in the state. There will be significant variations between locations. I don't think most people here are trying to tell you not to move here, assuming you can find a job, but are responding instead to try to make clear that $50,000 in LA, or even more so, in SF, will not be enough to let you buy the large house of the kind you mentioned in your original post. By all means go for it, but it's not "nay-saying" to point out that while $50,000 is a decent salary, in CA's big cities it's going to mean a fairly middle-class lifestyle. Where it gets harder to survive on that salary is if you start to have a family and need a larger place or have other expenses. As for grocery ads, those prices are of course really good - they're teasers to get you in the door. I found that groceries were fairly cheap, or at least affrordable, in LA, but they have been significantly higher in SF. On the other hand, there are tons of wonderful and cheap restaurant options in both cities. You'll do just fine in either city (or any other city in CA) on that salary if it's just you (or you and a partner also with a job). Add a family or hopes to buy a place to the mix (and costs of daycare, etc.,) and you'll see why people talk about CA being so expensive.
Cuteazz, glad to hear your relatives are doing fine, but 8 years ago is a long time in CA's housing market. I agree with you that someone can do just fine for $50k a year, but today it would be difficult for a single person with that income (without massive savings for a downpayment) to buy a place in LA. The OP should know that.
Oh as I said, disregard the thing with the house. I was simply stating what I had seen on real estate sites, but I agree that I must have looked like one of the many starry-eyed people who come on rambling about the dream they're going to live in CA. I didn't mean to come off like that.
As a student I'm quite used to the concept of saving money and only spending it occasionally on large items that you save and budget for accordingly. I won't have any student debt upon graduation, in fact I should hopefully have a decent amount of savings, at least enough to provide a few months of living without a job.
As for where I would hope to be situated, I have put far more research into LA then I have into SF. SF seems like a nicer area, but again having not seen either I really don't want to make generalizations. But if I was really going to venture off to the West coast to live, I would want to start in a more affordable area anyways, which would mean LA or one of it's surrounding cities from what I've gathered.
And I work at a grocery store, so I know all about the deceptive pricing tactics used to get people in the door. I just mean that when the stores here throw sales on similar products, they're still like twice the price from what I'm seeing. It does stand to reason though, a lot of our food is imported from the US, even if it can be grown here.
As for cell phones, I don't really use the one that I have all that much.
I wouldn't be stupid about this. I would start off with the bare minimum for the first month or two and see how it went, get used to how much expendable income would be left over. Then I could start adding more things as I either discovered my financial limits or received raises, hopefully both haha.
I wouldn't rush out into a $1400 a month apartment and get the fastest DSL and a whopping phone plan or something. I know that I'd be running the A/C like a madman though, at least initially haha.
Now that I've narrowed down where I would probably end up, I guess I should let this thread die then unless anyone has any other comments on the cost of living in CA in general... Otherwise I should probably forward any further questions to the Los Angeles forum.
Last edited by StarshipPoopers1; 07-21-2009 at 07:58 PM..
Thank you. I appreciate what cuteazz1 is contributing, but it's making the conversation stray from the point of the thread on a topic that doesn't have too much relevance with what I was asking.
I just did a search for a few California grocery store's weekly ads and man oh man are they cheap haha.
Do you guys actually mean to tell me that these prices are considered to be significantly higher than other parts of the country? Judging from the grocery prices that's a fair amount of money saved right there when you start adding it up.
Well, California is pretty much the fruit and vegetable producer for the nation so our prices for those items are less costly. Whenever I am in the Central Valley i head over to the packing houses and sift through the cull bins. There you can find great vegetables for FREE!
So, i guess Californios are blessed with our high quality and abundant farm products here.
1) Give up cable tv.
2) Give up cell phones.
3) Give up air conditioning
4) Give up the big pad, with the benzo on lease
5) Pay off the VW or don't have one (city life/bike riding).
6) Buy groceries at multiple places that have the best deals.
7) Cook your own food, every night.
