Every since my accident I'm barely getting by with a family of 5. I had a job that after the 5th year in, it was paying me almost $180k a year. Now, I'm just happy if I can work 10 months out of the year. But, I have great kids and an amazing wife who most definitely married down, but were all still happy. Well, were happy when the utilities aren't turned off for non payment lol.
However, I'd be lying if I acted like it wasn't an absolute brutal adjustment getting used to living like this! One of the hardest days my wife and I have ever had was when we told the kids that the way we've been living since my accident was a complete lie. We held onto all the materialistic items that we thought were important way to long. So, when we finally admitted to ourselves that we cant keep this up anymore, it was too late. Our kids went from waking up to their perfect upper middle class lifestyle to going to sleep not knowing if they would have a house/bedroom when they got home from school.
Bad times!!!!