Have any of you moved back home to save money?

I had to move from NYC to Oklahoma to save SimulaVR (https://github.com/SimulaVR/Simula). This was over a year ago, and I'm still here. Because of this I have saved an enormous amount of money (such that I'm still able to work full time on SimulaVR while I search for VC funding elsewhere). The other co-founder of Simula is also remote (in Germany). Since this was pre-pandemic, it's been very hard to explain to VCs who are still pattern matching on previous waves of startups.

With that said, there has also been an enormous cost to this: living somewhere besides a major city. Yes, it's true that SF/NY have horrific governance, regulatory policies, taxes, and so forth (which cause high rents). The groupthink there is also unbearable. Other than these issues, however, these cities are indisputably better in every way than anywhere else in the country. People work much harder (and on cooler projects) in these cities. There's an extravagance to them that you simply can't find anywhere else, and if you're not careful, living elsewhere can eat at you subconsciously. Reading (or listening) to books of people doing great things is a good way to combat this: your brain can't ever think that things are easy now that you're living in an easy city. You're still competing against the same odds (and in some cases: the same people) who are grinding 100 hours/week back in NYC/SF.

As long as you account for this, moving elsewhere can be a great tool to save an enormous amount of money.

Something that the pandemic and the associated housing churn offers to young and childless city dwellers is the opportunity to move somewhere they can find a sense of community, which for many is something that is lacking in their lives as evidenced by the long HN threads on the very real subject of alienation felt by young workers in physically anonymous environments.

They might find this back in the small town they came from, or it might be just in another neighborhood of the same city that has more of a sense of community. It's not unusual for large impact events like this to cause people to consider switching to different style of life - and matching setting - that involves getting more connected with the people who live around them, or moving to a place more amenable to that.

I've already seen several examples of this happening on a local level, so I figure it's a real sub-trend among the many sudden human movement patterns initiated by the pandemic.

I'm 29, live in the Bay Area, and recently moved back to my parents place. At first I was embarrassed, but while running around the neighborhood I keep bumping into old high school and college classmates who did the same thing in order to save money. Like you said there's nothing to do anyway since everything fun is closed. I'm also saving about $2500 per month (more or less) and hanging out with my family is nice. Honestly, your parents will be happy to have you back anyway. There's nothing lame about moving back home since a lot of people are doing it and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Yup. Living with parents. Cancelled my lease (saving $3500/mo). My manager agreed to let me stay at home at least for the rest of 2020. Honestly, it's been nice. My mom cooks for me like I'm a teenager again, and I only recently graduated and I went to school pretty close to home so I have close HS friends or college friends nearby to physically distanced socialize. I was planning on moving back here in the future but if a lot of companies start permanent WFH I might accelerate my timeline.

In my home are 6 males over 18, me and my 5 sons. Three of us work FT & it's just enough to keep our head above water.

One son just graduated HS & will enter his final year of trade school this fall. His twin is entering his senior year of HS.

During most of the post-2008 recovery (that news orgs endlessly crowed about, especially after 2012) we ate rice, being unable to afford beans or anything else. Some days we ran our of rice.

From my perspective, most of the recovery was limited largely to shareholders & wealthy metro areas.

I don't fault or credit any PotUS for terrible years or less terrible years. I do, however, hold some lingering resentment for news orgs that stayed resolutely out of touch with all but select sq mi of the US. It's hard to not feel they earned whatever oblivion they may find themselves staring into.

:) It gives me a smile and good feeling to read below comments. Seeing americans living indians life. Living at parents home, good old moms cooking and she's complaining about dad to you while cooking.

There's no shame in moving back in with your parents, as long as they and you get along, and as long as you keep making something of yourself. I lived with my parents for seven and a half years after getting my bachelor's degree. The first two and half of those years I did music freelance, after which I landed my current full-time job in IT (but I've kept up the music too). I saved up a bunch and then a few months ago, shortly before turning 31, I bought a house.

I'd like to boast that it was very careful and farsighted financial planning on my part, but it really wasn't. I'm just good enough at appreciating the living moment that I didn't feel the same urge to move out that my peers felt.

You're not alone. A lot of my peers in their 20s have already moved back in with their parents or were already with them to begin with (if their parents lived in the area). Some of the moved cross country shortly after the WFH orders went into place - presumably to save money.

