Over 30 Price Tag

Recently like many people I've been working to get my finances and debt under control. I figure if I head out full steam I might be able to get rid of debt in 3 - 4 years. Considering the cost of things and the state of the economy, this basically sucks. But since the majority of my debt is for two college degrees I mostly haven't been too bothered by carrying it around with me. I've always figured that debt was the consequence, the price I paid willingly, for going to graduate school.

That is, until recently.

Now that I've left my 20s I no longer spend money like water running through my hands. I won't say I never spend, I do, just not as frivolously. Still, more than a third of my income is spent paying towards things I bought in the past. With the tough economic times I've learned that paying this price tag for debt is a lot more cumbersome in my 30s than it was in my 20s. I make a better income now but things cost more, my living standards are higher and I save more for retirement so no matter how much I make, there is less to go around.

How is it I wonder that I survived on $15k a year while going to college the first time? I still had rent, food, utilities, books, clothes, a car - everything I have now - just a lot smaller and cheaper.

So is it that my tastes have changed?
Am I unwilling to do with what I had before?
Have I collected too much baggage (furniture, books, relationships, whatever)?

Or does being over 30 just mean that life and the consequences of our choices have a higher price tag?