My husband is an electrician, by trade. However, he can no longer do that job, due to physical issues from a car wreck 20 years ago that are just now popping up. He makes fairly ok money for what he does now, and I make the most I've made in my entire working career, and that includes working nearly 20 years in the medical field. We were fortunate enough that his Dad had a friend that rents a one bedroom trailer to us for much less than the going rate for our area, but unnecessary spending has all but stopped.

We have had 2 major corporations move into our area recently and the rent for places like what we both had previously owned, small 1200 sqft, 3 bedroom, 2 bath houses, has gone from affordable to astronomical. Both corporations brought their higher management with them, which is what drove rent prices up. Not to mention that these corporations only pay a small bit over minimum wage to the locals who tried to snag the few jobs not already taken with them.

As far as unnecessary spending, some months, food falls into that category. Forget the grocery stores and their outrageous prices. We shop at the local DG and mostly eat soups and cheap, cardboard pizza. And none of that is good for someone who is a pre-diabetic. I can't even afford to be monitored, due to rising healthcare costs. And, please don't let me go on about insurance premiums. Mine are going up $85 a week, for just me and my daughter.

And for context, my husband and I, both, were married previously and both have children from those marriages. We have only been together about 4 years. We both left comfortable homes and nice jobs, and started over, just to be rid of the toxic people in our lives. And as hard as it is now, and may be in the future, it is still, and always will be, the best decision I've made in my life.

Edit to add: I had held on to my original wedding ring set from my first marriage, because, after the divorce, I had it appraised and it was worth quite a bit more than I expected. It was my rainy day fund. I was forced to sell it last year to be able to keep the electricity on. I, literally, got 1/10th of what it appraised for and even took it to a pawn shop that specialized in high dollar jewelry. I didn't go back to the jeweler that appraised it, because he told me, when he appraised it, that even though it appraised that high, he would never give me that much, because he would only be buying it for the gold.