I'm a single woman in San Francisco, renting an apartment for $1300 on my own. (That's actually quite cheap compared to current rates) I bike to work, but own a car that I'd like to get rid of. I spend much more than I'd like, and I'm truly frugal at heart. I just can't shake the spending in these areas:

* Dining out. I spend $400 a month on restaurants. I bring my lunch to work 99% of the time, but at night I frequently take my boyfriend out for dinner.
* Alcohol. This is an area I'd love to cut completely, but it's nearly impossible to "go out" with friends and not imbibe. $150/month
* Cable TV. I read this site and am impressed by everyone who's able to give it up. I just can't.

I'm on an email list of free stuff to do in the SF area, so I scour that for free events.
I really want to cut back on spending in the dining out/booze categories. I've tried to be strong, but the force is weak in me.
I don't think buying a house in the current market is a good idea, I prefer to sink $16k into rent each year.

My goals:
* Reduce dining out costs to $100/month, which should be good for 3 or 4 meals, if my boyfriend chips in for his part.
* Zero out the booze cost. This is healthy for body & wallet. My detox starts tomorrow.
* Sell my car by May 2008. I'm not quite ready to part with it, so I'll get the smog check and renew insurance for another 6 months.
* Find more freelance work to supplement my regular job earnings. I don't need the money to survive, but it gets me closer to my goal of retiring early
* Get rid of the TV?!

I live in San Francisco also. It's possible to live frugally but it really depends on your social circle. I find it much easier now that everybody in my circle are now parents w/ young kids. All we do is get together to let the kids run around while we eat food ordered in bulk. So there's the solution: elope, get knocked up and start hanging out with me.

Good luck.

Hilarious! If only my BF read these forums

I'm in Chicago, which is not SF, but I do understand the social pressures. One of the things I like to do is to try to recruit friends to the free and cheap activities in the city. Friday concerts in the park, movies in the park, and street festivals with a low cover charge. I also like to pretend that by taking advantage of these things, I'm being more frugal than friends in smaller towns

My brother was renting a tiny studio apartment in Menlo Park (right at the border with E. Palo Alto) for $900/month a few years ago, and that on a salary of $35K/year...he had to be very frugal.

TV seems to be the least of your expenses but you say you "can't" give it up -- I'd challenge you to just do it for six months and see. It's amazing how many other things will fill your time, and fill it more productively. I'm not one of those people who views TV as evil, just unnecessary.

Alternatively, keep the TV and spend more time watching it at home instead of going out for dinner, drinks, and other entertainment. Just because you live in a city with a lot of stuff going on doesn't mean you have to participate in it all The problem with free events is not the event itself but the post-event schmoozing with friends...usually if you go out you're going to go to a pub or something afterwards and that's where the money gets spent.

Something to think about: I pay $50/month for cable. If I did not have cable, I would purchase favorite episodes from Amazon Unbox (or similar service) and/or rent DVDs (there are a bunch of places that have $1/night rentals of new releases). This means that if I didn't have cable, I could spend $50 on episodes/DVDs. So in order to justify the use of cable, I need to spend at least 50 hours per month watching TV. ... As an alternative: I have a friend who doesn't have cable, but hooks up his computer to the TV and watches YouTube videos for entertainment.

Living in SF does require a lot of awareness of your financial habits, but it can most certainly be done.

I don't have a TV at the moment, but I'm thinking about getting one, mostly for social reasons (inviting friends over to watch DVDs). I won't get cable, though, but use the free terrestrial broadcast signal. To pick up the digital signal, you'd need an ATSC tuner (most modern LCDs or Plasmas have on built in) and an antenna. The number of channels is not comparable to cable of course, but it's pretty decent. I found a site where you could enter your ZIP code and you'd get a program guide to the free channels available, but I can't find it anymore... But here you can check which stations you'd get: http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option= ... &Itemid=29

My mom has a digital antenna (no cable) and they get a great signal/picture.