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I'm with MrRational. it all depends where you live and how you live. We were living in a town of 2500 and were buying a house on an acre lot for $650/month. I have never owned a new car and probably won't. As long as it's in good shape and drivable that's all that matters.
The best statement on living on what you have coming in came from a sweet little black lady who died in the 70s at 98 yrs old. All she had coming in was her social security. My mother asked her how she made it on that one check. All she said was "I pays what I owes, and I make do on the rest." Can't say it any better than that.
You can make a living and have a place to live and a car on just about any salary. Might not be something close to Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, but it's yours!
I live VERY frugal.. basically poor. No there are many worse off.. which is partly what fueled this post.
I don't know how many are doing it. Children are expensive.... let alone a wife.
Roommates, roommates, roommates! Split the rent, split the utilities, if you end up getting along well you can split cooking duty and save a little on groceries too.
I live in an extremely expensive area (just outside DC) where a 1 bedroom apartment is easily $1500 (up to $2500 in the right areas). A 2 bedroom is usually only a couple hundred more. Roommates just make sense.
As for your job, what is the promotion schedule like? Are you making $32k for the foreseeable future, or are there promotion options every year? If you're only doing the $32k thing for a year, it's doable.
People often take second jobs to make extra money to set aside. Maybe you'll eventually get a raise.
I don't know how people keep the gas hog SUVs on the road or why they'd even want to but you can get by with an ordinary used car as long as it's in good condition and doesn't eat gas.
A single person will often find it hard to get by on the one income, you usually need two incomes. There's an old saying that Two can live as cheaply as one. Guess you should find someone to marry! <joke>
You might be making the same mistake that many young people just staring out often make--expecting to be able to have the same standard of living as your parents or others with many years of work, saving, and investing behind them. If you are just starting out, you will not be able to afford the same things as someone who has an established career that has provided raises, savings, investments, and other financial benefits over time. Those people didn't have those things when they were your age, either. Your starting salary is not going to be the "average" salary for your field. The average salary is just that, an average of what everyone is earning, from the entry level person such as yourself to the seasoned professional at the top if his/her career. You're just starting out, so your salary is going to be at the bottom end of that scale.
You're on the right track for your age and stage of life by recognizing that the best thing you can do for yourself right now is to avoid debt. No, you cannot afford a $30,000 car. You may want one, but it would ruin you to try to chase that dream. Buy the used car for cash. Trim your expenses. Live with roommates. Track your spending. Stick to a budget. Save something, even if it's just a few dollars a paycheck, not so much for the amount you will be accumulating at this stage but to get into the habit of always saving something from every paycheck. When your income increases, you can save more and start investing. Don't fall into the trap of inflating your lifestyle too much as you get raises. Always save a portion of your raises.
Time is your friend. If you can avoid digging yourself into a debt hole and learn to live within your means now, once your income increases as you gain experience and become more valuable in your field, you will be able to turn the increase in your income into increased net worth through the savings and investments you have learned to make a priority.
Very, very few new graduates step right out of school into high-paying jobs. Nearly everyone starts with an entry-level position and gains in compensation as they gain in experience and value. You may feel you have valuable skills now, and you probably do, but you have no real-world experience to go with the schooling yet. You will get that as your career progresses. Ten years from now you will look back on your current self and realize how little you really knew when you finished your schooling. You might find that hard to believe now, but it really will happen. It happens to everyone who is honest with him/herself.
So, you're on the right track. Stay out of debt, get in the habit of saving and investing, learn as much as you can from your new job, and things will get better.
Perhaps the huge trucks you see on the road are being financed by their "owners". If those folks are also making mortgage payments on a house, they're in a crummy situation. It's not a good idea to have a note on two things at once.
Your former "good" pay of $9.75 was not a decent hourly wage. I wonder what made you think it was.
What kind of vehicle are you considering? I'm glad you're thinking used instead of new.
Edited to add: congratulations on the new job!
I agree that it's not good to have two notes at once, which is why I'm trying to pay cash for a vehicle. There are a couple vehicles I'm looking at for at around $6 k. The primary one is 2001 Ford Escape.. I live in the Snow Belt... so it's good to have a vehicle that can get around, but my last vehicle was a '97. Got a great deal on it, and I realized why later on. The gas tank had a leak in an unfixable place and the entire bottom rusted out in a couple years.. I had to total the thing.. So I did play with the idea of getting a "reasonable" loan out for a newer car if needed to help get me to work..
