I met DH when I was in uni and fell pregnant towards the end of my degree, so we have never had 2 incomes and are therefore pretty good at living on 1 wage.

I read all of your comments and I start to feel a lot better - that there are other people out there and we aren't alone. My husband comes from a very fortunate family and therefore our circles or friends are all high income (old money) earners.

We (for instance) we given our house and 2 cars from his family - that said I still have to budget VERY hard to get through the pay fortnight. Even without a mortgage or car repayments, I have to watch every dollar in order to stay on top of the bills that flow in weekly. I feel like we are always behind and our savings have taken such a hit this year that they are pretty much non-existant, I don't understand how 1 income families are meant to be able to rent, eat decent food, drive a safe car and keep a clean decent house on any wage that is less than $50k. (and that's above avaergae!!) Rent in Perth is absolutely rediuculous, 3x1 in semi decent suburbs are $350+ a week. That's half an average wage? Where is the room for food and petrol? Let alone clothes, bills and savings?

I knew a family who moved to a victorian town so they could afford a house to raise their boys in?

Sorry for the rant, but I just wanted to say that there is obviously something wrong with our economy if single income households can't survive, even on basics.

P.S. to earn extra money to do mystery shopping... you get $20-30 a report and all you need is the internet and an ABN. I only do 2-3 shops a week, but that extra $80 REALLY comes in handy and I don't earn too much to effect family assistance payments! AND I CAN TAKE BABIES!

xxx