I would be a multi-millionaire now if I'd kept living in a trailer..

[kendallf]

In 1995 my wife and I had just had our second child, and we were living in a 20+ year old single wide trailer in a mobile home park here in Jacksonville, FL.  I paid $3k for the trailer, our lot rent was something like $200 a month, and I  painted the faded sides of our aluminum castle and patched its floors.

I was desperately trying to swing a house purchase, prompted by everyone I knew who told me I had to buy a house and stop wasting money on rent, never mind living as trailer trash!  With my travel per diem money from a good string of trips, I bought a brick front 3/2 in a good school district on a zero down VA loan.  I think our rate was over 10%.

If we had stayed in that trailer and avoided any egregiously stupid moves, I would've been FIRE in ~10 years or so, and a multi-millionaire if I'd kept working until now.

Anybody else have a similar story? 

[Roland of Gilead]

When we first moved to Seattle, we rented a small house on a large lot in the U district.  The landlord offered to sell the house to us for $200,000, which we could have done at the time.   Recently that lot sold to a developer for a multiplex for over $1,500,000

[kendallf]

I was going more for the counterculture stories of living minimally, but I think a lot of us have the story of "the one that got away" also.

[Rezdent]

Yeah, looking back, I should have stayed single and continued living in my 1978 travel trailer (from a financial perspective).
That's okay, though.
I adore my spouse and children, and I have met so many wonderful people along the way.  No regrets here.  Just an observation that I could have taken other paths.  When I said "I Do", I was taking on a lot of debt, which scared me but so glad I did it.