Ask HN: Have any of you moved back home to save money?
I had to move from NYC to Oklahoma to save SimulaVR (<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;SimulaVR&#x2F;Simula" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;SimulaVR&#x2F;Simula</a>).  This was over a year ago, and I&#x27;m still here. Because of this I have saved an <i>enormous</i> amount of money (such that I&#x27;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&#x27;s been very hard to explain to VCs who are still pattern matching on previous waves of startups.<p>With that said, there has also been an <i>enormous</i> cost to this: living somewhere besides a major city. Yes, it&#x27;s true that SF&#x2F;NY have <i>horrific</i> 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 <i>indisputably</i> better in every way than anywhere else in the country.  People work much harder (and on cooler projects) in these cities. There&#x27;s an extravagance to them that you simply can&#x27;t find anywhere else, and if you&#x27;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&#x27;t ever think that things are easy now that you&#x27;re living in an easy city.  You&#x27;re still competing against the same odds (and in some cases: the same people) who are grinding 100 hours&#x2F;week back in NYC&#x2F;SF.<p>As long as you account for this, moving elsewhere can be a great tool to save an enormous amount of money.