It’s not extravagance or bad decision-making. Working families just aren’t making enough money.

Mark and Jenny both work full-time at hourly jobs. Jenny works in retail, earning $10.51 an hour. David works as a fabricator, earning $15.91 an hour. Together, they earn $52,920 a year, or $4410 each month. They earn too much to receive any public assistance. After $700 in rent, one car payment plus gas, $500 in taxes, and $900 in health care costs, they have $1710 left for clothes, groceries, cell phones (a necessity in today’s economy), and childcare. Unfortunately, with two kids under five, their childcare is $1100 each month. This leaves their weekly food and miscellaneous budget at $133, which has to cover clothes, food, and in some months, things like a new carseat for the oldest or a birthday present.

One month Jenny missed a week of work due to the flu. This loss of just over $400 of earnings meant the month’s groceries went on a credit card, with no clear idea of how they would pay that bill off.

Six months later, Mark’s truck (the car they had paid off already) died. They tried sharing one car for a few weeks, but Jenny ended up late to work and risked losing her job. They bought a used car using a loan with a $200 monthly payment. Now their food and miscellaneous budget is down to $84 a week.

Things will get a little easier when the kids are both in public school. Of course, they were hoping to save up for a down payment on their own house, but as their credit card debt grows, it doesn’t feel likely.