[sliverstorm]

I cheat a little. I'm still a student, so $2k is still a significant chunk of my net worth.

My strategy to allow myself to own a decent car, a computer, etc revolves around a credit card I secured with a very high credit limit. I have $2k I can "borrow" against my future, and then I have a 30-day grace period in which I can sell possessions to come up with the money. In other words, I use my credit card and its 30-day grace period to increase the liquidity of my possessions.

This has two caveats: 1) Keep that credit card paid off to allow use of the grace period 2) I suffer a net loss when I resell something, but that's a small gamble I decided to take.