Reply #13: Hold on to that feeling for as long as you can

[BeyondGeography]

Very healthy. I was like that before I started making a little money and having kids. My problem is the process of making money and the sacrifices involved get more absurd to me by the year, but I actually need quite a lot of it.

But enough about me.

Those low-cost rentals are great. Keep the overheads low and you'll have more freedom than a net worth millionaire who's heavily in debt and competing with the Joneses. I had to kill a rat with a baseball bat in my scrappy apartment once, but, hey, the written account was so compelling my landlord gave me a new sheetrock ceiling. Three weeks of no heat in November was too much to take so I moved on, but I was pushing 35 by then...