I think I came out to about the same after taxes. I've dropped out of church when I was 18 though so no Kirchensteuer. I thought you wanted to stay rural, are flats that expensive there? I admit I don't subscribe to any of that private pension stuff. €200 in 30-40 years will probably be worth next to nothing anyway.

I admit I never bought a new car. There's plenty of cars that are sold for half or a third of a new car and barely driven (Sunday drivers, grandparents, etc). Insurance is much cheaper on a used car as well.

I guess I am quite thrifty when it comes to shopping for appliances as well. I do invest in good stuff, but that holds out 10-15 years without any problems. I had a reserve fund for emergency expenses, that I filled up again afterwards. I don't have it now, because I had to give it to the bank as security for insolvency (it's a law here in Austria for travel agencies).

I'm not saying it was super easy, but I managed alright. With children it would be a whole different issue of course. In Japan I had a scholarship of 80.000 Yen monthly. I paid 25.000 for the room, another 10.000 for amenities, I don't recall how much, I think 3000-5000 for the commuter ticket, but the rest was enough for food and some entertainment. Mind, I was a student back then so I didn't really have any high needs. I even managed a trip to Hokkaido and one to Okinawa and one weekend trip to Atami. I did sell a bit through the internet though which paid mostly for the trips.

It's really not as bad as you think it is. Plenty of people manage on that salary and even less.