Housing — whether it's renting an apartment in a major city, living in student dorms, or financing a home — tends to be a big money suck.
But it doesn't have to be.
From living in company parking lots to making 713-mile commutes overseas, people all over the world have found creative ways to live on the cheap. We aren't recommending you take these tactics ... unless you're ready for a serious lifestyle change of the biggest kind.
Here are 12 of the more extreme measures people have taken to save on the costs of housing:
A Google employee lives in a 128-square-foot truck in the company parking lot.
The 23-year-old software engineer's one recurring cost is truck insurance ($121 a month) — and he's saving 90% of his income by avoiding an overpriced San Francisco apartment.
He's used the savings to pay down student loans, get a head start on investing, and set aside money for his goal of traveling the world in a few years.
Read more about Brandon's story.
A San Francisco woman is living on a 136-square-foot sailboat.
Sarah Carter, 23, opted out of settling into an outlandishly priced San Francisco apartment and moved onto a sailboat instead.
She pays for electricity and water, as well as a small monthly docking fee, which includes internet access. Her housing costs add up to about $350 a month — not bad considering the median rent for a one-bedroom apartment in San Francisco is $3,500 a month.
Read more about Sarah's story.
A college student decided to build a 145-square-foot tiny home instead of pay to live in a dorm.
Joel Weber took one look at the cost of residence halls at the University of Texas at Austin (about $1,135 per month) and knew dorm life wasn't for him.
To save on student housing, he constructed a tiny house in a friend's backyard for less than $15,000. He now pays nothing in rent and plans to graduate debt-free.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider