My husband and I are not young or old, we have a preteen, both of us work, have been working since the day we could. We rent a small house, each have a vehicle (only one we pay on), a dog and a cat.
We would be considered the very definition of a “nuclear family” today.
The problem is we have always made JUST ENOUGH to get by with enough to do something fun locally like movies or to the carnival, when in town, once a month… Which I guess I should be appreciative of given the current state of things, but it still SUCKS!
We each have vacation days but never use them for vacation. We have never seen an ocean or a mountain in our lives. Instead we forfeit them or take them one by one just to have a break here and there because 1. Our employers have made it abundantly clear that they can't function without us for more than 2 days in a row without a catastrophic meltdown and 2. there is no way for us to afford a real vacation even though we both work okay jobs – Saving up for a vacation isn't really feasible when living paycheck to paycheck. We've tried saving several times but life has always gotten in the way and money had to go elsewhere.
People should be working so that they can enjoy their life- not ONLY to meet the minimum of living it…