There are plenty of firsts when you move into a new home. The first meal you cook there. The first time you use your new shower. The first photos you hang on the walls.

For Sarah Eller, there was one especially sweet first when she moved into her new home: the first time she tucked her 6-year-old daughter into her very own bed.

"We've been sleeping together ever since she was a newborn, and she finally has her own bed," Eller said. "She loves it so much."

Eller and her daughter have their own beds after years of sharing because they moved into the garage apartment on Eller's parents' property. The small space is helping Eller pay off her student loan debt and increase her net worth.

Eller, 27, is a registered nurse and a content creator. She moved from California to Arizona with her parents and her now-6-year-old daughter in 2020. "My dad retired, and California's prices are honestly just insane to live in, so he wanted to move out of that state," Eller said.

Her parents intentionally bought a property with a detached garage, which they saw as a potential home for Eller and her two siblings. It sits about 50 feet from her parents' mobile home. Eller decided to move in with her parents for additional support as a single mom, which she said has been a huge help. "My parents helped me out so much with childcare," she said. "It just helps us to feel safe as well, knowing they're there. And they're getting older, so I don't really see myself moving that far away from them."

Eller lived in the garage apartment when they first arrived, but it wasn't in great shape. She found it didn't quite work for her as a new mom, so she moved into her parents' mobile home instead. Both of her siblings spent time living in the garage in the years since.

In 2025, while living with her parents, Eller decided to start saving money for a home of her own. She made progress, but it was difficult, as she also has student loan payments to make. "I was trying to save $50,000 in two years," she said. "I was doing that for at least three to four months. I could have kept doing it, but it just would have been very difficult. After saving around $1,000 each paycheck, we were left with no money, basically."

After a few months, Eller decided she would continue living with her parents for at least the next five years. She was going to keep saving money, but she wouldn't have to save at the same rate. Since she knew she would be there more permanently and her sister had recently moved out of the garage, Eller decided to renovate it as a home for herself and her daughter.

She and her parents started renovating the space at the end of February 2026, and it was ready by the end of April. Though the garage has an apartment, part of the building is used for storage. "I would say 75% of the infrastructure is a garage," Eller said. The apartment occupies about 600 square feet of the building. When you walk through a door from outside, you enter a living area.

The kitchen has plenty of cabinetry, a stove, an oven, and a full-sized refrigerator, which sits in a corner with an open pantry. There isn't a dishwasher, but there is space for a small dining table. The apartment has only one bedroom, but there's enough space for Eller and her daughter to have their own beds. Unlike the other rooms in the home, the garage has a large window that lets in natural light. There's also a small heater in the bedroom, while a swamp cooler keeps the space from getting too hot in the warmer months.

Eller said she prioritized renovating the floors and walls to make the space feel fresh. "The only drastic things that we've done so far are paint the walls and then install flooring," she said. "I would like to do more, but those two alone were a lot of money." Eller said it cost around $5,000 to update the floors, give the walls a fresh coat of paint, and update some appliances in the space. The apartment also has a washer-dryer, so Eller doesn't have to walk to the main house to do laundry.

Eller said the living room has become her favorite space in the apartment since she and her daughter moved in. She also added a desk so it doubles as her office, where she edits content. In addition, although the garage apartment is their space, Eller said she and her parents have an open-door policy with each other's homes.

Eller said her daughter didn't initially understand that the garage would be her new home permanently, saying they would live in the apartment for "a week" after moving in. Now that they've been living in it for a few weeks, she loves it, especially having her own bed. The bedroom required furnishing to make it suitable for the duo. Eller invested in new bed frames and a mattress for her daughter, using Facebook Marketplace whenever possible so the purchases didn't cost too much. She also bought their couch when they moved into the space.

The small home is functioning well for them, with Eller describing it as "amazing." The only drawback is that they're on the lookout for bugs and even snakes after a run-in with one a few years back, but the garage has been critter-free so far. Though she has her own space, Eller said she and her parents still see each other daily in some capacity. Still, she likes that she feels more ownership over the apartment. "I do feel more responsibility," she said. "I was kind of spoiled. My dad did my dishes for me, so now I have to do my own dishes. It gives me something to do. It feels like I'm contributing to the household."

Eller also gives her parents $300 each month in rent and utilities, and she said the arrangement is already helping her save money. "I'm on track to hopefully pay off all my student debt within a year," Eller said. "Then I can start saving and investing more and really start building up my finances." "I'm pretty much negative net worth right now," she added. "I know that living here is definitely going to help."

Eller said she had some concerns about what people might think of her living with her parents as a single mom when she first moved in with them in 2020, a feeling that's faded as she's seen the benefits of multigenerational living. "It kind of was embarrassing, I guess you could say, from societal standards," she said. "I feel like living with your parents is kind of frowned upon." "But this time around, I feel like I'm embracing it more, and I feel more confident in myself," she continued. "Honestly, I'm just really happy and fortunate that my parents gave us that place and that we're able to renovate it. I'm just proud of it now."