With obvious exceptions, (medical things come quickly to mind), we all make our own choices. My family of six is just squeaking into six figures and while we obviously don't enjoy the same standard of living as the same income would have provided 20 years ago, we are doing pretty well. That said, we pay the big mortgage to live in an outstanding public school district and on a cul-de-sac so that my kids can safely play outside without my constant fear of the ball running into the street. We don't drink expensive coffee, but we do spent on decent wine. We don't drive new cars, but they are not terribly old either. I do splurge on brand names for certain things, such as warm winter coats, but we also do a lot of our shopping at consignment shops and thrift stores. We give and save generously, but occasionally we might shift that money temporarily if it suits the big picture. I could go back to work full-time or even add more hours to our part-time, but that creates other costs, both real financial costs and general household happiness costs. These are the choices that my family makes, and one of the privileges of living in a free country is that you get to make those choices yourself. I find it incredibly frustrating for anyone to belittle other peoples' choices unless they are just flagrantly wrong. One of the things that I like about Wise Bread is that people usually are able to enjoy a healthy and educational discussion without attacking each other. Please try to keep it that way.