'Tis the season!

[azurelunatic]

Currently facing the Northern Hemisphere winter holiday season with rather more trepidation than I was four hours ago before my apartment office chirpily advised me that by the way, I was month-to-month now, and owed $355 more than I thought I did.

$300, it appears, is the size of a deposit on a one-bedroom in Hayward. Which is only <2 hours from work by public transit.

Comments

[wibbble]

I looked at a map, and while I don't understand much of the local geography, Hayward compared to SF looks like Fife compared to Edinburgh.

If you're going to move to Fife for a short commute, you'd want to make sure it was really short, not 90 minutes.

This is my experience of moving to Fife, which is still the single thing which I regret most in my life to date. OTOH, when renting it's easier to move around, so giving the metaphorical equivalent of Fife a try needn't be as unwelcome as my literal Fifing has been.

[azurelunatic]

My rent has been boiling me like a frog, see. This trims 4 hours by bus and a chunk of budget.

[wibbble]

I can see how an existing four (or is that six?!) hour commute would make 1.5-2 hours look pleasing and generous.

[azurelunatic]

Round trip by bus is 8.

What I have seen of Hayward reminds me of my time in Chandler AZ, which was really not that bad a time in my life. I am okay with aggressively suburban surroundings.

I'm not in SF proper at the moment, and I suspect that that much city would make me miserable.

[wibbble]

Jesus, that's just unpleasant. Really doesn't leave you much time for anything else, does it? :o/

I'm not a huge fan of city living normally either, but I have an exception for Edinburgh as it doesn't feel like a normal city. 'Edinburgh is a village', they say, and it's practically impossible to go out anywhere and not bump into someone you know.

[azurelunatic]

Yeah, which is why I car a lot.

Edinburgh sounds really nice.

[wibbble]

Edinburgh is ace. Moving to Fife, all of 35ish miles away across the river, was a terrible idea. Especially as we had no car until just a couple of months ago.

[rymenhild]

I miss the Bay Area, but I so do not miss Bay Area rent. How does the cost of transit factor into the price? And is it the pleasant kind of transit where you can sit on a train and read things until you get there?

[azurelunatic]

Well.

Without counting wear and tear on my car into it, gas has been around $9/trip from the current place.
A SamTrans day pass is $6. The round trip is 8 hours.
The round-trip on Caltrain without getting a monthly pass is $10, and then there's either the $8 on SamTrans for the 2 buses each way to get to Caltrain, or the $6 day pass, and Caltrain only shaves an hour off each way. So that's $16 for 6 hours of transit, or $6 for 8. 8 hours of transit does not leave me time for things like food and laundry and showers. It's also variously painful.

Depending on where I get on the bus, I may or may not get a good seat. Depending on when I get on Caltrain, I may or may not get a good seat.


The complex that I'm eyeing would have a 3 hour total round trip, and probably for $6-8 depending. If I car in heavy traffic now, it costs more and takes that long, and I can't read while I'm doing it.

[mmegaera]

There are many, many reasons I don't live in the Bay Area any longer, but I suspect if I was to make a list, the cost of rent would be right up there. I'd forgotten how awful it was until I read this post, and I lived and worked clear over in Contra Costa County back then.

[azurelunatic]

It's basically three times what it was in Phoenix, or more.

It is lovely here and my bones call it home, but I'm really going to have to figure out something more affordable.

[mmegaera]

I know that feeling. I couldn't move away from the Seattle area if my life depended on it. I could live more cheaply elsewhere, but leaving would break my heart.

[azurelunatic]

(and so THEN THE CABLE BILL HITS. Time to pay a visit to my friends at the co-branch with whatever I can dredge out of my purse.)

[tim]

Hayward kind of looks like a neutron bomb hit. If you want suburban and bland, you have to go a little further south. IMO, Hayward combines the worst parts of city life and suburban life. (Unless you're up in the hills, but then you lose both cheapness and public transit.)