Paying good money to atrophy your brain in front of a glowing idiot box every night has to be the definition of wasteful spending.

Young people who can't get on the Auckland property ladder just need to cancel Sky TV and save harder, apparently.

The mortgage broker who dared to utter these fateful words on Friday sure hit a nerve.

The masses took to social media to furiously defend their lifestyle choices.

They couldn't have done a better job of upholding the 'whinging millennials' stereotype, all while sending squillions of clicks to the provocative news article.

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Tweets flew thick and fast, and intergenerational warfare raged in comments sections.

It was all terrific fun. However, something very dear to my own heart got caught up in the carnage.

Commentators savaged the "smug" notion that frugality was the key to saving a deposit.

As if giving up Sky TV would make them a millionaire, they scoffed.

Great point! While we're at it, why bother riding a bike to work? It's barely going to make a difference. Same goes for flatting with friends for longer, packing lunches from home, or cutting out daily coffees. It's all just fiddling while Rome burns, right?

For shame. This attitude isn't just defeatist - it's downright dumb.

One small lifestyle change won't save you a house deposit. But combined, you can bet your bottom dollar they will.

Sky TV was obviously meant to be an example. And what a great example it is!

If you have Sky Sport (surely the only reason to bother), you're paying a minimum of $92.50 a month.

That's over a grand each year. Regular readers know that's just the start, with the real cost coming from lost opportunity.

Over 50 years, the decision to ditch Sky and invest the proceeds will enrich you by a quarter of a million bucks. These seemingly trivial choices are insanely powerful.

If you're saving for a house deposit, the timeframe is much shorter.

This is where cumulative lifestyle changes come in. Start hustling and optimising every single area of spending, and you'll free up a firehose of cash.

For those on low incomes or other tough circumstances, all the budgeting in the world won't be enough to buy in the current Auckland market. That's a real issue.

There's much more hope for home hunters on decent wages, which is the group the mortgage broker was criticising.

Members of the online lynch-mob appear to have impeccable spending habits, which is fantastic to hear.

In real life, I know lots of young people who do buy new cars on finance schemes. They do insist on the latest gadgets. They prefer not to live with flatmates. They pay for Sky TV, or cleaners, or new clothes every season. They go on overseas holidays or OEs. They eat out regularly.

I have some of these habits myself. None of them are inherently bad, but they do come with trade-offs.

We lash out when our lifestyle choices are questioned. It's much easier to get defensive then to reflect on what we can do differently.

The Auckland housing market is definitely messed up, with prices way out of whack with incomes. By all means, let's kick up a stink and force the powers-that-be to sort it out.

But let's also focus on the things directly within our control. When it comes to tackling big financial goals, don't ever underestimate the power of frugal living.

Got a money question you've been struggling with? Want to send a bouquet or a brickbat? Email Budget Buster at richard.meadows@fairfaxmedia.co.nz, or hit him up on Twitter at @MeadowsRichard.

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