the best financial sacrifice you'll ever make

the best financial sacrifice you'll ever make I just turned 31 and every year around my birthday I am pretty reflective and I've been thinking back on some of the financial decisions I made in my early 20s that I do not regret and I can honestly say one of the best financial decisions that I ever made was choosing to sacrifice on my living situation I feel like I went through the ringer when it comes to apartments and roommates my first apartment in Boston paid $800 so it's hard to complain but I basically lived in like a glorified closet and my roommate was certifiably crazy my second apartment there were four girls one bathroom so imagine the dram but also I paid $900 a month for my room so for the first three years out of college did I suffer in my apartments yes but because I paid so little for such a long period of time I was able to maximize my salary I built up a 10K emergency fund paid off $25,000 in student loans I was able to maximize my 401k contributions and I really just put myself in a defensive financial position now I'm able to live alone in a beautiful apartment in my perfect desired neighborhood and I don't have to make sacrifices on my living situation your tolerance for challenging living situations is at its highest in those first few years right after college it is in your best interest to keep your rent payment as low as you can for as long as you can so you can accelerate some of your financial milestones once you make the change to living alone or living in a nicer place you are never gonna go back and that monthly rent payment is going to keep going up and up and up and saving and investing just gets harder