Well, all depends on how much income you have and how much you spend on housing and cars obviously. To always have money, the best rule is to spend the third of your income on housing, another third on everything else (food/clothes/car/repairs/travel) and put the last third on your savings account (invested in a mutual fund for example). It is actually not that difficult, if you have low income you can rent a small flat, commute by bike, etc for a couple of years and as your income grows (and it'll grow, cause your savings are growing each month and the interest you gain on it will slowly increase your income) you can slowly afford more and more. If your income is relatively higher and/or you want to go even further, check out the blog of Mr Money Mustache, he recommends saving the 50% of your income (and he does 90%)...