Agreed. I rent a room in a house and my rent is about $600/mo. including utilities. (this isn't hard to find, unless you want to live in a highly desirable area of SF. I personally have found I can get all the benefits without living in the epicenter)

Insurance, phone, and gas run about 200 dollars a month. The rest consists of food and drink, by far my worst habit and biggest expense, varies between 700 and 800 per month. This puts me anywhere between 1500 and 1800 in expenses per month. I suppose if I were to amortize unforeseen costs (the occasional 300 dollar repair on the car, occasional shopping for clothes) those figures would creep a bit higher.

It all depends on where you're coming from I guess, I grew up with frugal parents who placed value on family and good times around the dinner table as opposed to expensive clothes and cars.