Will I be able to afford San Diego? (Stockton, Temecula: for rent, insurance) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

booker2233 · 06-12-2008, 12:35 PM

I'm currently in the middle of my college undergrad, going part time, 22 years old, and I have at least 2 - 3 years of school left. I want to move to SD, work for a little bit, and then get my bachelors degree while going to school in SD.

Will I be able to find a job without a bachelor's degree and be able to afford living? I'd plan on working full time for 6 months or so to get settled in before going back to school. I live pretty light with few belongings, and don't mind having roommates. I'd estimate I could live on $9 - $12 / hour if it were full time. Any jobs that average-undergrad-joe could get for that wage?

sav858 · 06-12-2008, 12:55 PM

If you're smart and prudent with your money and don't have too much debt to pay then $9-12 is doable, not ideal or great but doable. I've known people to make about that much and seem to do get by, you probably won't be able to save any money though and will be living paycheck to paycheck. Might be pretty hard to pay for school though if you aren't using loans or have other help for that. I don't think it will be hard to find a job in that salary range w/o a BA; waiting table, valet parker, office jobs, temps jobs, etc...usually pay around that.

booker2233 · 06-12-2008, 01:32 PM

Also would I be able to find a place for ~$600 - 700/mo. (rent + water/gas/elec.) in a safe area, that isn't a complete *****hole? I don't mind having roommates.

NYSD1995 · 06-12-2008, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by booker2233

Also would I be able to find a place for ~$600 - 700/mo. (rent + water/gas/elec.) in a safe area, that isn't a complete *****hole? I don't mind having roommates.

At that price range you should be fine if you live with roomates.

sav858 · 06-12-2008, 01:41 PM

If you have roomates then yes. I pay $710 for rent and $100 in water/gas/elec/cable/internet splitting a 2 bedroom but I live in Pacific Beach 8 blocks from the ocean. The farther east you go the cheaper it gets. Places in Eastern PB near the 5 freeway should have cheaper rents. But many other communities are even cheaper like Clairemont, North Park, and east county communities. But you don't want to live too far from where you work and go to school b/c gas is pricey, so have a car with good MPG's.

jksouthbay88 · 06-12-2008, 05:03 PM

I guess you can.My friend lives with her boyfriend, makes 11.75 an hour,and lives in Kearney Mesa.

Nick682 · 06-12-2008, 06:41 PM

You describe my situation for the last two years exactly. When I was working full time and getting $11 bucks an hour it was pretty hard, I didn't have much spending money, even with a roomate. I had little bills at the time, only the necessities, small car payment, insurance, were my biggest bills besides rent. I found it much easier to wait tables and bartend, I made close to $20 bucks an hour bartending, w/ tips, and worked a lot less, so it was much easier to go to school. I would try to wait tables or bartend somewhere, that eased the stress on me.

Also a good job for school, was cleaning pools, and you can start doing it on your own after a while, if you have a small truck. Or you can work for someone else and make $2000 full time, before taxes and work half days, with your own schedule. I started in the pool business working for someone else and within a year I had 30 of my own accounts. I just sold the accounts off, for $28,000, but when I was working them, it was awesome for school. I could finish all thirty in two days, working less than 8 hours a day. I grossed $3200 on the pool route alone, monthly, for only two days a weeks work. Not to mention all the repair work. I would just go to school in between my pools, because I made my own schedule. The pool service biz, was by far the best deal I had for going to school. Thats what I did to make through school, now I'm transferring out of state. Good luck, you'll be fine.

Prairieman · 06-14-2008, 07:15 AM

Like you, I am also hoping to get into a roommate arrangement when I move to SD this fall. If you haven't checked it out already, take a look at the Rooms & Shares section of Craigslist under All SD. There is a long list of postings there every day, and many are in your price range (which is about the same as my price range). I saw one recently in Mission Hills, which made me want to jump into the car and head for Cali now.

SD is a sprawling city, with many different kinds of neighborhoods. For example, a place like Temecula or Murrieta has nice new houses and relatively low rents, but that commute down I-15 would be a deal-breaker for me. I am looking for something more central, but of course one has to be more concerned with crime there. The older threads on this forum are an excellent resource for learning how to distinguish the good areas from the not-so-good areas in the central, eastern and southern parts of greater SD.

One thing I have noticed about Craigslist is that one should be skeptical of any listing that does not state the exact neighborhood where the property is located. For example, I have found a listing for "East County" that was actually in the gritty La Presa area of Spring Valley, and listings for "Near Downtown" that were in the undesirable neighborhoods of Logan Heights and Stockton, respectively.

Best wishes to you for your future move to SD!