Many moons ago when I was a young lass..living a scarlet life and had a wee one.... I had debt.
mostly clothing accounts .....

I decided one morning no more..... I blocked the accounts and paid it off, I suffered more and more, I discovered that cheap cloths looks just as nice as brand cloths and well cheap cloths is much easier to wash and hang and iron, less time......

First house I bought - I put all my savings into that, every years' salary increase and bonus went into the bond as well, the 20 year bond got paid off in 10 years, I saved allot in interest I was suppose to pay, how did I manage it, easy I lived with basic things, and never increased my life style. I rather eat at home before going out,
brew my own brew before buying, did my own cleaning etc, before paying some one to do so, same goes for garden.

Deigma had no luxuries, food and clothing was enough, no fancy video games etc, gosh I did not even have TV back then...

So I still say - live within your means, 50:30:20 principle and you are well off

I pretend to be paycheck-to-paycheck to keep my spending under control. I make sure that my paycheck never increases. With every raise, I have increased my 401k percentage or the amount that I have automatically transferred into savings.

I also keep track of every cent that goes in or out. I try to budget ahead for everything (X-mas, birthdays, insurance, new car savings, etc.) and make sure that all the money I spend is recorded. It helps me to see where my money is going to try to adjust my spending to make better choices.

I live pay check to pay check right now. But I am paying $800 a month in child care. I have a mortgage and I have a paid off car that was a gift from my mother. I have no credit card debt. I coupon and I don't buy anything at all but the essentials.

DH and I are working on paying off all our debt.
It's not much compared to many people, but we had some house repairs and other unexpected expenses this past year which added up.

We're going to "snowball payment" it. Start with smallest debt first, large payments on it with small payments on remaining debt. Then once that's paid off, add that amount that was paid on the first debt plus some onto the second debt, etc. I've done this before and it works very well.
Yes, there's an app for that: Debt Manager.

We've also majorly cut down on unnecessary expenses. Well, I have - DH has some issues with understanding necessary vs. unnecessary but he's better.

I divorced my exDH and got to keep my money and not help him w/ his debts ( he never had the money to contribute his portion to our household ). Now I have zero debt , a house paid in full solely by me and money to do with as I please. I shop at Aldi, drive an older car and make my coffee and most meals at home. I don't care what others think. I always look for groupons , coupons and deals when purchasing pretty much anything. I'm not cheap and I like nice stuff and I research to make sure I get what I want at the lowest price.

I am a pro at hoarding away my money and putting funds away for retirement.

What I have noticed is so many people don't count the small purchases ..fast food/lunch out everyday, coffee, smokes , impulse buys , dining out etc. Those can really add up to a HUGE amount by the end of the month.

As Stepaside said, it's about not spending more than you make. I know sometimes that's inevitable when there are unexpected expenses.

Today so many people reward themselves for their perceived hard work. New car, new furniture, new clothes and accessories, vacations. Eating out, manicures, hair cuts and dye jobs. All because they think they deserve to have what they see everyone else has.

We live way below our means. We are in a small house, drive vehicles that are paid off and save for the things we want.

When it was just me and my kids, we had no cable, no internet, no dinners out. Fun things were trips to the playground or park. I saved like crazy to go on vacation and every time I thought I wanted something I looked at my vision board with the pictures of the beach.