If you get along with your family well enough, where they live makes sense for your job (internet/timezone), and they have the space to house you for then why not do it.

I won't be doing it for multiple reasons but I feel like I'm the minority. Most of my peers get along with their parents. (would be hard for them to break into the SF Bay Area with no parental support) I don't get along with mine - so I'll continue to pay out my ass to rent a substandard living space.

I moved out of NYC after the 2001 Al Qaeda attacks and back to my parents. There wasn't the same level of lockdown, and the 14 days I was stuck in SF when my 9/12 flight was canceled seems quaint now.

I used the change to learn python, improve my html & css skills, cook, and garden, all while consulting for my former employer. My parents were happy to come home to a meal every night and our relationship grew into friendship. My younger brother moved home a year later. Within a year, we had each found our "dream job" 90 minutes from home in opposite directions.

I left home fairly early and none of my school friends were still in town. The internet wasn't nearly as social as it is today. Going to see friends and doing freelance work in Brooklyn were the social highlights of the time.

In my neighborhood now, lots of younger people, many of color, are moving back in with their parents. In some cases, the parents have lost their jobs. The return to the nest is helping my community survive as these people are doing remote work or getting essential jobs and helping make ends meet. I am expecting foreclosures in the coming months, but these families are in a better position to weather it because of the returning income.

edit: In my mid-40s, I would move back in with my parents in a heartbeat. SARS-CoV-2, though, would likely hurt them more than me, so I'm staying clear.

I moved into my parent’s house for a spell several years ago to save money for a down payment. (Married, one kid, brought the au pair with us, lol.) These days, my parents live about 10 minutes away and we sleep over a couple of weekends a month. If we didn’t already live out in the exurbs near them we would have moved in with them during COVID.

Living closely with family is routine outside the US and is only considered “lame” in a handful of developed countries.

This is maybe a bit too personal, but unfortunately I am not allowed to leave my country if I go back because of my mandatory military duty, the one which I do not plan to waste 2 years of my life on.

I miss my family and the city in general, our orchard and the foodporn-quality fruits such as peaches with skin that peels just like butter, sometimes I just question if it is all worth it. And probably is, but it feels definitely unfair to have to choose A or B, not a mix.

I’m 29 and living in downtown Manhattan at the moment. I decided to re-sign for my lease, which would have ended this month, after negotiating some concessions from my landlord.

Everyone’s got different priorities, but I enjoy living here and I’ve budgeted to account for my rent even if my job situation changes drastically.

Lockdown was unpleasant-but-tolerable through the worst of it (end of March -> end of April), and at this point I’ve got a good system for dealing with another one.

Generally though, I’m concerned that other states and municipalities aren’t going to deal with a resurgence as well as the NYC metro area might. My family lives in New Jersey, so I’d be comfortable going out there if I felt that I had to, but I’d absolutely prefer paying to stay in NYC over returning to family living in most of the other US states.

I will probably be doing that. Because of corona, I lost my job. In my case, I was living as an expat. Now I'm waiting for an offer from another company. If it's not good enough, then I will move back and take a year off to try new things like working remotely.

I don't want to work at a place that I don't really like, especially when I am living alone in abroad and there's a high risk of second wave coming. I guess it's time to take a break and focus on myself and my family.

Also was in NYC. My inlaws have a place in CT with a basement that is larger than my NYC apartment. Moved out a few months ago and won't be renewing. Might move back to the city in 6-12 months covid dependent but for now, I'm thinking we'll sit tight and enjoy the summer and fall in the foothills of the berkshires. no garbage on the street, lush green mountains all around. really hard to want to go back to the city at this point...

We are in the process of moving back to our home town of Eau Claire, WI from Minneapolis. Doubling our apartment space for $500 less. It's only 90 mins away from the city, so when we need an international airport again, it's still close.

Eau Claire is a beautiful city with a ton of outdoors activities, and endless biking/running trails. For a town of it's size, the restaurant scene is also quite diverse. We only did a few years in MPLS, and while I did like a lot of it, I couldn't stand not being able to go anywhere with it being absolutely packed.

Sort of. I moved back to my hometown to an old (and I mean old) family flat that my father owns that is 2 minutes walk from my parents house.

