Here's my strategy, and it's pretty simple. Keep doing whatever I have to to make my income increase faster than the cost of living. Otherwise, make do with less. It is simple economics to me.

Starting from nothing, you can still manage to find an equilibrium to exist within, so then you trade off desire, convenience, freedom for opportunity. Capitalize on the opportunity, and look for more. Get out ahead of the crowd and stay there. Be willing to do what others are not, and always be in a position to negotiate a better deal.

I don't care if gas prices go to $10 a gallon. I will just use that as yet another point to ask for more with the next opportunity, or I will learn to make do with less.

That's life. Prices only go down in the long term due to obsolesence. Everything else is always going to cost more tomorrow. There are no exceptions. It is a vicious cycle of illusion. The work I am doing today is of no greater value than that which my father did 30 years ago, it's just the money I am paid with is worth a lot less, and will continue to devalue so long as greedy people believe they can still get something for nothing.