OK, I'll just keep saying it: People don't have to live like this. My total monthly expenses are less than half of this woman's rent. I have a tiny mortgage I'll pay off in a fifth of the loan's term. Anyone could do what I have done. But if you say this, people freak out. They call it "low status" to live in genuinely affordable areas, call it "giving up" to reduce your expenses and live simply, or falsely claim there are "no jobs" in cheap-real-estate areas. It seems like many, many people subscribe to an ideology which aims to send young people into the level of misery this young woman is in. They want the prime years of peoples lives to be stress-filled, choked with ambition for worthless luxury and status, and those who believe in these ideas have no problem extolling family values while insisting that all young people take a course of action that is the least compatible with starting families. If young people are struggling to get a good start wherever they are, they should buy a cheap house spend a few years fixing it up and building some savings. When you're living on $900/mo or less, any job allows you to rapidly save. This is not "giving up," nor is it "low status" -- this type of risk, effort, flexibility, and determination quite literally built America. Maybe it's not for everyone, but to act as if it isn't a potentially great option for most young people is delusional.
@shagbark_hick I found @mrmoneymustache right at my first mortgage and babies/daycare costs on the way. My wife and I work public service so our cash was low. The FIRE mindset didn’t set me on a path to early retirement, but I found exactly where to make the most savings and how to invest.