while employed i spend very recklessly - ordering delivery instead of cooking, going out a lot and paying for my friends' drinks and rides, etc. - meal prepping, as i do now, saves me hundreds per week.
also i generally insist on paying my way in relationships, sometimes even covering the majority of the costs. for example, i fully supported a manchild for 2.5 years who it turned out was lying to me about applying to jobs because he just wanted me to take care of him.
'money' is kind of like a unit of exchange for experience, which is most valuable when you are younger. if you played the game some other way (abstemious living in youth in exchange for a more comfortable retirement), you actually fucked up beyond description. but i'll be gentle and won't go into details on this.