[jasonkester]

Assuming you have a job in IT, how does one get to the point where he's only making ends meet, even with a family in the mix?

Assuming a low-end IT salary, you're still bringing in 5k+/month. Minus $2000 for tax, zero for your 10 year old cheap car, $1000 for rent, and another $500 for food, that leaves $1500 for conspicuous consumption or savings.

If you've chosen to use up that excess by upgrading apartments, leasing a car, buying a flatscreen on the Visa card, etc., that's what is eating up your ability to save money.

There's no reason to be living month to month on $60k+ a year. Unless that's what you've chosen to do.

[starkfist]

You're missing a lot of stuff like gas, parking, car insurance, phone bills, internet connection, electricity, heat, water, diapers, kid insurance, kid clothes, kid medicine, kid entertainment (toys, books, etc), babysitter, day care, etc, etc. Your food budget is assuming the family is living on beans and rice.

[yummyfajitas]

Day care? The wife either works or she doesn't. In the latter case, day care is unnecessary. In the former case, you've got enough extra money for day care.

As for food, I eat far better than beans and rice, and I probably only spend about $150/month (ignoring restaurants). I'm a 100kg man who eats a lot. $500/month is easily plausible for a family which does not have large teenage children. (This of course assumes a non-working wife to prepare food from scratch, but again, if the wife works, more money to play with.)

[jasonkester]

Indeed. Budget it out however you like, but if you can exactly make ends meet each month, chances are you can make ends meet and have one dollar left over to save. Look a bit harder and you might find $50 left.

Start thinking that way, and keep at it for a while and suddenly you'll find you're not living month-to-month anymore.

[watmough]

Here's a recipe for living on one 'median' income:

  * Pay your cars off. 
  * Get down to < $300 / month on food. 
  * Stop eating out except on special occasions.
  * Turn the thermostat up / down in summer / winter. 
  * Cap mortgage or rent at $1000 / month.
  * Live close to work
  * Stop buying lots of crap you don't need.
  * Build some savings

The key thing is, if you can manage on one income, a LOT of expenditure just melts away. Day care, gas for commuting to two jobs, much easier to eat at home, etc. etc.

[happenstance]

Those things would be easy if it's just you. However, imposing those policies on the wife is another matter. It just devolves into fighting over money all the time.