37 y/o male with wife and 2 young kids. After relocating to a big city for a job, we really don't like the lifestyle and have fallen behind on out financial goals. Through a combination of high housing costs + child care since we both work + my employer switching to a high deductible health plan that also managed to increase monthly premiums + diagnosis of a chronic condition for my youngest shortly thereafter + city taxes on top of state and Federal we are both extremely frustrated that we have so little so show for the long hours we work while both earning six figure incomes.
Were pretty frugal, and if you can name it we have cut it if it is a discretionary expense. We don't even go out on dates, much less take any vacations and have downsized to a small apartment, yet still are only able to inch toward saving for a down payment for a house with a yard, which is what we'd really prefer.
Obviously what we're doing now isn't cutting it and, with all respect for people who enjoy all the cultural, food etc, things city life has to offer, we don't like it enough to be paying such a premium just to tread water. Maybe this is a question for the relocation thread, but we're trying to figure out how to make a break from the current situation. My job can be done remotely or in a different location but just trying to figure out what's prudent. Finding some random place we have no connection to that has a lower cost of living?
Just kind of putting this out there in case we're making some kind of giant misstep that we're missing. I don't know how the hell people have the incomes to live the way they seem to up here, but it feels a lot like we are the only people whose lifestyle is getting progressively worse the longer we stay.
Sorry if this just amounts to venting, but has anyone seen overcome any similar situations? Thanks so much in advance.