The issue is not just the house, furniture etc but all the bills like hydro, heat, taxes, insurance etc those are reoccurring and go up every year by around 10%. I actually have a similar job as Homer but instead of nuclear stuff it's telecom and I'm making it, but no kids. It's very tight though. I suspect in 5-10 years from now I'll need to consider drastic changes as I will be priced out of my house. Once I have the wood stove going I'll save on gas a bit, and I plan to expand my solar setup, but that's only going to buy me a bit more time as the property taxes are the real killer. it's basically like having another mortgage except instead of eventually paying it off, the payment just increases every year forever.