I'm well over it now, but I was making below/just over $50K for a number of years.
Immediately after each paycheck, I would pay off all credit card bills and move a set amount of money into accounts for savings, investments and known expenses like rent. I would then force myself to live on the remainder. Bills would be paid as soon as they came in, and credit cards were always paid off in full since it would be slightly cheaper than using cheque/debit due to the benefits.
I lived frugally, in a carefully searched for apartment that was below market level rent for the quality/location.
Carpooled to work to save fuel costs/wear and tear, in a small and reliable car.
Didn't blow huge amounts of money on expensive concerts and movies and pop cultural crap. I would go out, but make sure I was getting decent value for what I would spend.
Did save up and spend for one solid international travel trip once a year though (for my sanity sake).
Girls came through social circle and daygame. Dates were to lesser known family owned restaurants that actually had good food and non-ripoff prices.
Reading Aaron Clarey's Bachelor Pad Economics helped accelerate this further, after which I started maintaining/repairing my own car and no longer feeling any guilt about resisting society's consumerism. Reading Jacob Lund Fisker's Early Retirement Extreme made me realize I could have pushed this quite a bit father, though I haven't as I enjoy many of the comforts and conveniences I currently have. It's certainly good to know though that expenses can be further cut if the shit does hit the fan.
All this said though, this was a survival/unfuck mode of my life, as I hated what I was doing professionally (technologist work that was oversold as engineering work) and the ceiling was pretty damn low above me (lots of brownnosing for a disproportionately low increase in money and benefits).
Needed to get the hell out and went through hell of doing nightschool in a different area while working fulltime. Nice to avoid debt (and slowly increase wealth), though the timeline, stress level and very limited life (lost a couple good girlfriends as I didn't have enough time for them with everything else going on) makes me debate whether it was optimal.
Did eventually fix things career-wise, and am doing a lot more interesting stuff with a lot more money. All that said though, the ratio of money to energy/focus/stress required is lower now than before, so I can now relate to people who deliberately choose lower paying/less demanding job/lifestyle options. But at the same time, the increased savings gives more options afterwards too.
