I've never sat down and read this thread from start to finish, but there seem to be a few misconceptions from people who think it is 'impossible' to save money either in the UK or elsewhere.

The whole thing is a lifestyle choice, and its not only related to travel.

I make about 30k a year, and for the last 3 years I have also been paying for my partner to do her 2nd degree (accommodation, car etc, not fees thankfully).

In that time I have saved a fair bit of money, travelled for at least a month a year and kept up all my commitments.
I also still go for a few when I feel like it and I smoke.

What I don't do is spend a fortune running a shiny new car, buying designer clothes and changing all the furniture every other year.

Its the 'western lifestyle' of spend, spend, spend; consume, consume, consume; borrow, borrow, borrow that prevents people from saving money. Quite simple, despite what the idiot box (probably 60 inch and brand new with surround sound) tells you, you don't need a new xxxxxx or a magic xxxxxxx to survive. My 1997 car, bought for 350 has done 30000 miles in the last year at a total maintainance cost of about 100.

If you want to save up and travel, well you will have to sacrifice the wonders of the property ladder, designer homeware and new cars. Buy a small house and just keep it, buy an old car, fix it yourself. Its amazing what you can do and how much fun and how rewarding it can be if you sacrifice the magpie instinct for 'shiny stuff'. Even cook your own food instead of spending a fortune on supermarket crap!

It is possible, its not illegal (yet), not to live like a mindless member of the sheeple consumer community.

Sit down and ask yourself what you spent the last 20k on, actually gather the receipts etc and the statements. Then ask yourself
(a)what you NEEDED that you bought/spent (food, basic clothes, rent/mortgage, transport, leisure)
(b)what you wasted (shiny stuff, car loans, things you could have fixed yourself, food that was overpriced, designer clothes you wore once/never...)
Remember, a 250 a month car loan costs you 3k a year PLUS the depreciation on the car (at least another 3k) so there is 6k you could have saved and one less noose about your neck!
Then see what you COULD have saved!

Oh and folks, little Timmy DOESNT NEED 3 Xboxes, buy him a bike on ebay for 50 quid and get him outside, that way he won't be morbidly obese and he might just learn to interact with people instead of machines