It's interesting. We have a nice older 2 story 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house with 1.5 acres. We have a 3 car garage and a 2 car garage in the back. Our mortgage, taxes and insurance are a total of $690 a month. I find utilities to be high. Between gas and electric each month, we are at $200 plus except in the winter when the gas bill alone will be over $250 (I am guessing...our first long winter here.) Water, trash and sewer are over $120 a month! I think that is crazy. Taxes on the home are about $1,400/year and we pay a school income tax and a local tax.

For comparison, we have a house for sale. Built in 1994, tri-level, 2 car garage, 4 bedrooms, 1 3/4 baths on half an acre and we will be lucky to get $110,000 for it. Taxes are $1,300 and there is no local tax except school tax.

We do fairly well, but our small town has about 1/3 of the kids below the poverty line I believe. Many of school's kids are on free or reduced lunch.

Gas right now is $2.09 a gallon and we can almost always get milk at about $2/a gallon.