I have a good friend who is a trauma/critical care doc. He went to undergrad, med school, residency, and fellowship all at UNC, where he met his wife (a nurse). The entire time he (and his wife, when they married) lived in a crappy 700 square foot apartment and drove old junkers. Even when he became an attending, they did not move, and they drove the same cars. He also moonlighted at Wake Med. Between the two of them they were making probably $300K. But his student loan debt was ginormous. They lived like that, never went out, ate PB&Js, double-paid the student loans. When they paid off student loans, he got a job out west, making a bit more. He upgraded to a used Toyota with 60K miles, and they bought a 1,200 square foot house in a modest neighborhood.
It is utterly and totally a mindset and a way of living.
