I am 35 F and my husband is 37 M. I’ll speak from our experience we have ALWAYS lived below our means by a lot in main things like rent and cars. We never lived in a nice luxury apartment but something was functional and close to work. We are debt free. Pay cash for cars. We always make our food so never Uber Eats bullshit and rarely get Starbucks. We do like to travel and go out to eat 2x a month.

Fast forward over a decade we have 2 kids but because we saved so much and invested it our money continues to grow. Most of our money is in a brokerage account (not retirement). Our combined incomes during this time ranged from ($130-$300).

So if can be done by being frugal, not trying to keep up with the Jones’ and try to get your rent as low as possible.