70-80 percent? Try about 25-30 percent. My oil, car maintenance, food, electric, phone, and cable combined run $500-600 a month. Even when you tack on property tax I'm well under 30 percent of current income.
We have a plan. My husband's parents live on his maternal grandparent's farm (outside of Tulsa), as does his sister, two cousins and an aunt/uncle. There is enough land for just about everyone in the family to build a house and still not be able to see each others house. We plan on building a house on the land and live on a lot less money, we are already saving for this. We will take care of his parents and mine if they need it too.