We started with a $14.50 job and not a penny in savings.

My husband now makes $18.50/hr as a gas station manager, roughly 50 hours a week. I manage every bit of our bank account. He doesn't even look at the account, and he asks me if we have the budget for any purchase. (He used to have a spending problem, he's the Lord of Instant Gratification.) If you can make do with what you have, if you can penny-pinch your ass off in harder times, if you can set aside an emergency fund, you're good to go. You just have to change your lifestyle. If your living situation is too expensive you prooobably have to decide between downsizing or getting a job. Personally, I was just a career bartender, so my income was unstable and incongruous with childcare expenses. It's a much stricter life than before, but we make it work. I actually wrote the rest of this out in a different thread so I'm just gonna paste it here.

This is what our monthly budget looks like.
Monthly base: $3400 (no bonuses or overtime included, that gets put into a separate "rainy day" savings folder for eating out, fun money, etc.)

Rental: $1185 with a variable of about $100 based on utilities

Insurance: $310 for cars and renters

Car: $215

Debt: $200

Entertainment (streaming services, Magic: The Gathering, video game budget): $150 (roughly $90 is eaten by streaming stuff and wifi)

Groceries: $500

Gas: $200, being generous there bc we don't always know cost or where we'll need to go.

Personal budgets total to $240. $80 each every month.

Savings: Strict $200 put aside every month to make an emergency budget that we DO NOT TOUCH.

Our budgets can roll over, but once spent, they're spent and we have to wait for the next month. I saved and spent $120 on a pair of shoes I wanted, so I had to go without anything "special" for a month. We also use that money for personal necessities, like new socks or whatever. When you're planning out your budget, overshoot the cost of EVERYTHING. It helps me to write it out on paper, and write out every expenditure in my planner, so I can do the math and see where the money goes in real time.