“Climate Change Loves This Guy”: This Grad Student Took 238 Flights From Los Angeles To San Francisco To Avoid Paying Rent: How To Lower Home Costs (Without Ruining Your Carbon Footprint)

A graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley has given a whole new meaning to the phrase super commute all in one big effort (or a flight, if you prefer) to avoid the Bay Area’s sky-high cost of living.

The student, known as Bill, took 238 flights back and forth from Los Angeles to San Francisco during his transportation engineering master’s program during the 2022-23 academic year.

Do not lose

In that time, he reportedly spent the equivalent of 52.75 days in his commute or more than seven weeks around the clock, which includes time in the air, waiting at airports and driving to and from . She has flown more than 92,000 miles and says she regularly woke up at 3:30 in the morning to catch her flights.

Bill, who fell in love with transportation as a kid, documented his mind-blowing lodging strategy on a now-viral Reddit post and detailed all of his costs on Flyertalk, an Internet forum for the frequent flyer community.

This is probably one of the craziest things I’ve done in my life, she told Reddit. I’m so glad I made it, without missing ANY class which in itself is a miracle.

An epic journey

When Bill found out he had gotten into UC Berkeley, he says he told his colleagues he might have flown to school just to save money and avoid paying Bay Area rent.

They thought he was joking, but to Bill, math made sense.

He checked the price of student housing near the Berkeley campus and found that he would have to pay about $1,600 a month plus utilities for a single room and the lease would be for 12 months when his undergraduate program was technically only eight months long.

The story continues

Over a year, if Bill paid about $100 a month for utilities in addition to rent, his total cost of living would be about $20,400. That’s before the cost of tuition, fees, and student health insurance of about $27,300 for California residents plus other personal expenses like food and transportation, though the latter could be a wash if eating at food outlets of the airport and counted his journey to and from them. .

But thanks to his crazy idea plus a mix of frequent flyer points, airline promotions, credit card hacking and some sly ticket booking tactics, Bill says he ended up paying just $5,592.66 by flying to school. Ultimately, that means he could have saved anywhere between $12,000 and $15,000.

But factoring in the number of days he spent on his commute, at a wage of $25 an hour, he also lost $10,550 of possible income.

His flying habit, while thrifty, has drawn the ire of some climate-conscious Reddit users, with one comment, Climate change loves this guy, while another said, Bro has personally added a degree to world temperatures.

Bill says he wouldn’t advise anyone to attempt such an epic journey. He admits part of the savings was just convincing himself, but the real payoff is the good story and the amazing journey.

Here are some easier ways to reduce housing costs without screwing up your carbon footprint or waiting forever in a TSA line.

to know more: 3 big mistakes people make with cash back credit cards costing them every time they swipe

Limit your financial burden

One of the easiest ways for renters to save money is to find a roommate to split the costs. While you’ll be giving up some privacy, you’ll also enjoy significant savings that you can use to pay off debts or even invest in buying your first home.

If money is tight, you may even have to compromise Where you live. Typically, the farther you are from a major school (in the case of Bills) or a city center, the cheaper your rent will be.

One Reddit user who commented on Bills’ post pointed this out: You could have just lived a little further from campus or had a roommate… absolutely insane to burn miles like that.

Obviously, your commute will be longer if you live further from school or work, but it’s probably nowhere near as extreme as Bills’ 8-hour daily round trip.

It’s also important to be strict with your housing budget. The 30% rule is a popular standard for budgeting, meaning you limit housing costs like rent, utilities, and insurance to no more than 30% of your monthly income.

If you really don’t like the idea of ​​finding a roommate, there are other ways to generate income that can help you defray housing costs.

For example, if you have disposable income, you can always make a little extra money by investing in real estate.

This required thousands of dollars to get a foot in the door. But there are now simple online investment platforms available that don’t require a lot of money to get started.

What to read next

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. Comes without warranty of any kind.