10 Most Extreme Money-Saving Methods Around the World

The cost of attending university in the U.S. has skyrocketed in recent years, leaving many questioning its worth. Design expert Joel Weber opted out of pricey dorm life, so he built his own home. A unit on the University of Texas, Austin campus where he attends would set him back $1,500 a month, totaling $72,000 over 4 years. The 25-year-old is saving on living expenses by designing his own tiny house.

The 25-year-old began constructing his future residence before college. It's built on a traditional 4-wheeled trailer, like other tiny homes, crafted to sidestep size requirements in building codes. The design for the structure was entirely Weber's imagination, and he began laying out floor plans with string in his backyard. Weber spent a year building his 145-square-foot mobile home. He designed the home, spending $20,000 to build it. A carpenter and an electrician volunteered their services.

The new tiny home was Joel Weber's almost entirely self-built with assistance from a plumber and an electrician. For a college student in their twenties, Weber admits it was a risk to spend all his savings and emergency fund. To save money, he used recycled materials and even hand-carved the sink in the bathroom from mango wood and epoxy resin.

For young hopefuls looking to tackle hefty student loans, living in a car seems to be a tried and tested, successful solution. Another example of a young man living in a car to save money is the story of a 24-year-old engineer at Tesla. Tesla employee, Jason Roeslein, paid off his $14,000 student loan after living in a truck for 5 months while working for the company. Roeslein conceived the living arrangement idea after moving from Illinois to the Bay Area and realizing the exorbitant rental prices.

Young engineer Jason lived from October 2014 to March 2015 in a 2006 Dodge Sprinter van, or what he fondly called his “wheelhouse studio.” Over 5 months, the millennial man-about-town showered and ate on the company premises and in his gym. By the end of that period, Roeslein had nearly $10,000 in savings that he used to pay off his student debt. Roeslein wasn’t the only one with the money-saving idea of living in a car; indeed, a Tesla employee, then living in a Subaru Forester, gave him the idea to live in a Sprinter truck.

His idea became a reality when Jason Roeslein bought a 2006 Dodge Sprinter on eBay for $13,000 and picked it up in Houston, Texas. Surprisingly, flying to Texas and driving it back was cheaper than buying a used truck in the Bay Area. After the initial down payment for the truck, Roeslein spent a substantial amount repairing it. His main expenses afterward were $100 for car insurance and $75 for a monthly cell phone plan. Roeslein made the most of his living conditions, sleeping in a sleeping bag on a mattress.

As Ken Ilgunas neared the end of his senior year at the University at Buffalo in 2005, he carried a debt of up to $32,000. He majored in the least employable fields he could think of—English and History—and faced rejection from at least 25 paid internships. Ilgunas could have deferred his loans or declared forbearance. He could have asked his parents for help. He could have given up and pursued graduate school until the job market rebounded.

Instead, Ken Ilgunas moved to Alaska and spent two years paying back every penny of that colossal debt. And when he enrolled in graduate school at Duke University afterward, he lived in his truck in a secluded parking lot off-campus, ensuring he wouldn't go into debt again. In his book, 'Walden on Wheels: From Debt to Freedom on the Open Road,' Ken recounts his journey out of debt. He could come and go as he pleased in the parking lot without anyone noticing.

Eventually, Ken Ilgunas set about transforming his truck into a proper home. Over time, it became a mini dorm room. He used plastic bins to store food, supplies, and study materials. He kept his laundry in the front seat. He cooked on a simple camping stove. Ken Ilgunas always charged his headlights and was ready for late-night study sessions. He utilized the campus gym for $34 a semester, providing him with shower facilities.

The average rent for a one-bedroom apartment is around $3,500 a month, a daunting reality all young people face when moving to San Francisco due to exorbitant housing costs. One of them is Sarah Carter, 23, who recently moved to San Francisco to take a new job at a major e-commerce company, found a creative solution to this housing conundrum: Instead of living in an expensive apartment, she switched to living on a sailboat.

Carter had joked about the idea of living on a boat for years but didn't start considering it seriously until January 2014. She was visiting San Francisco and met her friend's sister, who was living on a sailboat with her husband. It seemed like a genuinely perfect fit for her. In early September, she bought her own boat on Craigslist for $9,600. Her living space had a cabin at the rear that comfortably accommodated eight people, a spacious living area, closets and a small bathroom, and a kitchen equipped with a stove, refrigerator, and toaster oven.