Honestly, I wanted to shoot my self in the face every day. I love my parents, but I left their home and city at 17 and coming back after 20 years just made me realize I rather starve than live in that shitty hellhole I grew up on.

Sorry, not related, but fuck, I hate that town!

I never left. I lived ~3000 feet from the hospital where I was born for most of my life. I currently live 10 miles from my birth place. I am you could say a very provincial person. I love New Hampshire, even if it does not love me.

As a web dev I've eschewed some opportunities in order to stay here, where I'm in a sort of professional solitary confinement. It is hard to know if its been the right move (professionally, intellectually, etc) because the tradeoffs are not at all linear. So I don't know if I've ever "saved money" but I certainly don't have to make the same tradeoffs. (I wake up with the sun and a rooster, I have lots of space all to myself and my family, there is no crime to speak of, etc. But it's not "fun" like NYC is fun, I am sure).

Such professional solitary confinement makes me very, very grateful for Twitter and Hacker News.

Let's calm down in the comments with assumptions about what people's relationships with their parents look like. E.g., some people's parents get in the way of dating, some don't. Some would be happy to see you again, some wouldn't. Some have room to take you, some don't! Talk about your own experience.

My experience is that my parents live in a national COVID hotspot so... yeah no. Also moving while we're in a pandemic ain't fun--I'm moving in with a SO.

For me, pretty certain I’m staying in San Francisco.

Leaving was my original plan for this year. My late boyfriend had never lived outside the Bay Area, we decided were going to change that. Since his passing in March, that’s not an option for us anymore.

Why stay? My close friends - some of whom I have known and worked with for 15 years - all live here now. My boyfriend was an only son; being near his mother for mutual support has made this process a bit easier for us.

While moving away would be a good way to reset after losing my boyfriend, I feel that would be too much change to handle.

That’s not to say that things are staying the same around here. Two of my three roommates have cohabitated together here as a couple; and are indeed moving back to the Midwest soon - giving up their bedrooms.

That leaves two of us in a (rare for SF) 4 bedroom 3 bath house; which sets us all back about $4200/month.

I am not yet willing to give up my lease and head for the Suburbs at that low of a cost. Though not rent controlled, we’ve not had a rent increase since 2016.

It’s not just a cheap house. It’s got a lot of benefits. I have a backyard. I’m not sure a new landlord would install 7.2kW EV charging in the garage. I don’t share walls with neighbors. Once life gets social again, I’ll resume enjoying a 20 minute walk or 4 minute drive to the Castro, Haight-Ashbury, or Inner Sunset. If we are in this for the long-haul, I’ve got the interior greenbelt to hike.

If I consider staying in the Bay Area, it’s not substantially cheaper to rent (in comparison) outside of the City for single family homes. The quality of life for me suffers if I had to travel into SF - time, tolls, BART/Caltrain delays - it’s not worth the hassle even mostly working from home.

My plan is to wait for the housing bubble to burst again, and ride this out. I’m not moving back to the sauna like humidity and the frigid cold of the Midwest.

Nothing prevents me from asking for a rent decrease though.

Having my own place has really helped with my social life and relationships. It's nice to have a place to invite people over that you can call your own.

To hijack this thread, has anyone moved places in the same city to decrease their rent? In SF right now rents are taking a pretty big dip and I’m thinking about moving apartment.

I don't see anything wrong with that, but also depends on your lifestyle and relationship with your parents. Your dating life will suffer unless you're cool with bringing a random person home with your parents there. I'm sure your parents will enjoy the short term company and can help them with chores and throw them some cash.

I am a 30-year-old female who lives with my 70-year-old, widowed Mom in California. She's not doing great financially and is sick, so I help her a lot, and provide company as she gets pretty lonely. Been protecting her a lot from going out too much since the pandemic started, so that's sort of worked out. I'm not sure if those of you who say it limits dating options are men, but for me, my options haven't been limited at all. And in the past few months, I have noticed a lot of men I've spoken to on dating apps are back at home. I have continued to talk to them and don't think anything of it. I get it -- it's a pandemic, it's smart to save money, and honestly our parents could do with the help right now. Helping them means they don't need to go out as much, reducing their risk. So if you're a man worried about this, which I suspect some of you are, don't! The only issues: 1) sometimes I fear my Mom has become too dependent on me for social needs and what not, and it can be a lot. But this is something I am trying to work on. 2) the stigma I face weirdly is when I read threads like this lol and read people calling people like me "losers." It does make me feel pretty badly about myself, irrationally so. But normally when I tell people in real life about my situation, nobody really cares that much. Some people say it's wonderful my Mom has me. I think to make this work, be of value to your parents, whether that's helping them financially or just being a social support. Just make sure it stays healthy, and it should be fine.

I was going to move to Singapore in June. Rather than re-singing my lease, I bought a pickup and a camper. I only plan on doing RV life until October-ish, and then if the world is still on lockdown I'll find somewhere for the winter. Annoyingly all leases seem to be 1-year, and anything less has a crazy markup. I'm inclined to purchase some land, put up a steel kit building, and make it a home/shop space for the winter.

I had previously worked at a terrible startup, lost my job, and moved to Oakland to cut costs. I think I save 50%.

With COVID-19 there was no point to live in San Francisco anyways, my neighborhood is more peaceful, I have more space, better weather and there is less social unrest. My breaking point was a mob destroying my neighborhood in SF.

That's fine. But why pay Manhattan or SF rents if there's no social life (or, it's tainted at best).

I would never move back in with parents. Firstly, it would be a privilege to have a loving relationship with parents and which I don't have. They were abusive people and the world will be better when they rot to nothingness. In any case I would consider living with parents while you're close to 30 or older as a disadvantage in the dating world. I can understand moving out of the city to save money but how much more are you saving while living with parents unless you're mooching off of them?

The covid-19 travel restrictions have unfortunately delayed an international move for me. I'm not considering moving back home, but in the event that the restrictions are not lifted before my current lease expires, I will certainly be trading my expensive urban apartment for something more remote and closer to nature. All of the advantages of city life are inaccessible for the foreseeable future, so why not move?

I can rent an entire house for half of what I'm currently paying for an apartment!

Yeah, I did this in November, quit my job of 5 years that I loved doing, left the city and moved back with my dad. Timing probably couldn't have been better. Would have sucked hard being out in the city during this covid stuff. I've had a few jobs since moving back, none have been as good or even as enjoyable, i've managed to keep working fairly consistenly though. So far i've managed to save more money over 6 months than I was able to save over the last 5 years and that's still with paying rent and bills and stuff.

But, it's hard being away from my girlfriend, she's living with her parents not too far from here but far enough we don't see eachother anywhere near as much as we'd like, living with my dad as an adult has been a bit challenging. We've both been used do having our own space and lives and stuff for over a decade now, so there's been a bit of stress and such.

Personally though, I'm looking forward to getting my own place again but I don't think I'm going to go back to the city. It wasn't worth the stress and cost of living.

Every Haskell programmer I know lives with his parents.

Try what I believe will become a common practice in the next ten years. Buy your parent’s house, they keep the cash on the condition they build a secondary detached dwelling in the yard. Aka granny suite. It’s a great deal, you get a house with a separate apartment. When they pass away, it’s an income property at no expense to you. Plus they help raise your kids while you help them in old age.

I moved with my girlfriend from our apartment in Amsterdam to her family holiday home on an island in South-Eastern Europe. We save a decent amount of cash (our rent+utilities was 2000€ alone) and live an amazing life here.

Definitely considering to find remote-only positions in the future. Currently my company allows me to wait out COVID anywhere within roughly the same timezone.

I did that 7 years ago. I was 28 years old and by that time spent all of my adult life chasing startups (both my own and helping others) without much to show for.

After living abroad (London, Berlin, Kuala Lumpur) I got back to small village of 1500 in the middle of nowhere, worked remotely and also bought some land to farm.

It was a big change to be back in place where I never fit in as a child (and escaped as soon as I could at the age of 15) and where I still struggle with small town mentality till this day. But it was also much needed break that gave me opportunity to not work that much, meet people whom live doesn't revolve around startups and after all I see it as a positive life event.

I've lasted there for 9 months or so and then moved to a city nearby, where I still live till this day. I am back in tech 4 days a week and then coming to my farm for two days a week. I would say my "sabbatical" helped me build new foundations of my current life.

