Ashley Shannon can fit all her earthly possessions into a suitcase and a duffel. The 23-year-old got rid of nearly all her stuff when she moved from Kansas to Los Angeles after college.

I feel so good without it, Shannon said of downsizing her wardrobe and book collection. But shes held onto some sentimental items, like Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone, the first chapter book she read as a kid. Today, she keeps the boy wizard on a shelf near her bed, in the few square feet of personal space she has.

For much of the past year, Shannon has lived at an upscale hostel called PodShare , paying $1,000 a month less than half the average cost of a one-bedroom apartment in the city for a bunk in a large room occupied mostly by other young people. For that, she gets free utilities, basic toiletries, coffee and food staples like peanut butter and ramen noodles.

Staffers living onsite clean up after guests and even cook meals with them. And the guests come from all over New York, Venezuela, Japan. They share bathrooms, a kitchen and common rooms.

Theres not much in the way of privacy and sex is pretty much banned in the bunks. But some of them do fall in love. One former PodShare resident, LaDavius Carson, met his now-wife there last year. On their wedding day, in July, they returned to PodShare to pose for photos on the couch where they had their first date.