Living off $12k is not in any realm of "impossible" in a first world country. It may come as a surprise (halfly sorry for the snark), but most of the world (60%) lives under less than $1800/yr. The dreadfulness and despair of it goes away when it's a personal choice to live frugally.
There's a lot of things you can get for free or dirt cheap, when you choose to see the deals.
There's a lot of things you can get for free or dirt cheap, when you choose to see the deals.