I pay 100% of the cost and i get it from my trades job that i put 50+ hours a week into. I have 15 years of experience in that trade (i did get lucky starting as a young teen but it did rob some of my youth).
Its no mansion. Its over 70 years old and only 600 square feet but thats enough for me and I'm handy enough to fix most of the important stuff.
I used frugal tricks while living in my apartment to save up and invest a little bit. I now use those tricks to keep costs down. Recently I've been doing research on how viable a clothesline in the winter will be.