America's Money: In their own words

Marketing specialist, 29, Philadelphia, Pa.

We've been very careful with our money and got some help from family, so we have no credit card debt and a decent amount of savings. When it comes to our actual income and expenses, however, our budget has less room for error every month and unexpected little costs can set us over.

Between the money I made selling my first house and my wife's savings, we were able to put just enough money down to afford a little stone twin in a nice part of the city. I knew the mortgage, taxes and insurance would take half my monthly take-home pay, but what surprised me was how much it costs to heat - $350 in January alone.

As for transportation, between gasoline and the parking garage, it costs us $200 a month to drive to our jobs downtown. Buying two train passes would cost even more. If I had known how much gas prices would rise, maybe we would have put off buying the car, but the one we had was 18 years old so it had to go eventually.

Right now, we have more financial security than almost everyone we know, but it gets exhausting having to pinch every penny. I hope that in a few years, we'll be making more money and things will be much easier, but right now big purchases like vacations and home improvements either have to wait or come out of savings, and there is absolutely no way we could afford to have children.

NEXT: Eric Isenbarger: Planning pays off