It's really doable. $200 a week rent flatting, and 60 on food.
Have cheap carbs like oats, rice, beans, lentils and if you eat meat find a good source of it at a good price and freeze it, or eat sardines. Grow your own vegetables if you can, cabbages, kale, silverbeet/swiss chard. Could probably eat for $30 a week easy. So I think anyone can live in Auckland on fulltime minimum wage if they're flatting. In any suburb, or the city center.

At the moment the reality of affording a deposit on a house is moving further away. I can slowly save up scraps over the years, but it's not enough. Maybe when I was younger it was, but flatting for life isn't what I want.. I'm not able to save fast enough for a deposit, and high rent prices aren't helping. I don't even want a big place, a small apartment or single room I own with shared facilities for washing etc would be good.

Improving my income is an option, but how to do so. Thought about programming etc but not everyone can stick with it or has an affinity for it.

Maybe I should become a builder, considering there's meant to be a shortage of them. Wonder how much they get paid starting out. Never picked up a saw in my life though :)