Honestly, I hope one of the side-effects of the current crises is that there is a re-assessment of the value of multi-generational households. We are currently in the process of building a new home (planned before Covid-19) that will accommodate my wife's senior mother as well as provide a future shared home for our son.

My Bay Area tech company is likely WFH due to Corona until as late as next February. I question daily why not immediately move to a lower COL town, at least until then? If I was single and renting, I already would have gotten out of here, but it's slightly more complicated/difficult with a family and mortgage and a house to sell.

The two reasons I can think of not to move:

1. End of WFH happens, and Company says, "Well everyone, back to the office! Now I'm screwed and have to move back to the Bay Area or quit. Bringing me to...

2. If I had to look for a new tech job in Nowheresville, USA, how many months (years) would it take?

Unfortunately, working in tech tends to handcuff you to the expensive Bay Area or other expensive hubs. If it weren't for these areas' relatively secure pool of jobs to choose from, there's no way I'd choose to live here.

I lived my parents until I was 25. I payed off my student loans, saved up a 20% down payment, and purchased a house 5 minutes from my work. I think the few years of sacrificing my social life has put me on a better trajectory. They didn't insist on rent but I paid $300/mo for their generosity.

Not sure if you still have friends at home, but perhaps the most fun period of my life was living at home after grad school working a low-wage job. I spent a ton of time with my old buddies drinking and playing games like MTG. I moved to another city to get a "real" job and ended up living here for the last six years. I've met a lot of cool people here and been much more successful career-wise, but honestly I'd love to go back in the next few years before I'm really old and enjoy the time with my friends and my parents while they're still around. You may or may not have similar draws where you're from, but if you do I'd just say it might feel like a retreat at first but actually end up being a great time in your life.

Nope. Got a wife and three kids :)

But fortunately we live in a very affordable town, still quite near the big city.

I know some people who do that. They are still single years later, but they saved a lot of money.

Kind of. Live in a big city, but have in-laws an hour and a half away.

We go out there on the weekends, and occasionally for a week or more while her parents are on vacation or otherwise out of the house. We can both work remotely, so it's mostly how much we feel like being in rural Canada. We're in a great location downtown, but it's moot when you're unable to go to anything nearby.

Her folks live on a forested acreage, and we can do long walks with their dogs, go for bike rides, etc. They are in the city at least once a week anyway for work and other obligations, so it's not like I'm exposing them to stuff they're not already getting... But it's definitely a good change of pace.

I don't think it's lame. If you get along with your family then it's amazing you have that opportunity. You can pay them rent and save and it benefits your whole family.

I'm 30, in grad school, and moved back in with my parents just prior to the corona lockdown.

I didn't break my old lease, so I didn't save much money until last month when the lease was up. I thought I was going to move out again around August but with nothing opening up I don't really see a point in it, and will probably live here for the foreseeable future. Plus, I actually really enjoy living at home.

I feel vaguely embarrassed about it but with nothing open it doesn't really come up much.

Not me, but I've seen a lot of people moving in with their parents. In most cases, these are people fresh out of college, but some of them are in their late 30s or 40s.

This thread has made me feel a bit better about my situation. I'm a 25-year-old who may end up having to move back in with family if I can't find new work by the end of August. So far June has been pretty fruitless. Optimistic about the next couple months but moving back in is definitely a last-resort for me, mostly because it would be a huge hassle to move all my stuff into storage and travel from California to Idaho.

My wife and I did this in 2005/6.

Best thing that we ever did. We had a great time with her parents and were able to save for a significant down payment, which saved us a fortune.

We went a step further and moved to the provinces. Whatever excitement we lost in NYC is made up for by a better life in almost any measure.

If you really go to hacker meetups/etc, you may lose something, but I find most people like the idea of doing that more than the doing.

I also have a lease in NYC set to expire in September and plan not to renew it in favor of moving back home to Colorado. My hope is I'll be able to find remote work and pay off my student loans in one year while COVID blows over. No reason to pay exorbitant rent prices in a city where I cant take advantage of any of the benefits bc of the lockdown. I'm thinking this will be a nice retreat into nature.

I can't be the only one in that I grew up in a very conservative and religious environment and towne (think end-of-the-world-but-not-quite-cult-belief-group); and while I'd love to spend more time with my family I honestly don't think I could take it.

