Savings is one of those areas of delayed gratification where it can be really hard to wrap your head around why you're doing it, and how to balance the current vs. the future. I think it can help to imagine your future self - perhaps not wanting to work as hard and having some flexibility. 

When people think about housing affordability, usually they’re talking about the mortgage - so physically being able to buy and pay for the building in the land. But there's a heck of a lot more that goes into owning a house and paying for a house then just your mortgage. You’ve got property taxes and Homeowners insurance. You've got regular maintenance and upkeep expenses. You've got maybe a homeowners association that you pay dues too. You may have improvements that you'd like to make to a house, depending on the age of it.