The comparison doesn't take account of unpaid overtime. It can't.

A wedding costing $23,000??? LOL, we can't even afford that for a car or a piece of land somewhere. We'll be getting married on $300 maximum, and most of that just for the ring and licence and a nice dinner. I don't even have a pretty dress!

We've been struggling with the whole work = life thing lately. I've gone into entrepreneurship, which of course means that I'm not actually making money yet even though the business itself is doing ok. If I could busk a bit we'd get by. He has a job and it's a good one, but he can only work part-time and it has no meaning at all for him.

So we're trying to find alternative ways of living and working and earning money. It's an interesting stuggle, but better than just giving in. The problem is that most people who look for alternatives have already worked for a couple of decades and already have the basics like a house and car, even if those are mortgaged. When they downshift their lives, it frees up resources. We're downshifting our lives in order to survive at all.