<human>: Can you condense the text into three sentences or less?

Basically the only reason I'm thinking about this is because I live in a small town in North Carolina and have to drive 20 miles each way to work every day.  I'd been thinking of looking for an apartment, but the thought in the back of my head is "Why pay $500 a month to rent when I can pay $500 a month and own it eventually?"

Basically, I live at home right now, work a job that allows me to draw about $300 a week on a good week, so I'm not making a whole lot of money.  But I don't have a lot of other expenses and I'm a very careful person with money in general, (I don't usually go shopping/buy myself anything other than the essentials) so I have always been good at saving money.  It's also costing me about $200 a month in gas just to drive to work and back.

Really what I want is to live on my own, not throw money away by renting a house/apartment, and possibly own a home in the process (which I realize would take years and years, but still).

I know that this isn't really enough to give a definite answer or give thorough input, so if you have any questions that might help me out, I'd be happy to answer.  I just need some help in figuring it out, and I don't really have anyone else to talk to about it.

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<bot>: I make slightly above minimum wage and live a simple lifestyle, can I afford to buy a house at 23 years old?]