And be married

I managed a house by 30. The trick is to do everything you can to avoid contributing to capitalism. Contribute as little as possible when you have to.

I cycle instead of owning a car, the tablet I am typing on was second hand, I cook every single meal from raw ingredients and I am starting to grow some of the more expensive ones so I don't even have to buy them.

i've been walking everywhere, never eating out, never going to the movies, never going to theme parks, never taken a vacation, never buying new electronics, for my entire adulthood. my laptops have all been hand-me-downs and i've owned literally 3 smartphones in 20 years, all ultra-budget models, two of which were hand-me-downs. i've never not had roommates, sometimes as many as 6 or 7 people to the cheapest fleabag slumlord ass apartment we could find. and i'm still in the fucking red.
you didn't discover some "trick" your privileged ass got fucking lucky. own it.
- The extent of my luck is having a job most of the time. Had a few shitty irregular employment roles but otherwise I saved most of it in a retail role.
My income is very close to the cost of rent here, and is less than the amount that house prices are increasing each year.
Even if I save every cent of my income and somehow manage to live spending $0, I'm still getting further away from owning a house every year.
You can't just budget your way to success.
- I shared a house with others to keep rent low
- Agree
Unfortunately this straight up just doesn't work in a lot of places
- Share a house to significantly reduce rents

Life pro tip: fight lifestyle inflation/creep. Use all the shampoo. Be conscious of waste. Don't take it to "frugal jerk" levels but just keep in mind that you have to earn every dollar you spend.

At some point, you'll probably be making more money. People tend to choose to take this opportunity to also spend more money. Keep this to a minimum. Do you want to retire in your 40s or in your 80s?

Ah, the "just make more money" solution. Simple.
- No i think the message was dont waste money. OP fumbled yes but his initial point still stands.
- If you are aware from the beginning that your life will be poverty and suffering, you'll maybe be able to deal with the poverty and suffering a tiny bit better when you get there.
- Most people do end up making more money the longer they stick with a job/career. It may still be an unfair wage but a 50 cent raise is still some extra cash at the end of the day, and that little bit can go even farther if you are frugal with it. If you have a surplus of even $50 at the end of a month you can start investing it to at least keep up with inflation or if you're lucky even get ahead a bit.
At some point, you'll probably be making more money.
say you are 35+ without saying so
- nah if you're 30 but spent at least five years in a relationship AND you had career growth in the last five years AND you got out of school without debt AND you haven't had any major setbacks AND you're generally frugal, you should have a decent amount available due to splitting expenses and be making okay income now
  <30 tho idk you might be cooked
- I'm under 35 and I agree with him. The vast majority of people will end up making more money as they get older
- Say you think working retail is a career without saying so.
  If you don't get more earning potential over time you don't have a career, you have a job.
Use all the shampoo.
I don't know why anyone would not do this. The watered-down shampoo spreads easier than its natural form, it's the best part of the bottle.

This is pretty much me rn. Still living with the folks. Bummed out. Not really looking at the marriage thing. A life partner would be nice.

Well, what can I say, it's terrible, but it can be even worse, just imagine if you can't even rent a place to live and you wash yourself on the street...

I can't tell if Jerry is laughing or crying...

We can extrapolate that he filled his mouth with water, and is trying to keep it from spraying out
Yes

2me4me

As someone in their late 20s who just bought a house, I can attest that these little frugal tricks did help quite a bit.

As someone in their early 40s who just bought a house, I can attest that having a well-paying job helps greatly and that watering down the shampoo leavings does not.
- Also mid 40s and just bought my first house. 100% was the new job with significantly higher pay. None of my past efforts at frugality paid any dividends either.
- Im in the process of buying my second house, much bigger on a nice chunk of land. I make good money nowadays but we absolutely 100% would not be able to afford anything at all if we didn't already own a house to sell. We bought it for $100k in 2021 from a grumpy old guy who wouldn't leave during showings and scared everyone off. Thankfully I grew up around grumpy old guys and he liked us enough.
  We're now selling that house for $230k, granted I also entirely rebuilt it the last 4 years and I think we could get more but I like the people buying it. We got lucky all the way through.
- I started with a family business that underpaid me. Couldn't get ahead in my hometown city so i moved to another city with cheaper rents and housing costs. I eventually got a job where my work ethic and previous education and experience makes me almost irreplaceable. I used that as leverage with my boss to get paid a more competitive wage for my skill and responsibility level.
  Before i was employed or got my raises, saving every penny i could kept me afloat. I'd take my neighbors empty beer cans and return them if i noticed them in the bin. I had maybe a month or 2 of living expenses left when i finally found a job in my field. Had i not been frugal from the start i may have had to abandon my whole plan and move back home completely broke before i could land a job.
  Doing 1 frugal trick won't make a big difference. Applying a frugal mindset as often as you can will make a noticeable difference and can give you a little monetary boost to start getting ahead. For example if you have a little extra money, you can stock up on food during a sale. It requires more capital up front but you benefit from a cheaper price long term.
Where and how much money comes from you?
- I pay 100% of the cost and i get it from my trades job that i put 50+ hours a week into. I have 15 years of experience in that trade (i did get lucky starting as a young teen but it did rob some of my youth).
  Its no mansion. Its over 70 years old and only 600 square feet but thats enough for me and I'm handy enough to fix most of the important stuff.
  I used frugal tricks while living in my apartment to save up and invest a little bit. I now use those tricks to keep costs down. Recently I've been doing research on how viable a clothesline in the winter will be.
care to share your line of work with the rest of the class?
- I started in pool services now i work in residential water treatment. Working with wells, filters, and softeners to provide good quality water to rural residents and businesses. I'm unofficially on call and also the emergency help line for customers with equipment issues.
- I did it on UK minimum wage, pretty easy tbh. So line of work shouldn't matter if you live in a 1st world country.