<prompt> Human: This May I will finally be moving back home to the bay area with my girlfriend she is French. I am super excited, but also extremely worried that Im going to have a really hard time adjusting financially. Here in France I am in a program where my room and board are taken care of, and I have a very small monthly salary. I work with kids everyday and overall my life is pretty great because I have never had to really worry about expenses. nbsp;When I move back to California that will all change. nbsp;Here is where I stand financially:nbsp;2.5k in checking plane flight home not purchased yet10k in ESPP which I can sell if needed15k in roth IRA10k in 401knbsp;0 debtnbsp;Ive gotten the okay from my parents that we can stay at their place until September if need be.nbsp;A car will be necessary.nbsp;I will need a job asap. Would like to pursue something in an IT field, however the only real experience I have is the work Ive done on my own freelancing. I have no problem working desktop support or help desk and I have heard its possible to get these entry level positions without experience.nbsp;Im usually pretty good with all this stuff, but Im feeling really overwhelmed right now. I would really appreciate some advice.Assistant: The Bay Area housing market is going to get very real very quickly.Youre going to need firstlastdeposit almost everywhere. Rent is out of control in most areas. The upside is that jobs are plentiful, especially foot-in-the-door techie jobs.Hopefully your parents live where public transport is accessible. That will make your life and your finances a lot easier to deal with.Youll have 4 months to find a job and save up enough to move out. With a 2K-3Kmonth place, that means 6k-9k. There are cheaper places to live, but you pay the price in your commute. That also means that between the two of you, you should be making 75k annually to justify a 2kmonth housing expense. almost everywhere else in the world, spending 13 on housing is too much, but its hard to avoid in the bay area.Abandon any ideas you have about pets. That makes housing that much more difficult of a find.I would avoid purchasing a car if you can get away with it. Youre going to have a hard time anyways without a job lined up and 6 months of pay history. Planning on spending a budgeted amount on uberzip carsetc. can work - a lot of people do it. Its just harder and harder the further east and into affordable housing areas you get.I would avoid dipping into retirement funds at all costs. Lean on family. Live frugally. If you absolutely need a car, look into uberlyft short term rentallease programs. The way it works is that you get a car to drive around in and you commit to 75 rides a week. Which is a LOT of hours, but its also income that you are earning right out of the gate, a job that you can turn on and off at will when you have interviews to go to for a better job, and transportation to those interviews. Save everything because youre going to give that car right back the day you get another job. The costs are only worth it IF you have no car and you have no other income solution. Its actually a decent way to network with people when you are job hunting.Human: Thank you so much. We will be in the south bay suburbs, where public transportation is terrible. I will look into the whole uber thing. Maybe leasing one is the best option, but I have heard nothing but bad things about that. Either way, that means I will have to be spending money on insurance and gas, which makes me feel like I should just find a cheap reliable honda to drive around in.  <response>: I live in the south bay San Mateo currently, San Jose previously. Both places I take caltrain to work. Makes it very easy to share a car with two people. 