Funny because in one of your other posts complaining the past few days you said you make 80k/yr thats what I made last year yet I put 35k in the bank last year and I have to pay property taxes, utilities, city income taxes just like you.
See that frame of mind is where you're wrong. I could of bought a brand new car 5 years ago when I bought my house but then guess what that car would of left my savings 30k lighter after being paid off and would of depreciated so much probably worth less than half that now, I could of bought the nicer house in the nicer neighborhood but after bigger downpayment, higher property taxes, higher monthly payment would of left my savings another 30k+ lighter over the years. I'll take the money in the bank and the stress free living while you paycheck to paycheck it and blame the taxes we all have to pay.
How much are all your bills and property taxes? Must be much lower than mine and maybe they don't go up each year. Property taxes alone are around $400/mo and go up each year, then water is $100/mo which goes up each year too - next year it will be around $110. It goes up by around 10 bucks every year. It all adds up. Pretty much every bill is over $100. I did manage to lower my cell bill though, there's a new company in town that offers $15 plans, you get 100 minutes and unlimited texting and a small amount of data so went to that from $65. There's very limited places to save especially with utilities like hydro and gas. Even if you reduce usage, it's all the fixed fees that get you. 80k salary is also before taxes/deductions, take home is closer to 40k by the time all the deductions come off. My typical pay is around $1,200$-1,500. I work shifts so it varies.
It's more than a mindset, you need to actually HAVE money left over to save. I sometimes think of downsizing and going with a trailer, but I would still have all the same bills. So yeah the actual house is cheaper, but the monthly expenses are the same. My biggest expense is city taxes and they're high pretty much anywhere in the city. There are places where they're a bit lower though so I could move to one of those places. That does involve living around meth labs though.
Anyway I don't really want to derail this thread. Basically I just wish costs of living were not so high so it was easier to save and I could probably get more into stocks. I can only really afford the penny stocks and hope for the best for the future.