Can we talk taxes?
Hubby and I make big bucks on paper .... But they take about a third of it now.... After we pay bills and put away in the 401k’s, there’s very little to play with ....
I still don’t buy magazine subscriptions ... Don’t buy anything frivolous ... It’s all about keeping our head above water, affording the medical bills, the food bill, and just trying to save up for retirement now. There’s no fun money anymore.... I scrimp where I can and that means scrimping on anything that comes from the mall.
I know, we pay $9000 in after tax money for healthcare not counting deductibles of over 10k.
We paid over 30k in taxes last year and we have one child because the second would be unaffordable.
If we were broke or illegal we would be making free money, healthcare, free additional kids and so forth.
Remember, there is 26% real unemployment and we are really in another Great Depression. This one has the Treasury and social programs doubling the national debt trying to get by.