Im often curious why more people aren't moving too low cost of living areas. I don't know if I've just been fortunate, but I'm a college drop out who honestly hasn't tried very hard in my "career", but I moved out to Cincinnati which has a low cost of living at 23 (8 hours from my family) and I've managed to do very well for myself with a modest paying job (20ish an hour). I have 40k saved up and plan to buy a house this year. I wonder if other people who have went or started on a similar route are doing well for themselves.
And if you are in a high cost of living area, would you ever consider moving somewhere significantly cheaper?
Before I was married and had more going on in my life, it was relatively easy to save up in the low COL area I was in. That’s great that you got a head start; that is exactly what you should be doing right now because most people have more expenses as they get older. I, for one, grew sick of the college dorm lifestyle after about 8 years of frugality and started increasing my spending habits. It does slow my savings a bit, but I also believe that there is no point to working merely to sustain a meager existence. And of course, being married I can’t quite justify staying in and doing nothing in the same way that I used to (definitely healthy change, don’t get me wrong).
My goal is to own a home and have it paid off by like 35 (8byeears from now). I've always been exceedingly frugal, but honestly that's just me more than a choice. Almost everything I like to do is free or very cheap, I illegally acquire 95% of my media, I like cooking so I almost never eat out, etc. I've already taken 2 years off work and coasted on my savings, I'm hoping shortly after I pay my house off I'll have saved enough to take another few years off.