8) Become a vegetarian (meat is expensive)
9) Go to free places: beach, mountains, parks etc.
10) Buy clothes on eBay (avoid taxes).
11) Read books (not only is this good for you, but you can't afford to do anything else).
12) Bring girlfriend or boyfriend (because you can't afford to date).
13) Put them to work.
14) Bring family
15) Put them to work
(12-15 are for us Mexicans only)
Thanks for the tips haha.
As for 12-15, I'm coming from the other border .
Quote:
Originally Posted by Den Mathias
Well, California is pretty much the fruit and vegetable producer for the nation so our prices for those items are less costly. Whenever I am in the Central Valley i head over to the packing houses and sift through the cull bins. There you can find great vegetables for FREE!
So, i guess Californios are blessed with our high quality and abundant farm products here.
That sounds pretty awesome. And they say that good things can't be free, pshhh.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceece
There is only one way to find out for yourself isn't there? Come on down
If only it were that simple. It'd be a rather laborious process from what I understand. Being a Canadian with a diploma in a sought after field I probably wouldn't have too much trouble getting across, but it's not just a skip and a hop to get to California haha. Even going there for a week to look around would probably drain any semblance of savings that I currently have being a student. Perhaps after I coop next April I could have enough to take a week-long trip down. The downside is that I really can't afford to tour several corners of the US and get a real feel for each unique part which is too bad. It'd be nice to at least check out Texas, Florida, and a few places along the East coast just to get a feel for each.
If you can make it through college without student or CC debt and have money in savings, and come out employable, I think it's perfectly fine for you to move to LA and try something new. I think most of us are trying to be a little paternal here and just giving you some realistic advice.
Overspending and living beyond your means is tough during college, but it's somewhat easy because everyone is pretty poor (unless you go to some rich kids school). After school if you are fairly frugal about spending you will have to go against the grain a little bit - especially in Los Angeles. Just be prepared for that. If you are making 45-50k you won't even have to be THAT frugal, just reasonable.
You seem to be pretty well prepared for your age and have a decent head on your shoulders. If you keep it up you will be fine. Make smart decisions and don't overextend yourself for the first 3-4 years out of college and you'll be surprised how good of a financial situation you can end up in if you play your cards right.
No, I know you said forget about the house thing, I was just mentioning a bit more about it in part because others read these threads, and also to elaborate on why people think California is so expensive. If you take the home purchase factor out of the equation the cost of living in LA is pretty reasonable, especially for a young person with no kids. The tough part will be finding a job, but if you can do that then you should have no problems. You'll be able to live in a nice place, still enjoy going out to eat or to the bars (within reason), and generally live a pretty good life for that salary. One bonus: no hugely expensive winter heating bills!
No, I know you said forget about the house thing, I was just mentioning a bit more about it in part because others read these threads, and also to elaborate on why people think California is so expensive. If you take the home purchase factor out of the equation the cost of living in LA is pretty reasonable, especially for a young person with no kids. The tough part will be finding a job, but if you can do that then you should have no problems. You'll be able to live in a nice place, still enjoy going out to eat or to the bars (within reason), and generally live a pretty good life for that salary. One bonus: no hugely expensive winter heating bills!
Ahh okay, I've got you on the house thing.
Haha, i love my winters though. That would be something I would miss, as crazy as that sounds. I think 0C is my favourite temperature, though a much milder climate sounds nice for a change.
The whole finding a job aspect has me a little concerned, but I mean I'm in college for Computer Systems Technology which will give me an advanced diploma upon graduation, and IT is everywhere in cities. Plus I should have a little shy of a year of relevant work experience thanks to two semesters of coop, so hopefully I wouldn't be shunned. The nice thing with having advanced knowledge of IT and being Cisco certified is that you can choose from a fairly large pool of jobs and slowly work your way toward your preferred path. So I could take something that isn't really what I have in mind and do that to get experience until something more appealing opens up... I'm not really confined to a narrow path like tourism or manufacturing, etc.
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