You must have either been worked to death or extremely incurious. I've lived all over the world and currently spend my time between Sydney and NYC. I moved here on a shoestring, ran a startup for the first year and half I was here, sold my share and went on to contracting (at startups, go figure!) and am about to launch yet another one.
I have mates that live in Bushwick (20 minutes from Manhattan on the L) that get by just fine on ~$400/week. I live in SoHo (in a bloody duplex, no less) and pay less than you did for your 500sq foot apartment.
Do you split your time evenly, or spend a little time in Sydney, and a lot in NYC? (My sister lives in Melbourne. Someday I'd like to spend winters there, instead of here...)
I have mates that live in Bushwick (20 minutes from Manhattan on the L) that get by just fine on ~$400/week. I live in SoHo (in a bloody duplex, no less) and pay less than you did for your 500sq foot apartment.