Responsibility for one’s own actions

I once watched a very interesting program in regards to debt. It was a show based on how to get out of debt. The show found people in debt and provided them with a financial adviser who gave them a plan on how to get out of the situation that they were in. The show centered around three big points; how these people got into debt, what kind of lives they are living to continue their debt problem, and how they are doing nothing about it. Out of the two cases that I watched there was a re-occurring theme. The people in debt felt that they deserved a much better life style than they could actually afford. In one situation it was a female who had graduated university with a student debt of forty thousand dollars. She was able to find a job right out of school which paid fifty thousand dollars a year. With her new found job she decided that she must move out, because her style was slightly cramped living with her parents. This is how her cycle started. Then, for her new job she needed a new wardrobe which added another thousand dollars to the debt. Then she needed to furnish her apartment, the first and last month rent, security deposit and other miscellaneous fees all added another ten thousand dollars to her debt. At the point of the show she had been working for three years and getting nowhere fast. She was always stressed out, and at her ropes end. When the financial adviser came on the scene she started asking questions about her credit cards and any other debts that may exist. There was another couple thousand on credit cards that this girl owed. So, the financial adviser sat down with her and explained to her that if she ever wants to get out of debt that is currently eating her alive she needs to make some changes right away. Some of the things she listed were: not going out as much, not eating out at all, not buying new clothes or shoes for at least a year and possibly moving back home. To most of these suggestions the girl agreed. Then there was another little part where the financial adviser said that she should find a second job to relieve some stress from her and for her to be able to have some kind of spending money. Needless to say the girl did not agree to that. With the plan that the financial adviser made, it would take the girl three years to pay off her credit cards, and her student loans. This would be a hard three years with no savings account and no luxuries, everything going towards paying down the debt. I would love to see if she was able to accomplish that and to see what she is doing now.
Most of the advice given by the financial adviser was good sound practical advice that I agreed with and so did her client. Yet, it seems like if this was so practical and the girl could really understand it and see it, why was she not doing it earlier?
Are some of us like that girl? We know what we should be doing, and what would make financial sense but we are so stuck in our routines and in our own worlds that we do not do it. Are we all running the risk of being so in debt as this girl was just because we are in a routine? Does tightening your belt have a much different meaning now then it did years ago? Do people in general not know how to ‘tighten belts’?
It seems that we live in a very interesting era. We live in a time unlike any other before. Everyday people live as king’s used to live back 3-4 hundred years ago. We live not only to survive but also to derive pleasure. People don’t just want to work to survive; they want to like their work. People want different things out of their lives and therefore choose work that compliments that lifestyle. People have more clothing than they can wear in a month, more shoes than they can wear in a week. In the olden days only the kings and queens were allotted such luxuries. Yet, in our society it is no longer a luxury it is now a necessity.
Is it that we no longer discern what a luxury is and what a necessity is? Or is it that it varies from person to person and there is no more a general definition of those words.