A North West View

I have been wondering this quite a bit lately, I guess though the first step is going to be defining what the American Dream actually is.  I would say that at least from my perspective the American dream is to have a decent job with decent pay and benefits, to be able to afford to by a decent modest place of your own, and have a decent retirement when your working years come to an end.  Maybe this is childish or overly idealistic, but it is at least my version of  what the American Dream, and one that is very important to me, as well as finding that special man, and raising a family with them. Yet I wounder if big parts of the dream are achievable.

I just don't get it,  it seems that on shows like House Hunters  , Property Virgins  , And My First Place  seem to be populated by so many people my age, and they have budgets that I could only dream of!  I don't get what I am doing wrong I scrimp and save, I stuff the vast majority of my paycheck away into savings each week with automatic transfer! I live less then extravagantly I'm about the most frugal person that I know, and have absolutely no debt.