Seems to me that the ”need” for 2 incomes is partially self-inflicted for many of us. Our expectations as consumers have grown exponentially over the last 65 years. Some examples:
We’ve bought into the belief that everyone should go to college. So before lots of people turn a productive screw in life, they blow $100k or more on college. For too many, it’s a bad investment no matter who pays for it.
When you first got married, how many of you even dreamed that you’d spend 20 grand (or a whole lot more) to marry off one of your kids?
My mom and dad had one car that satisfied all of our transportation needs for years before we got a 2nd car. My neighborhood resembles a used car lot. Every driving-age member of the family has one. Yes, I’m part of the problem here.
Kids on my street participate in “select” sports teams that cost their parents thousands of dollars a year. Traveling outside the state is common, and expensive. Plus, their kids are generally awful at sports. Same thing for dance lessons, riding lessons, etc.
My wife had a great job as a systems analyst when we had our first child. We agonized over the decision but ultimately decided that she would quit to stay home until the kids were in all day school. Then she took a MUCH lower paying, part time job so she could drop them at school and pick them up at the end of their school day. Sacrificing 50% of our income was not something we did without big adjustments in our standard of living….but totally worth it.
It’s hard to argue this way while planning a 5th trip to Africa, but I guess the point I’m making is that no one is forcing us to live the way we do. We don’t have to buy into everything our consumeristic society says we “need,”
