My grandfather worked for 30 years as a lowest rung post office employee, and my grandmother worked two days a week as a doctor's receptionist. Neither of them were tertiary educated. They both drank, and my grandmother smoked. They bought a modest house in their late 20s, put a kid through med school, and took an overseas holiday every other year.
My wife and I both work full time, we're both university graduates, both mid level managers, and we live pay check to pay check. We're buying a comparable house in our 40s, we don't drink or smoke, we've never been overseas, and our child can only go to a decent school because of scholarships. But sure, tell me again about how it's our poor budgeting skills holding us back.