It's painful. Within my late 20's age group, the number one topic of conversation seems to be a lack money. It's impossible to get my group of friends together

It's painful. Within my late 20's age group, the number one topic of conversation seems to be a lack money. It's impossible to get my group of friends together at the moment as everyone is scraping the barrel. Most are starting to accrue pretty large amounts of debt to get by. I've spent the last 6 months cutting my subscriptions, nights out, shopping, and I'm still spending more than my take-home most months. --- To give some context, here's a completely honest account of my last months spending which was only a little above average the last 9 months: £926 in bills (£750 rent; the rest in assorted council tax, utilities, phone, insurance etc). - Up £70 YoY, driven by gas/electric. £270 in groceries. - Up £100. £280 in entertainment (rugby/gig/festival tickets, books, a day out to a local town, trip to the movies, spotify and audible). - Up about £50, although this is highly variable month to month. £400 on eating out (birthday meal, pub with friends, date night, a couple of takeaways, and one regretfully expensive night out). - Way up, about £150, driven by the cost of drinking and eating out. This is the one I'm looking to drive down the most. £180 in transport (fuel and public transport). - About the same, but only because I avoid driving anywhere as much as possible. If I still drove to work, this would be double. My car needs repairs but I'm putting it off. £130 on shopping (clothes, birthday gifts). - The same, due to a reduction in spending. I shop almost entirely second-hand now. All in all, I'm spending about £400 a month more, while doing and purchasing much less. -- I earn ~40k a year as an electronics engineer. My take home after tax (12% earnings taken for national insurance, 20% for income), student loan (9% for undergrad, and another 6% for post-grad), and 10% for stock EPP (which I can sell every 6 months), was £1850 (this shifts around with bonuses). I used to socialise 3-4 days a week and managed to put away £200 a month minimum. Now I socialise once every 10 days roughly, and I'm down the same. Don't get me wrong, I'm well aware there's still things I can do to squirrel some money away, but I'm trying to hold on to some sort of QoL together. The median income for 22-29 y/o group in the UK is £24,600. I'm privileged enough to only have to worry about losing my social life. I dread to think how badly things are going for everyone else.