If you keep your credit cards cleared and run a tight ship, you can do okay. Like you said though, will you be able to buy a half to one million dollar home? I don’t think so. Will you put away a tidy sum for your 401k? Will you get to spend a reasoned amount on R&R. Will you be able to buy the insurance you need? Will you be able to purchase a decent car and replace it in four years?
I consider myself fortunate. I developed a spread sheet that allows me to plan my expenses down the road up to 15 months ahead. I know at any given moment what my standing will be at not only the end of this current month, but over a year in future.
Honestly, I don’t know how I’d keep track of things if I didn’t have it.
I toss my savings, credit accounts, and non-receipt payments that I need to declare for tax purposes.
By the end of the day on December the 31st, I have everything all ready for tax purposes.
I’m acquainted with a woman who works in a convenience store full time as a cashier who bought her own place in rural North Carolina. Nothing fancy obviously, most would turn up their noses at it, a single wide trailer on a permanent brick foundation, half acre lot. Out in the country, very few neighbors. I’d be surprised if she makes over $10.00 an hour. She’s pretty handy though, bought an old Camaro and rebuilt the engine herself. Bartered somehow to get it painted. You won’t be seeing it at Barrett-Jackson ever, but it’s nice enough and she enjoys it. Heats her place with a wood stove. I guess she’s a redneck but I like her OK. Only time I’ve ever seen her thoroughly stressed out about money was when she needed a root canal, in pain, and couldn’t afford it. Dentistry has skyrocketed just like every other form of medical care.