The issue is getting around for not a lot of money .. I don't care much about all the features, but I do need a vehicle that is good in snowy conditions because this area gets blasted with snow. So hopefully this vehicle works out okay.. it has good mileage.. just hoping the frame isn't rusted inside out, and the thing is somewhat reliable for at least a couple years.
Regarding a $9.75/hr job... I agree. It is HORRIBLE PAY.. which is partly what fuels this post..
Roommates, roommates, roommates! Split the rent, split the utilities, if you end up getting along well you can split cooking duty and save a little on groceries too.
I live in an extremely expensive area (just outside DC) where a 1 bedroom apartment is easily $1500 (up to $2500 in the right areas). A 2 bedroom is usually only a couple hundred more. Roommates just make sense.
As for your job, what is the promotion schedule like? Are you making $32k for the foreseeable future, or are there promotion options every year? If you're only doing the $32k thing for a year, it's doable.
I'd rather eat dirt off the highway than deal with roommates again. Had to deal with that in school. Need my space.
So I'll have to deal with the extra $200 so a month factoring that into this budget. I have seen single bed apartments for $500/month so that is not like DC which is through the roof living expenses.
As for promotion, this is something I'm looking into with growth in the field.
$32k is a little low for your first job out of school, IMO. That's $615 per week before tax, or about $15 an hour (assuming 40-hour work week). Don't get me wrong though, I'm not saying you shouldn't have taken the job, because at this point in your career getting experience should be the highest priority. The experience you get now will help you earn more later.
One of the biggest expenditures that you can control and that most people aren't good with is food. If you don't know how to cook, I would start learning. Whole, unprocessed food is far cheaper than processed/prepared foods. I buy rice, beans, and lentils dry in bulk, they're dirt cheap. I try to stick to mostly in-season fruits and vegetables (which also taste better). I never go to the grocery store with a list. I go there and buy whatever I like that is cheap. Produce gets marked down greatly at times because much of it has a short shelf-life and because production is very uneven throughout the year. One week raspberries might be $3-4 for a small clam shell and the next week they might $1.00.
I recommend getting a membership at Costco or Sam's Club and buying a chest freezer. Stock up on fish or meat when they're on sale. Freeze leftovers if you're not going to eat them. Frozen vegetables are usually pretty cheap and nutritionally about as good or sometimes better than fresh. Stock up on the 10/10 frozen vegetables. Buy a 10 lb. bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, etc. A lot of people waste a bunch of money on drinks, air fresheners, paper plates, plastic cups, paper towels, candles, etc. I see a lot carts where this stuff is probably 20%+ of their total. I buy the biggest, cheapest dish soap I can and use that to clean everything, along with a bulk package of cheap scrubbers. I use dish towels for everything and just throw them in the washer once a week or so. I don't buy any drinks except alcohol on occasion.
Keep an eye on what's in your fridge and use it up or freeze it before it goes bad. Learn how long fruits take to ripen (if they're not ripe when you buy them, like peaches) and how long they take to spoil. Don't buy too much fruit that's going to spoil in 3 days. Apples last a long time, peaches usually take 5-6 days to get ripe, berries and bananas go bad very quickly. So I'll eat the berries and bananas first, then the peaches, then the apples last. Same for vegetables.
The "cost per unit" on the prices at the grocery store is really valuable, and a lot of people completely ignore it. Don't assume the bigger size is cheaper. A couple weeks ago at the grocery store I saw a woman grab a 32-ounce jar of peanut butter that was $4.50, when there were 16-oz jars of the exact same kind on sale for $1.50 each. I bought 2 16-oz jars for $3.00 instead. If you're not paying attention you'll end up wasting a lot of money.
Sounds like you're making good decisions with getting an older car that won't add a bunch of debt, just make sure it's a reliable one or it could become a money trap. Personally, I will probably never own a new car unless I become rich. If you're going to stay there for a while I would try to buy an inexpensive, small house close to work with a reasonable mortgage. Then get a roommate to share the expenses with. Big houses can also turn into money pits when it comes to heating/cooling/maintenance/etc.
Now...keep in mind that a lot of the people that you see are not living within their means. They're racking up debt and not saving any money. You can't tell what someone's financial situation is by looking at their possessions or lifestyle. They might be driving a nice car and going out to eat all the time, but they might also have $20,000 in credit card bills and no savings. They might be living well this year, but next year their nice car might get repossessed and their nice house foreclosed on.
32k is at lower need of lower middle class ;not sold middle class. savings for big ticket items is common when starting out.
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No there are many worse off.. which is partly what fueled this post. 
