US v Aussie wages v cost of living

I bought a $145k house 4 years ago while making $10 an hour. I'm now making twice that but paying the bills was doable at the time. I didn't have to just eat rice and chicken every day and I still had cable and internet. I was debt free as well.

You can make money go a long way if you really want to. The problem is people go out and do stupid things like get traffic tickets and DUI's. When you're barely scraping by, you can't afford to make stupid mistakes that put you in the hole.

I honestly attest it to daily driving my Duster. I bought and maintained my Duster while my friends were all buying newer vehicles. Fast forward a few years and I have a nice Duster and a house while my friends are in debt and still live with their parents. They still have that "brand spanking new" 2005 vehicle that sucked away all their income though.