Hello everyone! If you’ve clicked on this blog you’ve probably dreamt about moving to a big city, but are worried about the financial burdens of making the move. Well today we have a special guest writer, Mateo Ledbetter, who has lived frugally in major cities including Chicago, New York, Anchorage, and Los Angeles. He will share 5 simple tricks that he’s used over the years to save money across America’s beautiful cities. Mateo take it away!

1. Find a roommate

Finding a place to live before moving to a new city can be extremely stressful. You need to have somewhere to rest your head at night, and its difficult to pick a place without seeing it in person. To make things easier you should chose a city in which you already know someone that is living there. Ask that person if you can crash on the couch for a month or so while you look for your own place or while you’re “looking” for a job. They will probably offer you more than the couch and you’ll find yourself with a nice set up in the extra room they have. It helps if this person is someone you can take advantage of, because the plan here is to live with this person as long as you can without paying for rent. Telling them you’ll just be there while you’re getting your bearings straight is just to buy time. Eventually this person will either forget that you were supposed to move out 7 months ago or they will be too afraid to confront you about it.

2. Find free events

Especially during the warmer months, cities will have numerous community events going on that welcome anyone to join. These could be music festivals, career fairs, pride events, etc. Wherever you think they may be handing out free t-shirts, water bottles, or food, you need to be there. This can be done by googling events in your city and scoping out the ones with the most potential resources. But don’t stop there, avoid showering for a few days and pretend to be homeless. Homeless shelters or churches would be happy to bring you in for a place to sleep or for a warm meal. If you are questioning whether or not this is ethical, remember that you yourself are technically homeless because you are just living at your friends place and don’t have a home for yourself.

3. Use public transit

Every major city has some form of public transit and as Detroit’s people-mover and Q-line show, they can be very useful for it’s residents. However, public transit could cost you 60 cents to a few dollars and we’re trying to cut out as many unnecessary costs as possible, so there is a more affordable form of public transportation you can use.

Bird scooters and those alike can be found littered all over the city, and all you need to do is take a few minutes out of your day to learn how to hack into one and be free to travel around town.

4. Buy a gun

Sometimes push comes to shove and you need to rob convenience stores. I don’t condone robbing people at gunpoint as it is dangerous and immoral, but a simple solution to this is to buy a fake gun to carry out your robbery.

Find a convincing looking gun online that will trick clerks at corner stores into thinking its a real robbery. Purchasing a ski mask will prevent you from being caught, but if that is out of your budget just use your “gun” to steal one. Have your get away scooter ready to go out front and get to safety as quick as possible. This gun will be your biggest expense at ≈$20, but the return on investment is through the roof. You’ll never have to pay for anything again.

5. Move again

Bird scooters run out of battery and local police stations receive numerous calls from convenience store owners about armed robberies. Your friend kicks you out because he doesn’t “want to be an accomplice to a criminal” even though you explained to him over and over that it’s not a real gun. The community bans you from attending events and you find yourself as an outsider in a once welcoming neighborhood. Cities change and so do people, which means it may be time to move on to a new, exciting place. You take the lessons learned and experiences gained from each city and use them wherever you decide to call home next.

I hope these 5 simple tricks will help those of you that have been considering a move to the city of your dreams!

– Mateo L. –

(The opinions in this blog are solely those of Mateo Ledbetter, who is not directly affiliated with notamish.com)