List of advice - cost of living

I've been living in Portugal now for almost 8 months so I'd like to share some things I learned the hard way.
First, all the videos and posts I've read on the Internet about the cost of living are far from reality.
Without a “fiador,” which is person basically responsible for you in case you don't pay rent, I ended up having to pay 4 months in advance plus caução plus the current 1.15 month for a place with 1 bedroom, very small. I gave up trying to find a place in Lisbon and I got lucky I found one in Algés that's not that far drive from Lisbon for 720/month.
Then you pay 35 in water for 2 people, 15 for gas, 45 electricity, and we use the minimum amount of everything possible.
We have no tv, only a washing machine, fridge, stove/oven, an electric juicer and a toaster and we have 2 computers charging and 2 cell phones charging occasionally.
We don't even have light bulbs in most of the house because of the natural light.
We wash clothes once sometimes twice a week using just cold water.
We learned you must go to the water company to give your water meter count every month after paying 95 first month, 80 then 75 in water we finally got our first bill less than 40 euros. We don't even shower everyday because we shower at the gym. We're paying something else the building maybe because my neighbor pays only 15.
So here it is:
Tiny apartment T1: €720
Gas: €15
Water: €35
Electric: €45
Food: €250 (eating out once a week we spend around 250 a week in groceries including household products).
Health insurance: €360 (they make you pay for 60 days before you can even use it, so it ended up costing 350 per month for the 2nd most expensive option out of 4).
Transportation: €150 (1,50 or 2 per bus/train/metro x 21 days of work per month x 4 equals 147 per month (they do have the option to pay 40 but you need to be and EU citizen or a Portuguese resident or citizen otherwise you can't buy that pass)). We walk to the gym.
They take 30-40% of what you make in taxes, and you make 20-25% of what you'd make in the US.
You'd need to make over 2000/month net to do the minimum possible. I don't see how people survive with less than that unless they eat only noodles every day.
And also, yes there is public transportation and it's awesome, but it takes me between 1-1:20h each way to go from Algés to Lisbon where I work. It's more worth buying a scooter than spending money in public transportation and save 50 minutes of your day to do something else. After 12 months You lost 1,800 in transportation and add another 10 months you have a new scooter.
The minimum wage is 650 I haven't seen a flat with no bedroom that cost less than 550 in Lisbon area (not in the city you'll be lucky to find an 800/mo there). We looked for over 2 months and we got lucky to find a 1-bedroom that wasn't 2 hours drive from Lisbon.  How do people pay bills here with only 1 income?

But in the end, I love living here and I don't regret it. Moneywise it's not easy though.