Ultimately, financial freedom is the goal. 

Just from using their vendor discounts I've saved way more than the cost of the membership itself. 

I'm thinking I can get a home equity loan on my house and use $10,000 from savings, but maybe theres another way to start this without using too much money up front.

For the last several months I have been listening to the BP podcast, have read a couple investing books, and ultimately I am trying to absorb as much information as possible.

On one of the podcasts I remember hearing how u could buy properties in a self directed IRA and was wondering if anyone had any experience doing so in a TSP (thrift savings plan) as this is her savings vehicle for her employment.

This would allow for me to still leave 50% in my IRA and not fully deplete, also perhaps would lead to a greater tax savings?

Alternatively, you can work with a CPA who is also a Certified Acceptance Agent (CAA) and this saves you from having to mail original documents to the IRS.

We were approaching our finals weeks at our University and our lease was coming to an end - so to save us the stress of trying to find an apartment in the middle of that (we had a very limited budget,) they offered for us to stay with them for a month or two for free.

I do have some reserves but I’d like save for rainy day funding and to be able to show that I have some cash assets to lenders.

Which can save at least $500 a month, if not much more, that can go to paying the inflated rents here :-)