[InitialLastName]

I've struggled with the same issue. The keys, as I've learned them, is to a) get to a place where you can invest up front in reducing your cost of living in the medium-long term, b) run like hell from the hedonic treadmill of trying to keep up with your peers' poor financial decisions, c) look carefully at what parts of your "decent lifestyle" make you truly happier, which parts are performative, and for which parts you can replace spending with effort without a loss of quality (for example, you can learn to cook very nice food, at a much higher quality than you will get at a restaurant for much less money; there's also no better feeling than feeding your friends).

Keep in mind that the lifestyle changes you make now pay off more than double, by helping you save faster, by having those savings accumulate interest/earn you money, and by reducing the amount of money you need to sustain retirement indefinitely.

Finally, make compounding growth your friend, not your enemy. Kill debt ASAP, and start socking away as much of your money as you can in a growth-bearing account. If you can reliably save 50% of your income in an account that beats inflation by 4%, you can support your lifestyle indefinitely on growth after 17 years.

[diydsp]

+1 for cooking for yourself. It is time well-spent, especially if your partner is into it. And it can save money and be much healthier than eating out! Especially if you make a little extra and supplement other meals.

Also, eating out takes a lot of time... driving to a place, sitting there waiting for waiters to return a credit card, etc. The alcohol is super marked-up. You don't know the ingredients of the food well, it's usually loaded with sugar and fats. I don't mean never do it, but living that way is miserable.

And especially in the pandemic, eating out means tons of containers to deal with. Even if you push just push everything in the trash, it's still like a half a bag's worth. And if are a good doobie and wash the containers, recycle, save the leftovers, etc., it's nearly as much time as if you made it yourself. Again, not that you never should, but save it for special occasions if you wanna have a long, above-average healthspan.