That's what I was thinking... About a year ago, I started making $40k/year. It's just barely enough to get by. Most of my take-home goes to rent, student loans, and other expenses that I can't lower. And I'm fairly frugal as it is -- I try to keep my food expenses down, I don't visit restaurants very often, I don't have cable tv, I don't really even have much furniture. I do my best to take super frugal vacations. I don't have any credit card debt or vehicle debt.

Saving 50% of my income is not possible for me without living in an untenable situation.