Honestly it's the "occasional emergencies" that fuck me up as much as impulse spending. Last weekend? Car battery died. Out $150. Four weeks ago? Cat got a scratch in the eye and was discharging blood from the tear duct. $100 for cat doctor. And so on.
And so on. I put money aside for emergencies every paycheck but it gets used up faster than I'd like it to. But yeah r/personalfinance is my ideal in terms of what they advocate and what I'd like to do: 6 months of paychecks in savings, pay off all my debt as fast as possible, stay debt free. Not so good at it in practice doe. I certainly manage to pay my bills and put some aside every check. It just doesn't feel like nearly enough. I am finally getting to the point where I am getting ahead on payments on most of my major payments (student loans, car, etc). It's exciting because now I feel like I am actually making dents.