to raise a family of 4 or 5 on less than $100k /per year. Here's what I show are the typical families expenses for an LDS family on income of $100k:

Earnings per month $8333.00 ($100k per year)

Taxes (Federal, State, Soc Sec, Medicare) $1600
Health Insurance $300
Tithing $833
401k $833
Mortgage $1700 (Includes T&I)
Food $800
Gas for 2 cars $350
Insurance for 2 cars $100
! car payment $300
Savings $300
Life Insurance for Husband and Wife ($500k) $50
Christmas $100

Leaves a grand total of $1100 for EVERYTHING ELSE!!!! (Birthdays, haircuts, drycleaning, braces for children, soccer and baseball, tires and oil changes, Motherday and fathers day gifts, etc). The only debt, other than a mortgage is one car payment. Personally, I have no debt but it seems almost illogical to expect people to carry absolutely no credit card these days which makes my figures even more catastrophic.

This leaves very, very little money to pay to repair a tv or to buy a couch or dining room table, take a modest family trip once every few years, etc.

I seriously don't know what I would do if I **ONLY** made $100k per year. Doesn't that seem crazy?!?!? I remember when I was a college kid, I dreamed of someday making "Six Figures". Now, I'd have to probably move if that happened.

No wonder our country is in trouble. I can only imagine what hell someone would be going through earning only $70k or $80k a year.

Sorry if this seems random. I've just been thinking a lot about finances lately. Am I way off base here? I know a lot of people have some student loan and credit card debt, so how do you do it? How does someone live on less than $8333 per month?