Starting a Business? When to Scrimp vs. Splurge. When you're launching a business on your own, you need to spend wisely.

James DiSabatino was the quintessential bootstrapper. In 2011, he used all his savings--plus a $20,000 loan from Dad--to start Roxy's Grilled Cheese, the first food truck to park on city property in Boston. Aside from the fee to form a limited liability company (LLC), his main startup cost was the 12-year-old hot dog truck he bought for $45,000.

"I spent every last dime just on the truck itself," DiSabatino says of the mobile kitchen he initially used to cook and sell the gourmet sandwiches and sides that put his business on the map. There was no publicist, slick website or grand-opening event. Just the artisanal ingredients he purchased daily to make enough "next level" grilled cheese sandwiches to stay in business another day.

The first three months in business, DiSabatino worked on Roxy's 20 hours a day, five days a week, tending bar on his two days off for fast cash. At the time, Roxy's had one employee, a pal he paid $10 an hour to help run the truck, plus half a dozen friends and family members who pitched in during lunch crunches, often without pay.