Many years ago I engineered the situation to be that I am purposefully multiple states away and while I wish I wasn't as far, I am glad I am.

A lot of parents have no social life. This will only get worse with age. When you move back in with them, you give them a false sense of a social life and friendship, which will leave an even bigger hole when you move. Something to keep in mind.

Edit: For all the people negging - the point is that you should encourage your parents to have a social life, which is proven to be good for health, happiness, etc.

I've made several trips to visit my parents while working, even redirecting mail once. But I still have an apartment in the bay area. I'm sure my family would be happy if I moved in for awhile. But I like my apartment, and I would expect that officially moving out of the bay area would come with a salary cut, I don't think it would save me that much money.

My friend just did this last month. Moved back in with the parents, saving a ton of money. They actually messaged me the other day saying, "Man, my bank account hasn't ever been this full!".

It's causing some stress though, as both they and their parents get used to living under the same roof again, and how the rules might be a bit different now in your mid-20s.

Not now, but when I was 32 I did for about 2.5 years. Saved up and bought a house after. I don't regret it at all, though I do wish I had been more social during that time (I figured it wasn't worth it as I was only going to stay a year or so originally). It's a great way to save money if you can work remotely.

Wife and I moving back to our home town. Although all our friends are in SF, it's miserable working from a small apartment and not being able to see our friends. Our destination happens to be in one the places that is covid free right now though. We plan on moving back to SF if/when things clear up

Not an option, and boy do I wish it was.

OP, I'm your age.

I'm still paying my lease in Austin, but I went back to the East Coast to be closer to family in early March. My one bedroom apartment in a busy part of town turned into a huge drawback once this all started, especially since I have a large dog. He's been enjoying the yard.

Honestly I've thought about it, but not to save money per se, but because I'm angling to switch my full time gig from software to music, which is far less lucrative. But yeah, I say you should go for it, COVID-19 isn't going away anytime soon.

Spend time with your family, evaluate your trajectory in life. This will make you stronger.

5 years in USA (2 years Masters and 3 years as a software engineer). Moved back to India couple months ago. Already saved enough in two months which wouldve taken 6 months in USA. Well, I also live cheap and invest a lot on Gold.

no, since I own my apartment, currently saving for second one (could already buy at least another 2-3 apts in my hometown with what I have), the monthly savings would be negligible, while quality of life would be significantly lowered especially for my children

I mean if you own apartment what you will save, the rest of your expenses is almost same anywhere you move, the difference in service prices is negligible

though we stayed at father's place like a year with child after moving back to Europe while looking for apartment and doing paperwork, once the apartment was ready we moved out immediately

I'm switching jobs and i want to go backpacking for a year, so yeah. If you don't have a SO and don't plan to go "socialize" in the short term this is not a bad idea imo.

My NYC lease got renewed in Feb just before all of this.

If I was on the summer cycle I’d be moving to the burbs.

Edit: landlord said they’d consider letting me out for 2-3 months of rent paid as a fee. That’s 7-10k.

I've been allowed to continue working from home (at my parents' house) since lockdown and save 800€/month (half of my paycheck) :)

Definitely go home if your folks are sane. A lot of my friends broke their leases and are back with their parents/families or siblings.

I moved to Veracruz, Mexico partly to save money, partly to learn Spanish. I pay $75/mo for a room in a fully furnished apartment.

Kind of, I chose not to renew my lease in NYC and go live relatively far from work with my significant other and her mom.

Home is in a different timezone + I rent a non-furnished place.

That’s really the issue with renting furnished, you can’t easily move.

I've been thinking of doing this in order to save a bit more for house deposit in London.

Depends on your age a little, at 20 OK, 30 mostly OK, at 40, hmm.

Lame or not, I'd do it @ 28 & single :p

Moved from CA to NV in March. Then Covid began. Super happy here now.

No income tax, less liberal BS, friendly people.

yup, at 40 and after my divorce.

No way in hell my parents would take me back in and no way in hell I'd deal with that again.

That being said, I really wish I could because I might be able to afford going back to school in that case.

Nope, my parents are capitalists so they’d charge me rent anyways.

No, I'm an adult.