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One reason I moved away from the DC area is that it is so difficult to escape the keep-up-with-the-Joneses mentality there. We lived in an 1800-square foot house and drove used cars, and on a combined income of $200,000 we could not afford to buy a bigger home in our neighborhood, and we often felt like we were poor compared to most of our friends who were buying vacation homes, drove expensive cars, etc. When everyone you know has a house nicer than yours, drives a BMW, sends their kids to private school, etc. you can quickly start to feel like a failure if you don’t have all this stuff. This couple may seem like they had a good combined income that they should be happy with, but if they have friends who are lawyers or lobbyists or mortgage brokers, they probably feel pretty middle class.

I think you should have felt better about yourself and to hell with these people that have more material items. You would be surprised they are all probably up to their eyeballs in debt.

One reason I moved away from the DC area is that it is so difficult to escape the keep-up-with-the-Joneses mentality there. We lived in an 1800-square foot house and drove used cars, and on a combined income of $200,000 we could not afford to buy a bigger home in our neighborhood, and we often felt like we were poor compared to most of our friends who were buying vacation homes, drove expensive cars, etc. When everyone you know has a house nicer than yours, drives a BMW, sends their kids to private school, etc. you can quickly start to feel like a failure if you don’t have all this stuff. This couple may seem like they had a good combined income that they should be happy with, but if they have friends who are lawyers or lobbyists or mortgage brokers, they probably feel pretty middle class.

Thus the wisdom behind "You shall not covet your neighbour’s house; you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour." (Exodus 20:17)