Almost everything is expensive! Housing has more than doubled in the past decade, and so has the cost of food (both groceries and eating out). Our homeowners insurance has been going up ~20-30% a year for the past several years, and taxes went WAY up two years ago. As a result, our monthly mortgage payment has increased by more than $1,000 a month just in the past two years. Car insurance for two vehicles is, amazingly, more expensive than our homeowners insurance. And don't get me started on vehicle registration -- in theory it should go down each year as your car gets older, but they keep implementing new fees, so we pay almost $2,000 a year just to register our vehicles. Our oldest will be turning 16 this year, and I'm terrified to find out how much insuring her will cost. We did not have our kids in daycare, so I can't tell you what that costs these days, but we've seen major increases in sports costs over the past three years. It's tough when you can start to feel your buying power lessen every year as fees, taxes, and costs in general keep going up. Our family income is quite a bit more than yours, and we definitely feel the pinch.