I’ve become confused. Muddled. Uncertain. There’s something troubling me, and it won’t go away. It is this:

Howcome I’m not living in poverty?

Whilst I don’t wish, naturally, to delve into too much detail on my personal financial situation, suffice to say I am currently the sole wage-earner in a family of three, earning a considerable amount below the average salary.

Since it’s only a fairly recent development that I’ve found gainful employment, I’ve been assessing my financial situation and creating a useful budget and all these good things. The confusing thing is that we are in such a good financial situation from such a modest income.

We rent a lovely three bedroomed semi-detached house, eat better than anyone else I know, surround ourselves with technological wizardry (two computers, currently three mobile phones – one of them an iPhone, high speed broadband Internet, TV, etc etc), have enough children’s toys and books to make Soloman blush and still manage to put a fair few pennies away in savings at the end of each month.

If most families require both parents to work just in order to scrape by – and find themselves constantly in need of consolidating their existing debts into one low monthly repayment – what exactly am I doing right?

Of course, I am currently able to claim the maximum Tax Credits since my earnings for last tax year come to the grand sum of… £0, which helps a lot and will change in the future (but by then I ought to be earning more, and my wife may have started working part time too) I don’t own a car, smoke, or regularly drink, but still, am I missing something here?

There is one explanation I can think of, but I don’t really want to believe it is true: is it just that most people are unable to manage their finances sufficiently and end up just washing money down the plughole? Where are they all spending all of their money?

I’m befuddled.