@coolbair My guess is the "hedonistic treadmill" is the reason you feel discontent content with what you've got, as is comparison to peers.
If you actually don't know how families deal with less resources I would suggest checking out r/povertyfinance to get ideas on how to simulate alternative lifestyles in the extreme—in excel or maybe even testing it out on your own for a month—before looking at whether you are truly benefiting from your own expenditures and current lifestyle patterns.
(If I had an inflation-adjusted 4K USD post tax coming in every month I would try to never work again and could easily feed and entertain a family of 4 or 5 almost anywhere in Japan with the necessary adjustments based on the location.)
If you actually don't know how families deal with less resources I would suggest checking out r/povertyfinance to get ideas on how to simulate alternative lifestyles in the extreme—in excel or maybe even testing it out on your own for a month—before looking at whether you are truly benefiting from your own expenditures and current lifestyle patterns.
(If I had an inflation-adjusted 4K USD post tax coming in every month I would try to never work again and could easily feed and entertain a family of 4 or 5 almost anywhere in Japan with the necessary adjustments based on the location.)