Carter pays for electricity, water, and a small monthly docking fee at a marina about 15 minutes from downtown San Francisco, including internet access. She hopes her housing costs will amount to $350 a month, a cost that will vary slightly depending on the amount of electricity she uses. She also doesn't have to face the prospect of renting in the near future. She can live the lifestyle she wants and not be tied down by monthly bills.

Sam Cookney, a 32-year-old working in social media, was renting and deeply disappointed with the prices in London. He realized costs would be cheaper if he actually lived in Barcelona and commuted daily. He crunched the numbers, and they seemed to add up. In a 2013 blog post, he laid out the cost for the commute to London four times a week spanning 930 miles, though Cookney only commuted three or four times a month, concluding he'd save €387 per month.

So, in early 2015, when Cookney found himself looking for a new apartment, he decided to heed his own advice and head south. Cookney, originally from Lancashire and living in London for 9 years, said at that time it seemed like the sensible, rational, and best decision. In June, Cookney packed up and headed to Barcelona. In London, he lived in a shared apartment in Zone 2, paying £700 rent per month. In Barcelona, he found a newly refurbished two-bedroom apartment with a terrace in the Gothic quarter. His bills came to €80 per month.

When Sam Cookney arrived at his office in Farringdon, each commute took about five and a half hours. He woke up around 4:30 a.m. and typically arrived at the office at 9:30 a.m. UK time, with a one-hour time difference. He usually left the office around 5:30 p.m. to head back to Barcelona. He estimated that when all was said and done, he would save a few hundred pounds per month. More importantly, he said, his quality of life had improved.

About 21 years ago, Jeremy Jacobson and Winnie Tseng made a serious commitment to their savings goal. They immediately changed their lifestyle to accelerate their retirement process. Over the past three years, they have enjoyed 52 weeks of vacations and traveled around the world, from Mexico and Guatemala to Taiwan, Belize, and throughout the United States. Jacobson explained in a blog post that they also spent 5 to 6 years paying off student loans before dedicating 10 years to diligent saving and '3 more years retiring during a bull market to achieve that'.

To achieve a high savings rate, Jeremy Jacobson and Winnie Tseng cut expenses in the areas that typically consume the most money: transportation (cars), housing, food, and entertainment. By using bikes and buses for transportation, living in a comfortably sized apartment in a walkable neighborhood, and finding joy in home-cooked meals and nature instead of consumerism, Jeremy Jacobson and Winnie Tseng eliminated or significantly reduced living expenses. Thanks to living below their income level for 10 years, Jacobson and Tseng's net worth is 'millions of dollars' and they live on about $4,000 a month. Their lifestyle is suitable for anyone, especially those from lower-income backgrounds facing loan repayments.

For Pete D'Andrea, landing a job at Google was a dream come true. But he and his wife Kara lived in a Winnebago RV for several months, wary of blowing Pete's newly earned salary while renting in Silicon Valley. The couple shared many adventures in the RV they initially paid $1,900 to purchase, highlighting the ways they maximized the tiny space.

A queen-size bed attached occupied most of the larger space but allowed storage underneath. The extremely compact bathroom was ingeniously designed, featuring a sink that could fold down and a shower head that could retract. However, only one person could fit in the bathroom at a time if they kept the door open or slid two walls out. The toilet had a bowl instead of a tank, which was emptied after each use. The lack of amenities didn't deter Pete's colleagues from visiting their RV to grab a drink after work.

Despite the functionality of the RV, security guards at the company weren't thrilled with the appearance of Pete D'Andrea and his wife; Google's security came and surrounded the truck. Pete stepped out of the RV and showed them his badge, explaining that he worked 90 hours a week at the tech company. After that incident, security would occasionally swing by and check on the couple but never bothered them. After living in the RV in a parking lot for a year and a half to two years, Pete was able to save 80% of his income and ultimately put a down payment on a nearby house. Although the duo settled into their new home, which had a wardrobe without large sliding doors like their Winnebago, they still reminisced about their days in the parking lot.