Even if I made all the attempts in the world, the thought of saving 30,000 before age 30 would be nearly impossible. And part of it would come at a cost of paying the absolute minimum towards student loans and the like, which is barely really saving at that point. Frankly I don't know why anybody would want to save to that degree if it means a non-existent quality of life. Perhaps if you've got a well off family taking care of your schooling and living situation so that you can just work to do what you want and save as well that's practical, but otherwise, not really.
My wife and I did. We had our car loans, her student loans, and our apartment rent, plus other expenses (gas, renters/auto insurance, cell phone bills, cable bill etc.) over our heads, and we were working our first jobs out of college, so we weren't' really making a ton of money yet. We had a goal of getting married and buying a home, so we SAVED. She diverted a portion of her paycheck to the savings account, so twice a month, it was automatically saved. Our tax returns were not spent on junk each spring. We would take about $1,500 max (usually less) and take a trip to the beach or Vegas, but the rest was put the bank and saved. If we received money as a gift, it went into the bank. I had a mutual fund that my mom had started for me, where I contributed money from the age of 22 to the age of 28 and doubled my contributed money over that time. When the recession hit in 2008, Bush gave everyone $600 to "stimulate the economy" on their tax return. Guess what I did? I used that $600 to pay off my car loan. I didn't go buy a tv.
Sure, we took a trip once a year, or ate out on occasion. But we found a way to make things work for us. We had an affordable apartment that was nice, but not too much money for us (i.e. I'm not keeping up with the Jonses and moving into the city to pay more money to rent an apartment just to say I live in "the city"). Having the dual income was tremendous, but it was up to both of us to not live so extravagantly.
We got married in May one year and in June we put 10% down on a $200,000 home. So in three years, we had saved $26,000 for a home.
It is possible - but bosk is right. You can't have EVERYTHING and expect to save. We didn't have smartphones (iphones had just come out then), we didn't travel the world like my other college friends started doing, we lived within our means and put every dollar we could into saving...while still being able to enjoy our lives without going overboard.
After 7 years of owning a home, we were able to refinance and had just enough equity to remove the PMI from our mortgage and get into a lower interest rate. Now, with her quitting work to be a stay at home mom, we're back in the same boat - cutting back on the lifestyle and hobbies to ensure that we have enough money for our home and family's necessities.