About tracking. It is not easy, but I think it is the most important step to achieve financial independence. Living below your means is essential no matter how much money you make.

We tracked every cent for about eight years. In the beginning, we saw a lot of money in the food category, hobbies and general spending on junk. In those eight years we continually saw our spending go down and our savings go up. At the end of the eight years, we were financially independent. We worked for a few more years then quit and moved from a snowy climate.

I think the the key is not to get stuck on little things. Like our utility bill is on the budget about $80 per month. Because of base charges, it is not going to go down significantly. We are still careful but we are unlikely to see big changes there. One area most people see as an area you can improve on is buying food and drink out. As opposed to cooking and preparing beverages at home.
Auto expenses are also a huge place to save. We always bought reliable models like hondas three or four years old and ran them into the ground. Of course, DH is very handy and used to be able to fix most stuff. Not quite possible with today's electronic models.
If you drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes, that is low hanging fruit that can be eliminated. Drinking occasionally of course is not going to break the budget but these two items can suck up tons of money. Your health will thank you for it.

On posessions, a funny story. We live in a big retirement community. We had the movers put our furniture and boxes in the right rooms. By late afternoon most of our boxes were empty and stuff put away. A few neighbors stopped over and one said, so when is the rest of your stuff coming? They were flabbergasted that we had all our stuff already. Most of them could not park a car in their garage for months, and a few had storage units. Going from multi story houses with attics and basements to a one story house with no basement or attic. Think of all the money we saved not buying stuff in the first place and having to move it. Plus, as you age realize it is very unlikely your kids want your stuff. We even asked them and except for a few things I'm pretty sure most of our stuff will end up at goodwill or in a landfill.

So try the tracking. We still keep loose track of money out but it is so ingrained in us not to waste money we just do it naturally.