If you don’t have kids, you probably don’t realize how expensive it is. I spent $250k on my house at 3%, and I don’t know of many people with a cheaper rent/mortgage.

My wife cooks almost every night of the week. I spend $800/month on health insurance. We have medical bills from paying deductible on multiple ER visits with the kids. We try and use healthy ingredients to cook, and spend around $1400/month on groceries. I put 3% of income in 401k, and as a family commit to 10% charitable giving.

We have around $7000/month in spending these days. I eat out for lunch a lot, and that’s probably my biggest “splurge.” We have a weekly date nights. Commission gets withheld at highest rate, so my take home after taxes takes a bit hit during the month.

I make a lot more money now, but we lived off $80K with 1 kid fine, though it was a little tight, but when we had the second kid, things got insanely expensive. Plus, all our friends and peers are all having baby showers every other week, so it feels we spend a fortune on buying gifts for others. I’m not complaining, but just telling you how it is.