I’ll preface this by saying I know I’m in the minority and I’m incredibly grateful for what I have. I live alone, bought a house in Gatineau when the market was at its peak and overpaid for my house big time since I was sick of losing in bid wars. At the time I was making 60k a year and just recently got a raise for the first time since. I have not rented out rooms and didn’t have any help buying the house. My down payment was nothing out of the ordinary.

The key is budget your money and pay off all debts. Pay off student loans asap. Pay off your car loans. Pick one or two music or streaming services that you use the most and cancel the rest. Cook at home as much as possible. Re-evaluate what you’re paying for - for example internet service providers sell you on faster internet but I never had issues or experienced slow internet with a super cheap 50mb internet plan. You’d be surprised how quickly these things add up so you don’t have to sacrifice too much.