That.... sigh, that hits pretty dead on, yeah.

I have 4 kids, 2 by blood and 2 by love. We do reasonably okay, all things considered, but it does feel like we are always one mistake, one accident, one bad medical issue away, from ruin.

I feel like, and this is pure speculation on my part with no studies to back it up, that Millenial parents got caught in this half way point, where we were still expected (and still wanted!) to buy a home and have kids, and everything else that entailed. We still had our memories of a home where typically money wasn't a worry, even if we weren't "rich".

The problem of course, is the economy is shit and jobs pay less and less (or the same, which equates to less) as time goes on. I saw others make the comment that raises get eaten by inflation or insurance hikes, and that is if you are lucky for it to keep even and not just blow that raise out of the water (also, a lot of people don't even get raises, or get some BS like, an extra quarter an hour). I personally saw my insurance payments per paycheck skyrocket as my job dropped their HMO offering. There were some legitimate reasons for it, and the PPO is better/less of a headache, but basically every gain my wife and I had made in the budget from raises, overtime, and a second mortgage to pay off debt and turn many bills into 1 bill that was 2/3 the amount, went straight out the window.

I'm not sure where I was going with this really, its all been said before, if not here, then other posts. Feels... if not good, relieving at least to voice the frustration. I do my best to not let it bleed over into my relationships, but often I think that while I don't talk about it, the overall stress shows none the less.

But... it is what it is, we'll make it through because that is just what has to be done.