How I Saved $40K in 5 Years for a Down Payment

When I graduated college, I landed my dream job as a crime reporter at a daily newspaper. No hyperbole: As a kid, I had pretended to be a reporter, pecking away at a typewriter while wearing a fedora with candy cigarettes hanging out of my mouth, embracing cliches like "I'm on deadline!" when my mom would call me for dinner. But dream salary at my newspaper job? Ehh, not so much. I was earning a $38,000 annual salary in idyllic (read: expensive!) Boulder, bringing home $1,030 paychecks after tax...