Frugal SF #
Most frugality advice is worthless because it is generic. “Skip the latte” saves you four dollars. Rent control saves me twenty-five thousand dollars a year. The difference between those two is the entire point of this section.
Everything here is something I actually do, with the real numbers attached. San Francisco is expensive, but a lot of that expense is optional and paid by people who never questioned the default.
Housing, the biggest lever by far #
Nothing else on this page comes close. Get this one right and the rest is detail.
Getting around #
Food #
Home cooking is the other half of the food answer, and it has its own section.
Setting up your life for cheap #
- Cut Your Own Hair: A $25 Clipper Pays for Itself
- How to Furnish an SF Apartment for Almost Nothing
- Free Things to Do in San Francisco That Are Actually Worth It
Buy it once #
Subscriptions and tools #
- Cancel Netflix: Your Library Streams Movies for Free
- Stop Paying $40 a Month for AI: Use GLM and Qwen Instead
- How I Host Everything for Free: The Best Free Tiers for Builders