Thus far, our hypothetical savers are bringing their free Craigslist furniture home on the bus and apparently don’t even do laundry.

I think a car was mentioned at $300/mo. Insurance (liability-only) = $50/mo. Rego/smog = $20/mo. Repairs/oil changes = $100/mo. Gas = $100/mo. Misc = $30/mo. So $300/mo for a paid-off car is more than generous.