The San Francisco bay area is one of the most expensive place to live in America. When 23-year-old Brandon moved from Massachusetts and found himself paying $2,000 per month to rent an apartment, he knew he had to make a change. “I realized I was paying an exorbitant amount of money for the apartment I was staying in — and I was almost never home. It’s really hard to justify throwing that kind of money away. You’re essentially burning it — you’re not putting equity in anything and you’re not building it up for a future — and that was really hard for me to reconcile,” says Brandon.

Brandon ended up purchasing a 16-foot 2006 Ford with 157,000 miles on it for $10,000 which he paid for with his signing bonus. Yesterday, October 21, was his ‘break even day’ meaning the upfront cost of the truck has been surpassed by the money he is saving on rent.

He eats breakfast, lunch, and dinner on Google’s campus and showers at the company gym.

Brandon aims to save 90% of his after tax income each month and put it towards student loans and investments.

Because he is saving so much money, Brandon expects to payoff his student loans within the next 6 months. Brandon isn’t sure how much longer he wants to live in the truck. For now it’s working out perfectly and doesn’t see himself moving out any time soon.