I had a stay at home wife and 8 kids all living in a fixer-upper house. We survived quite well on my single income $12.50/hr. The only welfare we took was WIC and occasionally title 19. We could have made ourselves much more poor with divorce, drugs, $5/day in cigarettes, fast food but we were very careful with our tiny amount of money.
Now all 8 kids have a wonderful work ethic and are all employed.