Historically speaking I would be considered most definitely wasteful by most people, however what they consider wasteful may not be so to me.
However I can totally appreciate and respect other peoples point of view. I try to put myself in their shoes looking in on me. So much of this comes down to individuals circumstances, for example are they married? Do they have kids or other responsibilities and most importantly what is important to them in life, their value systems and fundamentally their personality.
In my experience you really don't need to have much money to live a happy, healthy and content life. So long as you have a roof over your head, can pay the bills, provide for your family that is all that is required, the rest is a bonus so long as you have a healthy and balanced mindset.
Of course many including myself don't have a balanced or healthy mindset because for a lack of a better term I grew up wrong. Hung out with the wrong crowd, got involved in things I shouldn't have got involved with, developed bad habits and addictions from an early age and if you do those things for long enough they form part of your character and personality and if the "crazy" life doesn't kill you the depression caused by trying to go back to "normal" one (either by choice or circumstance) most definitely will because now you cant be "who you are" anymore.
You see the unhealthy mindset is fundamentally based on greed, false comparisons, envy and your desires and expectations in an unhealthy mindset are never ending. If it's not the next car, the next house, the next night out, the next whore, the next bet...whatever it is you ALWAYS have your eyes set on SOMETHING which means you can never be truly happy.
As you get older and more mature you realize and feel the above more and more so you try and have a more healthier mindset, one based on trying to be as successful as you can but also as balanced as you can.
For some this happens quicker than most, for others it takes a long time to realize, for some it never does.
